this week in art

NICK CAVE: THE LET GO / WEATHER OR NOT / THESE BAGS WE CARRY ARE FILLED WITH PROMISE

Jorell Williams holds his hands up near the beginning of Nick Cave’s Up Right presentation at the Park Avenue Armory (photo by James Ewing)

Park Avenue Armory and other locations
Wade Thompson Drill Hall
643 Park Ave. between 66th & 67th Sts.
Through July 1, $17-$45
www.armoryonpark.org
nickcaveart.com

Multidisciplinary artist and fashion educator Nick Cave offers relief and release from these hard times with Up Right, a ritual-laden immersive performance that slowly builds to an explosive dance party in the massive Wade Thompson Drill Hall in the Park Avenue Armory, part of his major installation The Let Go. As visitors enter the hall, they encounter the hundred-foot-long, forty-foot-high “chase,” two enormous curtains made of many-colored Mylar strips, representing social justice, that glitter in the light as they glide across the space. You can walk through them, but don’t sit on any of the small stools among them, which are for the performers. Ticket holders sit on the periphery on the floor, on benches, or in folding chairs as the curtains stop moving and Darrell Nickens begins playing the piano. Members of Vy Higginsen’s Sing Harlem Choir, consisting primarily of teen girls of color, enter the room, followed by a dozen men with their hands up, in the now-all-too-familiar “Don’t shoot” pose. Jorell Williams starts singing the gospel classic “Wonderful Change” while he and the other men sit in the stools and are dressed by men and women in white lab coats, putting them in Cave’s shaman-like soundsuits, made of colorful accessories that completely cover the body, hiding their gender, age, race, ethnicity, etc. The Sing Harlem Choir then performs a gospel version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” from Carousel, as the men in the soundsuits march and dance around the room to choreography by Francesca Harper and Cave and approach some audience members, taking their hands and making connections. It’s all rather tame, obvious, overly simplistic, and repetitive, like the United Colors of Benetton telling us that we can indeed all get along. But after the ninety-minute show, the hall turns into a dance party where some of the performers return and move and groove to the hot beats with anyone who wants to now cut loose as “chase” winds around the space again.

Nick Cave’s soundsuits are activated as part of The Let Go (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Taking place Wednesdays through Fridays through July 1, Up Right ($35, 8:00) is only one of a number of Let Go programs that are part of the installation, which is curated by Tom Eccles. On Saturdays and Sundays, the general installation is open to the public ($17, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm), with DJs getting things rocking at 2:00, including Joe Claussell on June 16, JD Samson on June 17, Noise Cans on June 23, Sabine Blaizin on June 24, Sammy Jo on June 30, and Tedd Patterson on July 1, with games of Twister, Soul Train lines, soundsuit invasions, a special line dance that you can rehearse here, and more. Numerous sections of the soundsuits are on display in various period rooms, bursting with color and mystery. On June 14 ($25, 7:00), the Freedom Ball should be a splashy evening of fashion, music, and dance, hosted by Matthew Placek and featuring Marshall Jefferson, Ladyfag, Papi Juice, Saada of Everyday People, and others. There will be a Dress to Express ball-style costume contest at 11:00 with $20,000 in prize money spread around three categories, State of the World, Unlike Anything Else, and Dare-Flair; among the judges are artist Mickalene Thomas, art collector and consultant Racquel Chevremon, and Cave. And on June 26 ($45, 7:30), “An Evening of Artistic Responses: The Let Go” brings together songwriter and musician Nona Hendryx, vocalist and artist Helga Davis, dancer and choreographer Harper, and FLEXN dance pioneer Reggie (Regg Roc) Gray and the D.R.E.A.M. Ring for site-specific performative responses curated by Cave, who in 2013 transformed Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall into a wildly inventive petting zoo for “Heard•NY.”

