this week in art

BIRDS: A FESTIVAL INSPIRED BY ARISTOPHANES

American premiere of Nikos Karathanos’s The Birds is a highlight of Greek arts festival in New York (photo by Kiki Papadopoulou)

St. Anns Warehouse, Metrograph, New-York Historical Society, Brooklyn Museum
Through June 16
onassisusa.org

In a classic Odd Couple episode, Oscar and Felix finally get on the same wavelength while on the game show Password when Oscar gives the clue “Aristophanes” and Felix responds, “Ridiculous!” However, there’s nothing particularly ridiculous about “Birds: A Festival Inspired by Aristophanes,” more than a month of film screenings, art exhibitions, panel discussions, a theatrical adaptation of Aristophanes’s The Birds, and more, produced by the Onassis Cultural Center New York and taking place at numerous locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. “Democracy was under threat when Aristophanes presented his comedy The Birds as part of the Dionysia festival in Athens in the fifth century BC,” explains festival curator Violaine Huisman in a program note, continuing, “Oligarchy was jeopardizing Athenian democracy, while war and constant legal battles raised havoc among citizens. The festival itself offered a chance for the people of Athens to congregate and revel in equal parts, to address state affairs and be entertained — all together.” Sound familiar? The timing is certainly impeccable. The centerpiece of this third annual Onassis Festival begins tonight with the American premiere of Nikos Karathanos’s inventive adaptation of The Birds, presented by St. Ann’s Warehouse and the Onassis Cultural Centre–Athens. The play runs May 2-13 and is accompanied by the free audio and visual lobby and garden exhibit “Nature of Justice: On the Birds.” There will also be events at the Brooklyn Museum, Metrograph on the Lower East Side, and the New-York Historical Society. Actually, looking at some of the photos from the production of The Birds, it does have a “ridiculous” quality to it, but in a good way. απολαμβάνω!

Wednesday, May 2
through
Sunday, May 13
The Birds, American premiere of Nikos Karathanos’s adaptation of the Aristophanes comedy, in Greek with English supertitles, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn Bridge Park, $46-$66

Thursday, May 3
through
Sunday, May 13
“Nature of Justice: On the Birds,” multimedia exhibition, curated by Mari Spirito, with works by Machine Dazzle, Louise Lawler, Sofia Stevi, and Theo Triantafyllidis in conjunction with Nikos Karathanos’s adaptation of The Birds, St. Ann’s Warehouse garden and lobby, Brooklyn Bridge Park, free

Saturday, May 5
Pigeon Toes: Bird Walks, led by Paul Sweet of the American Museum of Natural History, Jane’s Carousel, Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, 1 Water St., free with advance registration, 8:00, 11:30, and 3:30 for adults, 10:00 and 2:00 for children six to twelve with adults

Alfred Hitchcock The Birds is part of Greek festival inspired by Aristophanes

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds is part of Greek festival inspired by Aristophanes

Monday, May 7
“Nature of Justice: A Visual Arts Response to The Birds,” panel discussion and audience Q&A with artist Andreas Angelidakis, independent curator Reem Fadda, and Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak, moderated by Onassis Foundation director of culture Afroditi Panagiotakou, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Thursday, May 10
“Voices on: Post-Show Artist Talk,” with director Nikos Karathanos and members of the cast, moderated by St. Ann’s Warehouse artistic director Susan Feldman, St. Ann’s Warehouse, free with show ticket, 9:30

Saturday, May 12
Meet the Fledglings, family-friendly programs by the Wild Bird Fund in conjunction with the exhibition “Feathers: Fashion and the Fight for Wildlife,” for ages five and up, New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, museum admission plus $5 per child, 2:00 – 4:00

Friday, May 18
through
Sunday, May 20
“Birds,” screenings of films relating to birds, including Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch, 1999), The King and the Mockingbird (Paul Grimault, 1980), Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 1970), and The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963), Metrograph, 7 Ludlow St., $15

Sunday, May 19
Birdheart, by Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane, family-friendly show with puppets, free with museum admission but advance RSVP required, 4:00

Wednesday, May 23
“Talk: David Levine,” performative lecture in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition “David Levine: Some of the People, All of the Time,” Brooklyn Museum, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Saturday, June 16
Cool Culture Family Festival, with arts & crafts, storytelling, scavenger hunts, concert by Shine & the Moonbeams, and more, Brooklyn Museum, free with museum admission, 12 noon – 4:00 pm

