this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH EVENT: RAPHAEL MONTAÑEZ ORTIZ

El Museo del Barrio will celebrate the publication of Raphael Montañez Ortiz’s first monograph on July 22

Who: Javier Rivero Ramos, Chon Noriega, Kevin Hatch, Ana Perry, Marcos Dimas, Pedro Reyes, Juan Sanchez
What: Virtual book launch of Raphael Montañez Ortiz monograph with conversation and live Q&A
Where: El Museo en Tu Casa Zoom
When: Wednesday, July 22, free with RSVP, 7:00
Why: In 1969, Brooklyn-born artist and educator Raphael Montañez Ortiz founded and became the first director of El Museo del Barrio. “The cultural disenfranchisement I experience as a Puerto Rican has prompted me to seek a practical alternative to the orthodox museum, which fails to meet my needs for an authentic ethnic experience. To afford me and others the opportunity to establish living connections with my own culture, I founded El Museo del Barrio,” he said. In 2014, El Museo honored Ortiz with the exhibition “Museum Starter Kit: Open with Care”; on July 22, they’ll pay tribute to the eighty-six-year-old Nuyorican multidisciplinary deconstructionist with a virtual launch party for his first monograph, featuring a live conversation on Zoom, followed by a Q&A; among the participants are monograph editor Javier Rivero Ramos, contributors Chon Noriega, Kevin Hatch, and Ana Perry, and artists Marcos Dimas, Pedro Reyes, and Juan Sanchez.

“One of the most radical creators and pioneers of his generation, Raphael Montañez Ortiz offers El Museo del Barrio an opportunity to push the boundaries of identities, showcase moments of harmony and tension in our lived history as a museum, and challenge and expand limited visual art narratives. Entropy speaks about the need for transformation, about the irreversible changes that are generated within complex systems. This spirit is evidenced in El Museo del Barrio today and for years to come,” El Museo executive director Patrick Charpenel said in a statement. Ramos added, “For far too long, canonical art history devoted to American art of the second half of the twentieth century neglected one of its most innovative artists. Premised on the Eurocentric myth of the homo faber, it failed to comprehend the trailblazing character of Raphael Montañez Ortiz and his lifelong endeavor to harness the human condition’s primal energies. At once a painter, performance artist, sculptor, filmmaker, teacher, community organizer, and writer, the work of Raphael Montañez Ortiz defies disciplinary categorization. This publication offers for the first time a panoramic view of a prolific career spanning more than six decades.”

TOMORROW WILL BE SUNDAY (working title) READING AND Q&A

working title

Who: Heather Raffo, Jenny Koons, Bill Buell, Laura Crotte, Carol Halstead, Mia Katigbak, CTC 2020 conservatory members
What: Online workshop reading of new play with Q&A
Where: CHQ Virtual Porch On Demand
When: Wednesday, July 22, free with RSVP (donations encouraged), 8:15
Why: During the pandemic, Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York State has been hosting virtual events via its CHQ Virtual Porch hub, including the “Cocktails, Concerts & Conversations” series with members of Chautauqua Opera Company and Chautauqua Dance, master classes, lectures, and music recitals. On July 22 at 8:15, Chautauqua Theater Company will present a virtual reading of Tomorrow Will Be Sunday, a new play by Heather Raffo (Palace of the End, 9 Parts of Desire), directed by Jenny Koons (A Sucker Emcee, Queen of the Night). Performed by Bill Buell, Laura Crotte, Carol Halstead, Mia Katigbak, and members of the CTC 2020 conservatory, the play (with a working title) is a thriller that explores migration and the global economy. The reading will be followed by a live Q&A.

CARMEN ARGOTE’S LAST LIGHT SCREENING AND Q&A

Carmen Argote goes for a haunting walk in new short film Last Light

Who: Carmen Argote, Erin Christovale
What: Livestream premiere and live Q&A
Where: The Hammer Museum at UCLA
When: Tuesday, July 21, free with RSVP, 9:00 EDT
Why: Mexican-born, LA-based multidisciplinary artist Carmen Argote was scheduled to open her latest exhibition, “Hand Dog Glove,” at Clockshop in Los Angeles, but the Covid-19 pandemic has put that on hold. In the interim, Argote, the gallery, and the Hammer Museum at UCLA have teamed up to present the livestream premiere of Argote’s haunting twelve-minute film, Last Light, which she started making just before the lockdown and continued during the crisis. “Is this fear so paralyzing?” she asks as she walks through the emptying streets of her city, considering ideas of loneliness, childhood, and demolition. “I feel like I’m not made to last; I’m not the one who’s gonna make it.” Argote, who was hospitalized early in the crisis for a non-cornonavirus-related illness, takes walks as part of her discipline. In her artist statement she explains, “I explore notions of home and place. I respond to architecture and site to reflect on personal histories and on my own immigrant experience. My practice uses the act of inhabiting as a starting point, working within a space and its cultural, economic, and personal context as a material. I work at a human scale and in relationship to how my body inhabits space.” The premiere will be livestreamed on July 21 at 9:00, followed by a Q&A with Argote and Hammer associate curator Erin Christovale. (Click on the above photo to watch the trailer.)