Nick Cave’s Tondos deliver a critical message in “Weather or Not” at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Cave fans will also want to check out “These bags we carry are filled with promise,” the new kaleidoscopic three-dimensional mural he and his design collaborator, Bob Faust, have installed in the lobby of New York Live Arts; the opening reception is June 15 from 4:30 to 6:30. On view through September, the soundsuit mural is made from woven bags and is meant to represent the hopes, dreams, and aspirations we all carry inside us but don’t always let out. And through June 23, Cave’s “Weather or Not” exhibition at Jack Shainman in Chelsea is a gorgeous collection of eye-catching wire Tondos that swirl with life on the walls; the mesmerizing, bold colors are based on weather patterns, but they’re superimposed on barely visible scans of the brains of black youths suffering from PTSD because of gun violence. As always, Cave offers beauty and originality tinged with both hope and fear.

AHMED MATER: MECCA JOURNEYS

Ahmed Mater, “Ka’aba,” C-print, 2015/2017 (courtesy of the artist and Galleria Continua)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia Gallery of Contemporary Art, fourth floor
Through June 17, $10-$16
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

While the crowds line up to see the time-ticketed “David Bowie is” exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, a wide-ranging tribute to the late, beloved Thin White Duke, there’s a much quieter, beautifully elegiac show on the fourth floor of the institution. Visitors will find it well worthwhile to take the stairs and “turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes” in one of the holiest sites in the world documented in “Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys.” The show consists of spectacular large-scale photographs, video, and sculpture by Saudi artist Ahmed Mater, who was born, raised, and still lives and works in his native country. Splendidly curated by Catherine J. Morris based on Mater’s 2016 book, Desert of Pharan: Unofficial Histories Behind the Mass Expansion of Mecca, the exhibit focuses on Mecca as a living city that is much more than a destination for pilgrims on the annual hajj. “I was compelled to document the rapidly disintegrating and soon-to-be-lost narratives of the place and its people,” Mater, a former community doctor, writes, noting how modern technological advancement and a more consumerist culture are eradicating the older infrastructure. “What is not yet clear is the impact this will have on the emotional and psychological well-being of the inhabitants of the city,” he adds. Mater has contributed personal and informational wall text and labels to accompany the stunning works.

Ahmed Mater, still from Leaves Fall in All Seasons, video, color, sound, 2013 (courtesy of the artist / © Ahmed Mater)

In the dye-sublimation print “Jibreel (Gabriel),” a construction worker is tethered to a minaret being lifted high in the air to take its position atop the Grand Mosque amid a pollution-ridden sky. In the C-print “Walkway to Mina,” tens of thousands of pilgrims are heading to Mecca. “Ka’aba” depicts the mass of humanity in and around the cube at the center of the holy site, while the calm “Gas Station in Leadlight” reveals a small gas station — where Mater refuels when he travels to Mecca — glowing at night in an empty area. Several photographs were taken in local settlements that have since been demolished. “Because it is rarely perceived as a living city, the idea of Mecca remains unencumbered by the reality of its own inhabitants and historical development,” Mater, who also visited with Burmese Muslims from the Rohingya community, opines. “The symbolic city is replacing the real city.”

Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys Installation Image. Photo by Jonathan Dorado

“Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys” reveals the changes undertaken in the holy city (photo by Jonathan Dorado)

The two-channel video Road to Mecca II shows the madness and mayhem as pilgrims arrive for the hajj, where non-Muslims are not allowed, while the videos King Kong and Disarm Surveil take viewers around the Mecca Royal Clock Tower, the third tallest building in the world. In Leaves Fall in All Seasons, footage taken by workers follows Jibreel astride the golden crescent being installed on the tower. A giant sculpture of the Qur’an made by Saudi artist Dia Aziz Dia can be seen in the C-print “On the Haramain Highway.” A collection of painted window frames hung on the wall is all that is left of many small homes that were torn down in the supposed name of progress. “Room with a View” was taken in an upscale hotel room, going for as much as $3,000 a night, offering a remarkable view of Ka’aba. “The division that luxury hotels impose is anathema within the context of the dignified, fundamental leveling principles that are the very basis of the hajj,” Mater states. “The core tenets of Islam, eloquently articulated by the rituals of the hajj and protected since the days of the Prophet, were never meant to compete with superluxurious hotels or brand names.” In “Mecca Journeys,” Mater makes it clear that what is happening goes beyond mere gentrification, consumerism, and corporate greed; it’s a knife in the back of the city’s history and culture. The exhibit serves as a striking counterpoint to “David Bowie is,” each revolving around different types of worship over something that is already lost, or well on its way, although Bowie’s work will of course stand the test of time.

