this week in art

CATS ON GLASS

Cats seek forever homes in Chelsea pop-up exhibit (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

524 West 26th St. at Tenth Ave.
February 15-19, free with advance RSVP, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.freshstep.com/cat-love
cats on glass slideshow

Fresh Step’s Cats on Glass pop-up show, continuing in Robert Miller Gallery’s Chelsea space through Presidents Day, is a sweet-natured celebration of all things feline, a tribute to our whiskered friends who essentially rule the world, all in the name of a new kitty litter. Not only are you encouraged to take lots of pictures, but if you post a photo or story on Instagram, you will receive a pair of cat sunglasses.

A giant cat surveys his territory (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The “Larger than Life” room honors the historical power of cats in “Larger than Life,” consisting of several large-scale pussies standing on small podiums so you may “Treasure the Monumental” and bow at their majesty.

Meditating to purrs is good for the soul (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Feline fanciers can take a break by sitting on a furry seat, putting on cat-ear headphones, and finding “purr-vana” in the Me-owm Meditation Room, which welcomes visitors with a neon “Meowmaste” sign and offers everyone a chance to meditate alongside an imaginary cat in their mind.

Pom Pom Room is a colorful display of cat toys (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Everyone is invited to get on all fours and “Revel in a Cat Daydream” in the Pom Pom Room, an area filled with colorful pom pom garlands and balls hanging from above and reaching toward the comfy floor carpet, where there are objects to bat at like playful kitties.

You can get a cat’s-eye view at interactive show (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

In the lobby are small cat paintings and mirrors that lead to the mane event, the Live Cats on Glass Playhouse, where you are given the opportunity to “Admire Cats from a Totally New Purr-spective.” On the walls are large-scale photographs of cats that are available for adoption. In one corner, you can put giant kitty heads on and see the world through a cat’s eyes.

Cuteness abounds at unique cat exhibition (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

But the centerpiece is the deluxe Live Cats on Glass Playhouse, a series of rooms, encased in Plexiglass, about six to seven feet off the ground, where cats can run around, play with other cats, hide in corners, and mew away. Visitors are able to walk under the structure and watch the cats from beneath, looking up at their toe beans pushed against the glass, see them being taken out of and put back into their carriers, or slightly pet them through small holes and slits.

Craig and Roberto are happy to be back together in playhouse (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Roberto was not happy until he was joined by his brother, Craig. Geisha ruled from a spot that was clearly just for him. And Twinkle wasn’t sure what to do and where to go.

Meet-and-greets with potential adoptees are available (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

And finally, people can interact with some of the animals in a separate room, with the possibility of giving one of them a forever home. Once the Chelsea exhibit ends, it is likely that Fresh Step will take the show on the road, sharing feline joy around the country.

FREE TICKET ALERT: SALONS@NATIONALACADEMY

national academy salons

Who: Judith Bernstein, Mickalene Thomas, Odili Donald Odita, David Reed
What: Conversations between National Academicians
Where: National Academy of Design, 5 East 89th St. at Fifth Ave., 212-369-4880
When: Thursday, March 15 & 29, free with advance RSVP, 6:30
Why: Exhibits and classes at the National Academy of Design, situated in the Huntington Mansion on Eighty-Ninth St. and Fifth Ave., have been on hiatus as the institution seeks to sell its buildings and find a new home. But the organization, which was founded in 1825 to promote the fine arts in America, is still hosting special programs. In March, the salons@nationalacademy series continues with what should be two fascinating conversations between National Academicians. On March 15 at 6:30, two New Jersey natives who live and work in New York, Judith Bernstein, known for her explicit sexual imagery, and Mickalene Thomas, a multimedia artist who explores feminine desire and power through glittering works, will get together for a conversation that has the potential to be explosive given what is happening in the country today and in the art world specifically. Two weeks later, on March 29 at 6:30, California multimedia artist, lecturer, historian, and curator David Reed will be joined by Nigerian-born abstract painter Odili Donald Odita, who lives and works in Philadelphia and specializes in large-scale, ornately colorful wall installations. Admission is free, but there is limited seating, so advance reservations are strongly suggested.