BROOKLYN MUSEUM FIRST SATURDAY — RADICAL WOMEN: LATIN AMERICAN ART, 1960–1985

Sylvia Palacios Whitman, Passing Through, Sonnabend Gallery, 1977, documentation of performance (photo by Babette Mangolte)

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

Latin art is the centerpiece of the Brooklyn Museum’s free First Saturday program on May 5. There will be live performances by Batalá New York, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana (Mujeres Valientes), Combo Chimbita, and Jarina De Marco (with visuals by Screaming Horses); a curator tour of “Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985” led by Catherine Morris; a community talk about the Sylvia Rivera Law Project; a hands-on art workshop in which participants can make a mask honoring their cultural heritage; a candle-decorating collage workshop with feminist collective Colectiva Cósmica, featuring a set by Ecuadorian-Lithuanian producer, DJ, and cultural activist Riobamba; screenings of experimental short films by Latin American women filmmakers, hosted by Jesse Lerner; a book-club talk about Marta Moreno Vega’s When the Spirits Dance Mambo; and pop-up gallery talks on “Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985” by teen apprentices. In addition, the galleries will be open late so you can also check out “William Trost Richards: Experiments in Watercolor,” “Arts of Korea,” “Infinite Blue,” “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.

FRIEZE NEW YORK 2018

Lara Schnitger, Suffragette City (Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA), 2016 Courtesy the artist, Anton Kern Gallery, New York. Photo: Joshua White Photography

Lara Schnitger, “Suffragette City” (Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA), 2016 (courtesy the artist, Anton Kern Gallery, New York; photo by Joshua White Photography)

FRIEZE ART FAIR
Randall’s Island Park
May 2-3 (preview), 4-6 (public), $74.50 per day
frieze.com

It’s May, and the big white tents are opening on Randall’s Island, where the seventh annual Frieze New York is sheltering art offered by nearly two hundred galleries from more than two dozen countries. More integrated into New York City’s nonstop art scene than ever, Frieze not only features associated Frieze Week projects and events around the city but also invites a more diverse group of fairgoers, artists, and activists with an updated layout and new curators. Frieze is associated with performances, installations, and events throughout the week, including Eduardo Chillada’s first exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, Huma Bhabha’s “With a Trace” at Salon 94, and Adam Pendleton’s provocative six-month installation, “Black Dada Flag (Black Lives Matter),” at Scylla Point on Randall’s Island, an area once called “Negro Point.” (Pendleton’s “What a day was this” is also on view at Lever House.) At the fair, “bespoke” private art tours beckon collectors looking for exactly the right something, while an Art Passport for teens and special $12 admission pricing on Friday for the eighteen-to-twenty-five-year-old crowd aims to bring in cost-conscious art fans and young artists; Frieze ticket holders also receive $5 off the price of admission or $25 off a membership at MoMA all weekend long. Meanwhile, MoMA PS1 is hosting the “Night at the Museum: Springtober Fest” party on May 5.

The Live program, offered for the first time in New York, is curated by Adrienne Edwards, the newly appointed Whitney curator of performance, and showcases seven pieces in ASSEMBLY, focusing on collective protest with processions, ritualistic and conceptual performance, sound installations, banners and flags, and more. The Frame section features nineteen solo shows by emerging galleries, while the thirty-six galleries in Spotlight concentrate on important twentieth-century work. Be on the lookout for work by Kapwani Kiwanga, the winner of this year’s Frieze Artist Award. Frieze Talks keeps things lively with a stellar lineup of novelists, writers, historians, and artists in discussion, a few of which are spotlighted below, ensuring that Frieze New York’s traveling spectacle under the tents never has a dull moment, even when fairgoers are perhaps just resting their feet. Frieze also tends to have the best dining choices of any of the art fairs, so come hungry.