TOMÁS SARACENO: SOLAR RHYTHMS

Shadows and reflections emanate from Tomás Saraceno’s “Aerocene Constellation 3/2” at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
521 West 21st St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Through June 9, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-414-4144
www.tanyabonakdargallery.com
tomassaraceno.com

Argentina-born artist Tomás Saraceno — who “lives and works in and beyond the planet Earth” — creates ultracool installations that dazzle the senses and the mind — like his 2012 Met roof installation, Cloud City. But there are multiple dimensions of space and time to his work, as his sixth solo exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar, “Tomás Saraceno: Solar Rhythms,” demonstrates, immersing visitors into his unique view of the future of the universe. Although Saraceno is not a scientist, he has had residencies at the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology and the French National Space Agency, resulting in his creation of environmentally sensitive pieces generated purely by sun and wind, with no need of fossil fuels, solar panels, or batteries. As he explains, “While enterprises to colonize other planets are put in place, this very same interface between us and the Sun and the atmosphere continues to be compromised: Carbon emissions fill the air, invisible radio waves develop in a hegemonic algorithm of finance, particulate matter floats inside our lungs. How would breathing feel in a post fossil fuel economy, and what is our response-ability?”

Tomás Saraceno’s “Calder Upside Down 35/20/18/12/8/6” was inspired by Alexander Calder mobiles (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The centerpiece of the exhibit is “Aerocene Constellation 3/2,” a pair of large-scale inflatable orbs both reflective and transparent. Saraceno has declared that the current Anthropocene age will be followed by the Aerocene epoch, “one of atmospherical and ecological consciousness, where we together learn how to float and live in the air, and to achieve an ethical collaboration with the environment.” Several hanging sculptures — “Calder Upside Down 35/20/18/12/10/8/6,” “Aerosolar Lyra,” “Solar Eclipse” — surround the two inflatables, with lighting that extends the works through shadows and reflections on the walls, floor, and other pieces. Don’t miss the back room; the doorway is pitch black, so many people don’t realize they can enter and encounter “Sounding the Air,” an immersive sound and light project involving spider silk as a form of travel. (Do not walk in front of the stand with the small purple lights, as repeated sound emissions could damage the work.) Also downstairs are the Aerocene Float Predictor, an app that plots out Aerocene travel through wind and weather patterns, and the Aerocene Explorer, a floating kit for individual use.

“Tomás Saraceno: Solar Rhythms” consists of numerous works that combine art and science for a sustainable future (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The exhibition continues upstairs with a pair of short documentary films, Frederik Jacobi’s Aerocene and Diving into the Ocean of Air, which show some of Saraceno’s projects in action, floating above White Sands, New Mexico, and the Salinas Grandes salt lake in Jujuy, Argentina, respectively. In another room is a collection of fab objects, including hand-blown glass inspired by the Weaire-Phelan structure, filled with human breath and resembling soap bubbles that mimic constellations, and “RAY 1080,” which references the speed of light. Thus, every work in the exhibition incorporates some aspect of sustainability and our relationship with the environment, one that needs help, and fast. And Saraceno here presents some fascinating ways forward.