NEVER BUILT NEW YORK

A model of Eliot Noyes’s never-built Westinghouse Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair is turned into a bouncy castle for kids as part of Queens Museum exhibit (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Queens Museum
New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Through February 18, $8 adults, $4 seniors, free for children eighteen and under
718-592-9700
www.queensmuseum.org

Oh, what might have been. There are only a few more days left to get a gander at a Gotham that just was not meant to be in the sensational exhibit “Never Built New York,” which on February 18 will go the way of all the projects that comprise it. Curators Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin have brought together paraphernalia from nearly eighty structures, including newspaper clippings, computer renderings, models, architectural drawings, sketches, blueprints, watercolors, photographs, and more, that, for one reason or another — money, safety, graft, time, politics, war — never took form. The would-be projects range from John Rink’s 1858 Plan of the Central Park, Richard Morris Hunt’s 1866 New-York Historical Society, Alfred Ely Beach’s 1870 Beach Pneumatic Railway, and Rufus Gilbert’s 1871 Elevated Railway to several possibilities to replace the World Trade Center, Zaha Hadid’s 2012 425 Park Ave., and Work AC’s 2015 Guggenheim Collection Center. Among the familiar names who attempted and failed to reshape parts of the city are Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, Daniel Libeskind, Robert Moses, R. Buckminster Fuller, Isamu Noguchi, Frank Gehry, I. M. Pei, Marcel Breuer, Michael Graves, Santiago Calatrava, and McKim, Mead & White.

The Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum temporarily includes a series of projects that were never built (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Moses wanted to construct the elevated Lower Manhattan Expressway from the Holland Tunnel to the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. Fuller wanted to put up a pair of enormous domes, including one for a stadium for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Norman Sper was going to fill in the Hudson River to connect Manhattan with New Jersey. Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates included the world’s largest clock in their design for the Whitehall Ferry Terminal. Norman Bel Geddes’s “Rotary Airport” floated eight hundred feet off the Battery. In 1925, Harvey Wiley Corbett’s “How You May Live and Travel in the City of 1950” featured half-mile-high skyscrapers and four levels of streets for automobile traffic. There are also proposals for the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, Times Square, the Metropolitan Opera, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, Lincoln Center, Battery Park, Columbus Circle, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Botanical Garden, and an Olympic Village. The show is capped off by the genius idea of temporarily adding many of the projects to the museum’s glorious Panorama of the City of New York, a 1:1200 model of every street and building in the five boroughs that is kept up-to-date; be sure to use the virtual reality headsets to learn more about some of the projects and see what they might have really looked like in relation to the actually built city around them.

“Patty Chang: The Wandering Lake” includes two related videos dealing with ritual mourning and cleansing (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Also at the Queens Museum is “Patty Chang: The Wandering Lake,” a multimedia exhibit by the California artist that features a unique exploration of water and relieving oneself in China as well as a pair of videos involving ritualistic mourning and cleansing, one of a grounded ship, the other of a beached whale; “Sable Elyse Smith: Ordinary Violence,” a complex journey into incarceration and trauma; “Julia Weist with Nestor Siré: 17.(SEPT) [By WeistSiréPC]™,” dealing with internet connectivity and file sharing in Cuba; and “Anna K.E.: Profound Approach and Easy Outcome,” in which the Georgian-born artist, who lives and works in New York City and Germany, has created a site-specific wall commission for which, in two of the pieces, she reenacts paintings by Otto Dix and Balthus at the Met, dominated by her feminine gaze.

LUNAR NEW YEAR 4716: THE YEAR OF THE DOG

china institute new year family festival

Sara D. Roosevelt Park and other locations
East Houston St. between Forsythe & Chrystie Sts.
February 16-25
www.betterchinatown.com
www.explorechinatown.com

Gōng xǐ fā cái! New York City is ready to celebrate the Year of the Dog, or, more specifically, the Earth Dog, this month with special events all over town. People born in the Year of the Dog are honest, loyal, reliable, and responsible. Below are some of the highlights happening here in the five boroughs during the next several weeks of Chinese New Year.

Friday, February 16
Lunar New Year for Kids, with storytelling, crafts, snacks, games, and a Chinese acrobat, China Institute, 40 Rector St., 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

New Year’s Day Firecracker Ceremony & Cultural Festival, Sara D. Roosevelt Park, Grand Street at Chrystie St., free, 11:00 am – 3:30 pm

Saturday, February 17
Lunar New Year Family Festival, with “The Mane Event: A Lion Dance Performance” by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, “Sounds of the New Year” featuring the pipa and the gong, “Whirling, Twirling Ribbons: A Ribbon Dance Workshop” with Mei-Yin Ng, folk arts, food sampling, storytelling, a gallery hunt, lion mask and paper dog workshops, and more, Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., $12, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm

Lunar New Year Celebration, with family-friendly arts and crafts, a lion dance, a paper-cutting workshop, zodiac face painting (for an additional fee), a taekwondo demonstration, a plant sale, and live performances, Queens Botanical Garden, 43-50 Main St., free, 12 noon – 4:00

Lunar New Year, with a lion dance, Shaolin Kung Fu demonstrations, Chinese drumming, Chinese acrobatics, traditional Chinese music and dance, and master of ceremonies Cary Chow, New York Chinese Cultural Center at Arts Brookfield, 230 Vesey St., free, 2:00 – 3:15

Tuesday, February 20
Lunar New Year Concert, with the New York Philharmonic performing works by Li Huanzhi, Andy Akiho, Beethoven, and more, with Ping-Pong players Ariel Hsing and Michael Landers, Elizabeth Zeltser on violin, David Cossin on percussion, Serena Wang on piano, Alex Rosen on bass, sopranos Heather Phillips and Vanessa Vasquez, mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko, tenors Marco Cammarota and Chad Johnson, and the Farmers’ Chorus of the Yunnan Province, conducted by Long Yu, David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, $35-$110, 7:30

Saturday, February 24
Lunar New Year Celebration 4716: Year of the Dog, with costume contest, riddles, martial arts, live music and dance, arts and crafts, games, and more, P.S.310, 942 62nd St., free, 11:00 am – 2:30

Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Dog, featuring a Japanese shakuhachi soloist, Balinese music by Gamelan Dharma Swara, the Met Quartet in Residence: Aizuri Quartet playing “Japan Across the World,” fan painting, “Put Your Stamp on It” with Kam Mak, “Double Dog Dare You!,” a fire-breathing dragon mask, good luck puzzles, Wayang: Indonesian shadow puppet making, zodiac puppets, a hand drum and fan dance workshop, Wu-Wo tea ceremony and bubble tea gatherings, a hand-pulled noodle demonstration, a “What Your Nose Knows” scent tour, “My Chinatown” with Kam Mak, and more, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St., free with suggested museum admission, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Sunday, February 25
Chinese New Year Family Festival, with workshops, dumpling making, storytelling, lion dance, live music, a puppet show, and more, workshops $5-$20, party and performance $10-$20, China Institute, 40 Rector St., 11:00 am – 3:00 pm

Nineteenth annual New York City Lunar New Year Parade & Festival, with cultural booths in the park and a parade with floats, antique cars, live performances, and much more from China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and other nations, Chinatown, Sara D. Roosevelt Park, and Columbus Park, free, 1:00

Lunar New Year Celebration, with live performance and paper-cutting workshop sponsored by the New York Chinese Cultural Center, Staten Island Children’s Museum, 1000 Richmond Terr., $8, 2:00 – 4:00

PERFORMANCE SPACE NEW YORK EAST VILLAGE SERIES: AVANT-GARDE-ARAMA

Performance Space New York is reborn in the East Village

Performance Space New York
150 First Ave. at East Ninth St.
Sunday, February 18, free, 6:00 pm – 1:00 am
212-352-3101
performancespacenewyork.org

After a major renovation, one of downtown’s best and most diverse venues is back, as Performance Space New York, formerly known as PS122, celebrates its return with a free event on Sunday night, “Avant-Garde-Arama.” Kicking off the East Village Series, the festivities will feature live performances from six to nine on several stages by a vast array of creators, including Adrienne Truscott, Erin Markey, Hamm, Holly Hughes, John Kelly, John Zorn, La Bruja of Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Penny Arcade, Pharmakon, Reggie Watts, and Sister Jean Ra Horror, among many others. At nine, a dance party takes over, with JD Samson, Justin Strauss, and more. The evening’s hosts are the Factress (Lucy Sexton), Carmelita Tropicana, and Ikechukwu Ufomadu. On its website, the venue declares, “Performance Space New York was born in the East Village in 1980 as Performance Space 122 when a group of local artists occupied the empty building that had been home to Public School 122 and started making performance work as a passionate rejection of corporate mainstream culture. Today, almost forty years later, Performance Space New York is faced with a radically transformed neighborhood unaffordable for young artists and a national political climate that feeds off social inequity more than ever. Moving back into our newly renovated spaces, the inaugural East Village Series asks what kind of art organization we need to become in light of this ever-more-exclusionary social and political context.” The East Village Series continues through June with such presentations as “Focus on Kathy Acker,” “Women’s History Museum,” Diamanda Galás and Davide Pepe’s Schrei 27, a world premiere by Sarah Michelson, Tiona Nekkia McClodden’s CLUB, Penny Arcade’s Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!, and Chris Cochrane, Dennis Cooper, and Ishmael Houston-Jones’s Them.