THE JOYCE THEATER: DANCING DIALOGUES

dancing dialogues

Who: Joyce Theater
What: Online discussions about dance during the coronavirus crisis
Where: Joyce online
When: Monday, July 20 & 27 and August 10, free with RSVP, 6:00
Why: On July 20, the Joyce Theater is kicking off an exciting live panel series, “Dancing Dialogues,” which gathers together dance makers and artists in interactive online discussions about dance and the state of the world during the pandemic lockdown. On July 20 at 6:00, “Realized Cultural Resonance” features Ronald K. Brown, Rosie Herrera, Emily Johnson, Virginia Johnson, and Michael Sakamoto with moderator Phil Chan. On July 27, “Reinvention: The Art of Pivot” consists of Patricia Delgado, Francesca Harper, and Vernon Scott with moderator Adrian Danchig-Waring. And on August 10, “Rebuilding Dance Audiences: Virtual to Actual” will delve into how performing arts organization are handling the crisis. Admission is free with advance RSVP, but donations are encouraged. In addition, you should check out JoyceStream, where you can see A.I.M’s Meditation: A Silent Prayer and Olivier Tarpaga’s Declassified Memory Fragment for a limited time, with Shantala Shivalingappa’s Bhairava and Urban Bush Women’s Women’s Resistance up next.

TNC ON THE AIR: VISITORS IN THE DARK

visitors

Who: Charles Busch, Julie Halston, Becky London, Ruth Williamson, Carl Andress
What: Online reading of new play
Where: Theater for the New City Facebook Live
When: Monday, July 20, free (donations accepted), 7:00
Why: On May 13, Stars in the House presented a live, one-time-only reading of Charles Busch’s wonderful comedy, The Confessions of Lily Dare, which ran at the Cherry Lane earlier this year. On July 20 at 7:00, the downtown institution Theater for the New City is hosting the world premiere of Busch’s latest work, Visitors in the Dark, on Facebook Live. The play, directed and narrated by longtime Busch collaborator Carl Andress, features Busch as Trina, Julie Halston as Hope, Becky London as Lou, and Ruth Williamson as Yvonne, four characters who find themselves trapped in a Greenwich Village tenement during the Northeast Blackout of 1965, evocative of the current situation with everyone still sheltering in place during the pandemic lockdown. Busch, an actor, playwright, cabaret performer, and drag legend, has either written and/or starred in such works as The Allergist’s Wife, Olive and the Bitter Herbs, The Tribute Artist, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and Die Mommie Die! The virtual production is part of TNC “On the Air,” which has previously streamed Roberto Monticello’s Café Resistance, Melanie Goodreaux’s The White Blacks, Claude Solnick’s The Statement, William Electric Black’s I Will Never Clean My Room and The Cry, and Eva Dorrepaal’s Raising a Revolutionary, among others. As always, admission is free, but donations are accepted to support this New York City jewel.

DTH ON DEMAND: COMING TOGETHER

Dance Theatre of Harlem will present online premiere of Nacho Duato’s Coming Together this week (photo courtesy DTH)

Who: Dance Theatre of Harlem
What: Livestreamed performances and discussions
Where: Dance Theatre of Harlem YouTube channel
When: July 16-18, free
Why: Dance Theatre of Harlem is continuing its fiftieth anniversary, dubbed “50 Forward,” with virtual presentations this summer. DTH on Demand launched last month with Arthur Mitchell and Frederic Franklin’s adaptation of Creole Giselle, Grand Moultrie’s Vessels, Robert Garland’s Return, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Balamouk. The next iteration is under way, featuring an extended look at last year’s Works & Process performance at the Guggenheim and exciting programs built around Nacho Duato’s Coming Together. Last week the troupe livestreamed “Inside Works & Process: The Four Temperaments,” a panel discussion with George Balanchine Trust répétiteur Deborah Wingert, New York City Ballet solo pianist Susan Walters, and DTH company artist Daphne Lee; “Tones II — A Reflection on Arthur Mitchell,” a talk with company artists Derek Brockington, Choong Hoon Lee, Amanda Smith and former DTH ballerina and board member China White, former ballerinas Gayle McKinney and Brenda Garrett-Glassman, and former principal dancer Donald Williams; and the online premiere of the full-length Guggenheim Rotunda performance from September 30, 2019, consisting of Nyman String Quartet No.2 (choreographed by Robert Garland, with music by Michael Nyman), the first three of The Four Temperaments (choreographed by George Balanchine, with music by Paul Hindemith), and Tones II (choreographed by Mitchell, with a score by Tania León).