Adam Pendleton, Black Dada Flag (Black Lives Matter), 2015–2018. Digital print on polyester, dimensions variable. Courtesy: the artist and PACE

Adam Pendleton, “Black Dada Flag (Black Lives Matter),” digital print on polyester, 2015–18 (photo courtesy of the artist and Pace)

Wednesday, May 2
Lara Schnitger, Suffragette City, procession through the fair, 5:00

Thursday, May 3
Raúl de Nieves and Erik Zajaceskowski, THANK YOU/THANK YOU, procession through the fair, 3:00

Lara Schnitger, Suffragette City, procession through the fair, 5:00

Jerry Saltz presented by New York magazine, 6:00

Friday, May 4
Abraham Cruzvillegas and Carlos Amorales in conversation with Yuri Herrera, 12 noon

Ottessa Moshfegh in conversation with Patty Cottrell, 3:00

Kaitlyn Greenidge in conversation with Kerri Greenidge, 3:00

Saturday, May 5
Fred Moten in conversation with Sondra Perry, 12 noon

Lara Schnitger, Suffragette City, procession through the fair, 3:00

Rujeko Hockley in conversation with Kaitlyn Greenidge and Kerri Greenidge, 3:00

Sunday, May 6
Elif Batuman in conversation with Negar Azimi, 12 noon

Dave McKenzie, Furtive Gestures, 1:00

GOODBYE RHINOS: THE LAST THREE

Eco-warriors Gillie and Marc Schattner have installed “Goodbye Rhinos: The Last Three” in Astor Plaza (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Astor Place
Daily through May, free
www.goodbyerhinos.org
flickr slideshow

Australian husband-and-wife sculptors and eco-warriors Gillie and Marc Schattner sought to make a statement when they installed “Goodbye Rhinos: The Last Three,” a life-size rendering of the last three living northern white rhinos — females Najin and Fatu and male Sudan — balancing one on top of the other in Astor Plaza. They got even more attention than they expected when shortly after the installation, forty-five-year-old Sudan died at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Sponsored by Nat Geo Wild, the tallest rhino sculpture in the world was created “to inspire, educate, and mobilise a global community to raise their voices and affect real change against rhino horn sales,” according to the Schattners’ website. Gillie and Marc spent time with Sudan, his daughter Najin, and his granddaughter Fatu in March 2017; you can watch a video of their interactions with the three rhinos and the making of the sculpture here. Sudan was too old to mate, and Najin and Fatu are infertile, so they can’t even breed with the other four species of rhinos; thus, nothing can be done about their impending extinction except to raise awareness and funds to prevent the end of other animals, particularly those that are illegally poached for their horns or tusks, supposed medicinal benefits, or trophies for hunters.

“Goodbye Rhinos: The Last Three” calls attention to illegal poaching and the potential extinction of certain animal species in Africa (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“In urban environments, it’s easy for humans to forget our impact on the world,” Gillie said in a statement. “Marc and I believe it’s never been more critical to connect people to nature so that we’re visibly confronted with what we’re doing to the planet.” Gillie and Marc, who have worked together for more than twenty-five years, have taken their “Travel with Love” public art project around the world, featuring anthropomorphized crabs, paparazzi dogs, Taz the Tasmanian tiger, various magpies, and their characters Dogman and Rabbitgirl. “Our mission is to collect at least one million goodbye messages and put them towards a petition for approaching governments about eliminating the demand for rhino horns through education,” Gillie added, encouraging people to post photos on social media, use their app, donate to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and go to Kenya to see Najin and Fatu. Trophy hunting is moving artists to take action in many ways; coincidentally, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage’s powerful new play,

BRIC OPEN: BORDERS

BRIC House exhibit serves as inspiration for four-day free festival on borders (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

BRIC House exhibit serves as inspiration for four-day free festival about borders (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

BRIC House
647 Fulton St., Brooklyn
April 26-29, free (advance RSVP recommended)
718-683-5600
www.bricartsmedia.org

The theme of this year’s BRIC OPEN festival is “Borders,” four days of free programs focusing on borders both real and imagined, physical and ideological. The series is being held in conjunction with the exhibition “Bordering the Imaginary: Art from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Their Diasporas,” a collection of sculpture, painting, installation, and video that, in the words of BRIC contemporary art vice president Elizabeth Ferrer, “consider the complicated interrelated histories of two Caribbean countries that share a single island, their tradition of cultural and social exchange, and the social injustices that have long burdened the people of both nations.” The exhibit includes impressive work by Raquel Paiewonsky, Pascal Meccariello, Fabiola Jean-Louis, iliana emilia garcia, Patrick Eugène, and others. “Borders” begins April 26 at 7:00 with “Art Intersecting Politics,” a conversation between Paola Mendoza and Darnell L. Moore, preceded by a spoken-word performance by slam poet Venessa Marco. Friday night’s schedule consists of a concert by Blitz the Ambassador, Lido Pimienta, and the Chamanas (as well as a screening of Blitz’s fifteen-minute film, Diasporadical Trilogia), the ninety-minute walking tour “Borders We Carry” led by Kamau Ware through downtown Brooklyn, an Immigration Action Fair, and Alicia Grullón’s “Empanar!” mobile art project.