FLIGHT

flight 2

The Heath in the McKittrick Hotel
542 West 27th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Daily through April 20, $45
212-904-1880
mckittrickhotel.com
www.voxmotus.co.uk

Emursive productions, the innovative team that has brought such successful immersive shows as Sleep No More and The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart to the McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea, has done it again with Vox Motus’s Flight, a very different, much more settled kind of presentation that melds art, theater, and literature into something wholly new. The gripping story, which unfolds over about sixty tense minutes, was adapted by Oliver Emanuel from Australian journalist Caroline Brothers’s 2012 debut novel, Hinterland. For those of you who like surprises and prefer not to know anything about a show before heading to the theater, that is all I am going to tell you, other than I highly recommend it for fans of experimental, unusual methods of storytelling — you can stop right here and go get tickets now. (Also, it is definitely not for kids; no one under fourteen will be admitted.) For those of you who need to know more, read on for further details, although I strongly suggest you don’t. The primary reason I am sharing more information is to sing the praises of the people behind this unusual adventure.

Vox Motus’s Flight can be experienced at the McKittrick Hotel through March 25 (photo by Beth Chalmers)

SPOILERS AHEAD! Entering the show takes place via a number of anteroom-type spaces: a special elevator, a coat check, a train car, and a dim, curtained space, from which theatergoers are led one-by-one into even darker private booths. Directed by Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds of Scottish theater company Vox Motus (The Infamous Brothers Davenport, Slick), Flight reveals itself in tiny dioramas that revolve past you on a carousel; the parade of scenarios of many shapes and sizes produces an effect similar to that of viewing graphic novel panels. The tale follows two young Afghan brothers, eight-year-old Kabir (voiced by Nalini Chertty) and fifteen-year-old Aryan (Farshid Rokey), as they flee their home country in search of freedom, a path that will take them across Europe as they encounter terrible danger, awful hardship, and moments of delight, with a third-person narrator (Emun Elliott) serving as guide. Each diorama, many of which feature the sun or the moon in the background, is designed by Harrison and Rebecca Hamilton, with tiny figures trapped in tiny rooms, forced to work on a farm, and in transit, always frightened that they will be caught. The dioramas are lit like movie sets by Simon Wilkinson, with a compelling score and sound design by Mark Melville. Part art installation, part immersive theater, Flight, the title of which refers to the brothers’ passage toward freedom as well as Kabir’s desire to fly through the air, is a timely look at what so many refugees must do to escape their violent country and find a new home, risking their life for a little bit of food and a place to sleep without fear. It’s a harrowing journey that is intelligently depicted by Vox Motus, avoiding treacly sentimentality and instead focusing on a simple narrative and the genuine peril the boys, and so many refugees and illegal immigrants around the world and in America, face on a daily basis. The production, which won a Herald Angel Award at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, continues at the McKittrick Hotel through April 20. Don’t hesitate to get on board, while you still enjoy your own freedom.

STEFAN FALKE — MOKO JUMBIES: THE DANCING SPIRITS OF TRINIDAD

Stefan Falke will be at Deutsches Haus at NY for special conversation about his moko jumbies photos on February 12 (photo © Stefan Falke)

Who: Stefan Falke, Laura Anderson Barbata
What: Exhibition opening and artist talk
Where: Deutsches Haus at NYU, 42 Washington Mews
When: Monday, February 12, free, 6:00
Why: From 1997 to 2004, German-born, New York-based photographer Stefan Falke photographed Trinidadian stilt walkers, known as moko jumbies, collecting his pictures in the book Moko Jumbies: The Dancing Spirits of Trinidad (Pointed Leaf Press, 2005, $65). Falke will be at NYU’s Deutsches Haus on February 12 at 6:00 for the opening of his latest exhibition, featuring photos of the Dragon Keylemanjahro School of Art & Culture in Cocorite, which have never been on view in New York City before. Falke, who has also published La Frontera, portraits of artists on either side of the US-Mexico border, will be speaking with Mexico City native Laura Anderson Barbata, a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works there and in Brooklyn and who has also photographed moko jumbies for her project “Transommunality.” “Moko Jumbies: The Dancing Spirits of Trinidad” continues at Deutsches Haus through March 31.