SERENA KORDA: MISSING TIME

Serena Korda will present the immersive sound performance Missing Time on the High Line this week (photo by Chris Egon Searle)

Who: Serena Korda
What: Missing Time
Where: The High Line between Twenty-Fifth & Twenty-Seventh Sts.
When: June 5-7, free, 4:00 – 7:00
Why: London-born multidisciplinary artist Serena Korda makes her American debut this week with Missing Time, an immersive sound performance taking place at the Falcone Flyover on the High Line from 4:00 to 7:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. “I was interested in considering how to make invisible forces palpable and create an environment of care in a world that is turning on itself,” Korda explains on her website. “Inspired by different ways of listening, the potential healing power of sound, and their use as a way of communicating, I created a series of large ceramic dish-shaped portals that act as resonators and an accompanying sound work that explore communication with the infinite cosmos.” The site-specific commission explores the history of the High Line itself, which was formerly used as a commercial shipping railway. Missing Time features Mouthful, an a cappella group consisting of Dave Camlin, Sharon Durant, Bex Mather, and Katherine Zeserson, singing the “Music of the Spheres,” inspired by the planets, while carrying low-frequency receivers picking up radio waves that visitors can hear on headphones. “The trains, the industry, and the wilderness that once overran the space are all ghosts, and it is this paranormal activity of the High Line that I wish to explore,” Korda said in a statement. Admission is free, and no RSVP is required.

BROOKLYN MUSEUM FIRST SATURDAY: QUEER WORDS, QUEER WORLDS

First Saturday program at Brooklyn Museum includes screening of The Revival: Women and the Word and live performance by cast member t’ai freedom ford

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, June 2, free (“David Bowie is” requires advance tickets, $25), 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

Gay pride and diversity are the themes of the Brooklyn Museum’s free First Saturday program on June 2. There will be a live performance by the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus; a community talk on zines with Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz and Elvis Bakaitis, moderated by Maya Harder-Montoya; a hands-on art workshop in which participants can make a pride notebook inspired by David Bowie and “Radical Women”’s Virginia Errázuriz; a drink-and-draw event with live models styled by the Phluid Project and Jag & Co. and tunes spun by DJ Illexxandra; a screening of The Revival: Women and the Word (Sekiya Dorsett, 2016), with performances by t’ai freedom ford and Be Steadwell and an introduction by director Dorsett, hosted by SafeWordSociety; a screening of the latest episode of Viceland’s My House, followed by a talkback with cast members Tati 007, Jelani Mizrahi, and Alex Mugler, executive producer Elegance Bratton, showrunner Sean David Johnson, and producers Giselle Bailey and Nneka Onuoraha; Joy, a celebration of queer and trans people of color with music, games, dance-offs, and guest DJs Nappy Nina and Rimarkable, hosted by bklyn boihood; pop-up poetry with Wo Chan and Charles Theonia; pop-up gallery talks on “Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985” by teen apprentices; and the community talk “NYC Trans Oral History Project” with Jeanne Vaccaro, activist Bianey Garcia-D la O, poet El Roy Red, and podcast producer Cassie Wagler. In addition, the galleries will be open late so you can check out “William Trost Richards: Experiments in Watercolor,” “David Levine: Some of the People, All of the Time,” “Infinite Blue,” “Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985,” “Cecilia Vicuña: Disappeared Quipu,” “Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys,” “A Woman’s Afterlife: Gender Transformation in Ancient Egypt,” and more. However, please note that advance tickets are required to see “David Bowie is,” at the regular admission price.

LEON GOLUB: RAW NERVE

Leon Golub (American, 1922–2004). Gigantomachy II (detail), 1966. Acrylic on linen, 9 ft. 11 1/2 in. x 24 ft. 10 1/2 in. (303.5 x 758.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts and Stephen, Philip, and Paul Golub, 2016 (2016.696). Art © The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Leon Golub, “Gigantomachy II,” acrylic on linen, 1966 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts and Stephen, Philip, and Paul Golub, 2016. Art © The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY)

The Met Breuer
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Through May 27, suggested admission $12-$25
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org