On Saturday, there will be a family art-making workshop in which participants can add to a Building Bridges mural; a Greenlight Bookstore pop-up shop; a “Drawn Together” workshop led by “Bordering the Imaginary” artists Vladimir Cybil Charlier, Antonio Cruz, and garcia; Juanli Carrión’s “Memelismos: Memories from the Other Side” participatory storytelling installation; more walking tours; screenings of short films and Jeremy Williams’s On a Knife Edge; the discussions “Reflections on the DACA and the DREAM Act: Erika Harrsch & Yatziri Tovar” and “Haiti-NYC-DR: Reflections from the Diaspora,” the latter with Suhaly Bautista-Carolina, Edward Paulino, Albert Saint Jean, Ibi Zoboi, and moderator Carolle Charles; and a RAGGA x BRIC dance party with DJs Oscar Nñ of Papi Juice, Serena Jara, LSXOXOD, and Neon Christina and a live performance by Viva Ruiz. Sunday features a gallery tour and the closing talk “Biscuits without Borders” by Jess Thorn, aka Touretteshero. In addition, the exhibitions “Under the Same Sky . . . We Dream” by Erika Harrsch and “What time is it there?” by Katie Shima will be on view throughout the festival.

JASPER JOHNS: A LIFE’S WORK

brooklyn public library jasper johns

Who: Caitlin Sweeney, John Yau, William Villalongo, Martha Wilson
What: Roundtable on Jasper Johns’s career and preserving the work of living artists
Where: Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch, 10 Grand Army Plaza, 718-230-2100
When: Thursday, April 26, free but advance RSVP recommended, 7:30
Why: In conjunction with the publication of the five-volume Jasper Johns Catalogue Raisonné of Painting and Sculpture (Wildenstein Plattner Institute), the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library is hosting a free panel on April 26 with senior researcher and WPI director of digital publications Caitlin Sweeney, art critic and curator John Yau, painter and collagist William Villalongo, and performance artist and Franklin Furnace founder Martha Wilson. They will discuss the career of Georgia-born artist Jasper Johns, who will be turning eighty-eight on May 15, as well as the importance of preserving the work of a living artist. A catalog will enter the collection of the library as part of the event.

REWRITING PAINTING

New monograph on Philip Taaffe kicks off discussion on contemporary painting at the Cooper Union

New monograph on Philip Taaffe kicks off Cooper Union panel discussion on contemporary painting

Who: Lois Dodd, Thomas Nozkowski, Philip Taaffe, Barry Schwabsky, Faye Hirsch, John Yau
What: Panel discussion
Where: The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, the Great Hall in the Foundation Building, 7 East Seventh St. between Third & Fourth Aves.
When: Thursday, April 19, free with advance RSVP, 6:30
Why: In conjunction with the publication of the first monograph on Philip Taaffe as part of the Lund Humphries Contemporary Painters series, the Cooper Union is hosting the panel discussion “Rewriting Painting” on April 19 at 6:30, featuring Cooper graduates, artists, and Lund Humphries subjects Lois Dodd, Thomas Nozkowski, and Philip Taaffe along with critics Barry Schwabsky (the editor of the Lund Humphries series), Faye Hirsch (who wrote the book on Dodd), and John Yau (who wrote the book on Taaffe). The free event explores the state and shape of contemporary painting, asking the questions “How far have artists extended the boundaries of the medium in the twenty-first century, and what does it mean to be identified as a painter today?,” “Is the word ‘painting’ still adequate to describe a practice which no longer necessarily involves paint or flat surfaces?,” and “And to what extent do the ways in which we write about painting influence both the public’s reception of the work and contemporary practice itself?” The discussion will be followed by a book signing with all of the participants.