This week DTH delves into Duato’s powerful piece, which was commissioned in 1991 for Compania Nacional de Danza in Madrid and was inspired by a letter Attica prisoner Sam Melville wrote on May 16, 1971. The letter reads today as if it were composed during the coronavirus pandemic: “I think the combination of age and a greater coming together is responsible for the speed of the passing time. It’s six months now and I can tell you truthfully few periods in my life have passed so quickly. I am in excellent physical and emotional health. There are doubtless subtle surprises ahead, but I feel secure and ready. As lovers will contrast their emotions in times of crisis, so am I dealing with my environment. In the indifferent brutality, incessant noise, the experimental chemistry of food, the ravings of lost hysterical men, I can act with clarity and meaning. I am deliberate — sometimes even calculating — seldom employing histrionics except as a test of the reactions of others. I read much, exercise, talk to guards and inmates, feeling for the inevitable direction of my life.” Melville was shot and killed during the Attica uprising four months later. On July 16 at 8:00, company artist Crystal Serrano and professor and former dancer Eva Lopez Crevillen will take viewers “Inside Coming Together: Staging the Ballet”; on July 17 at 8:00, “The Greater Coming Together” explores the minimalist score by Frederic Rzewski; and on July 18 at 8:00, the full work will have its virtual premiere, hosted by company artist Lindsey Donnell and including a live interactive chat on YouTube with company artist Dylan Santos. DTH has also been holding live open classes and artist talks regularly on its Instagram and Facebook pages.

THEATER IN QUARANTINE: CLOSET WORKS V.2

Who: Joshua William Gelb, Sanaz Ghajar, Veronica Jiao, Nehemiah Luckett, Nate Stevens, Raja Feather Kelly
What: Live performance series from an East Village closet
Where: Joshua William Gelb YouTube channel
When: Thursday, July 16, free, 7:00 (encore at 9:00)
Why: Feeling claustrophobic? Wait till you get a load of Joshua William Gelb. During the pandemic, the writer, director, performer, and librettist has been presenting short, livestreamed works from his 2′ x 4′ x 8′ converted closet in his East Village apartment, making creative use of the space in a series he calls Theater in Quarantine. Among the pieces you can still catch on his YouTube channel are Franz Kafka’s The Neighbor, Hypochondriac! (based on Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid), Scott R. Sheppard’s Topside, and box thrree. spool five. a piece of krapp, from Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. On July 16 at 7:00 and 9:00, Gelb will premiere closet works v.2, featuring choreography by regular collaborator Katie Rose McLaughlin and guest artists Sanaz Ghajar, Veronica Jiao, Nehemiah Luckett, Nate Stevens, and Raja Feather Kelly, offering a whole new interpretation of digital space.

In a statement, Gelb (The Black Crook, A Hunger Artist) explained, “I often think about Peter Brook’s invocation of the empty space when standing in front of my closet. How can this utilitarian container, so uncomfortably small, so disproportionate in its aspect ratio, become a stage for the imagination? And it’s here I find the central metaphor, and perhaps appeal, of the entire project — it’s about as obvious as you might expect — that my attempts not only to make art in this confinement but to exist whatsoever, are not so dissimilar from what many of us are experiencing. There is frustration, and boredom, and lots of loneliness. But there is also great potential and for once an expanse of time that we have the chance to fill not with mere anxiety but with the thoughtful, rigorous creative impulse.” The series, held in conjunction with the Invisible Dog Art Center, continues August 13 and September 12; admission is free, but you can donate to the project here. Also on the schedule for Theater in Quarantine is The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy on July 30, an adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s Star Diaries directed by Jon Levin and written by Josh Luxenberg; and the spoken-word chamber opera Footnote for the End of Time on August 27, based on Jorge Luis Borges’s short story “The Secret Miracle,” directed by Levin and with music by Alex Weston inspired by Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.