The outstanding Met Breuer retrospective “Leon Golub: Raw Nerve” is meant to touch a raw nerve, and it does. In his primarily figurative, often large-scale works, the Chicago-born artist focused on the brutal side of humanity, exploring violence, hatred, bigotry, torture, cruelty, and war. He would even attack the canvases themselves, scratching and scraping at them, at times using a meat cleaver. When visitors get off the elevator, they are suddenly face-to-face with Golub’s “Gigantomachy II,” a ten-foot-by-twenty-four-foot acrylic painting on linen of a group of men fighting, their skin flayed from their bodies; the title evokes the battle between the Greek Gigantes and Olympian gods. Golub, who was married to artist and activist Nancy Spero for nearly fifty years, often used classical and art-historical imagery in his works; he also kept an archive of clippings from newspapers and magazines to use as reference. The riveting show, which is meant to jolt viewers, to shock them into action, features works from such series as “White Squad,” “Interrogation,” “Horsing Around,” “Napalm,” and “Pylons,” with the vast majority of his subjects being male, although he occasionally includes women. In the disturbing “Horsing Around IV,” a white man holding a bottle of alcohol exposes the breast of a black female prostitute. In “Two Black Women and a White Man,” two black women are sitting on a bench while a white man to their left leans against a wall, his hands in his pocket, looking away, trying to avoid them or pretend they’re not there. The wall behind the women is a light color, while the wall behind the man is blue; Golub slyly has the hand of one of the women casually lean over into the blue frame, gently infringing on his fear.

Right: Leon Golub (American, 1922–2004). Vietnamese Head, 1970. Acrylic on linen, 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Dan Miller, in loving memory of the artist, 2016 (2016.529.1). Art © The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Leon Golub, “Vietnamese Head,” acrylic on linen, 1970 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Dan Miller, in loving memory of the artist, 2016. Art © The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY)

Other works depict skeletons, angry dogs, men with rifles, a woman in an S&M-like mask surrounded by blood, and a quartet of portraits of Brazilian president and general Ernesto Geisel as he ages and loses his power. In a 1996 catalogue statement reprinted in the 1997 book Do Paintings Bite?, Golub, who passed away in 2004 at the age of eighty-two, wrote, “The history of the twentieth century is in large part a record of war, violence, and atrocities. This is not of course the only history which is recorded but nevertheless it is extraordinary in both its virulence and in its widespread extensions. . . . Despite the apparent pessimism of negativity of the subject matter in the very reportage, in the very reporting of all this, there is retained a residual optimism in the very freedom to tell, that is to make and exhibiting these paintings.” The Met Breuer exhibit ably displays that sentiment, revealing an artist who was determined to face the violence in contemporary society head-on through daring works of art that attempt to force viewers out of their complacency and realize what is happening all around them.

THE SECRET SOCIETY OF THE SISTERHOOD: SOOOO . . . THAT HAPPENED!

secret society of the sisterhood

Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel Steps
Fifth Ave. & Twenty-Fifth St.
Tuesday, May 29, $25-$30, 7:00 – 11:00 pm
www.green-wood.com
www.thesssshow.com

The Secret Society of the Sisterhood is making its New York City debut on the night of the full moon, May 29, at historic Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Dubbed “An Evening of Storytelling for Women and Fierce Allies of Women,” the show is hosted by BanterGirl founder Trish Nelson, a self-identified producer, performer, writer, and waitress who hopes “that other women across the land will be able to see that no matter where you come from, or where you currently are in life, you do not have to wait around for someone else to give you permission to execute your dreams.” The theme of the May 29 event is “Soooo… THAT happened!,” with actress and poet Amber Tamblyn, writer and activist Lorri Davis, bestselling author Dhonielle Clayton, and comedian Ayanna Dookie sharing true tales. There will also be live music by Kaki King and a song by Treya Lam, visual art by Aditi Damle, Rebekah Harris, and Marguerite Dabaie, and a dance party led by DJ Tikka Masala. Proceeds from the festivities will go to Girls Write Now, which provides mentoring programs, college prep courses, reading series, digital exhibitions, workshops, and more to empower young women. So you’re not going to want to miss this opportunity not only to hear and see cool things — it all takes place under candlelight — but also to get to hang out at an amazing cemetery during a full moon. We already can’t wait to tell people, “Soooo… THAT happened!”