Tag Archives: american museum of natural history

JOSHUA LIGHT SHOW: FULLDOME

Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 81st St.
June 3-5, $40, 8:00
212-769-5200
www.amnh.org
www.joshualightshow.com

“It’s random and improvised but not out of control,” Joshua White said following the June 2 rehearsal of his latest Joshua Light Show project, “Fulldome,” being presented this weekend at the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. “We know what’s going to happen.” White, a native New Yorker, founded the Joshua Light Show in 1967, integrating light and music at Fillmore East concerts featuring such groups as the Doors, the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Grateful Dead. JLS music curator and producer Nick Hallett composed the score for the 360-degree “Fulldome,” with narration and vocals by Scissor Sister Ana Matronic (including a version of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”), percussion by Laraaji and Z’EV, and drone, electronic noise, chamber opera, psychedelia, and other musical forays courtesy of Hallett, sound designer Jeff Cook, and Oneida. Ana Matronic also works the liquid light loops, mixing colored liquid onto slides under a microscope that is projected off a mirror and onto the circular ceiling, adding a sort of living element to the visual collage being unfolded. White, Ana Matronic, and fellow artists Alyson Denny, Seth Kirby, Brock Monroe, Doug Pope, Bec Stupak, and Gary Panter use old-fashioned analog techniques in addition to more modern computer technology (“Why? Because we can,” White said) to achieve the mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic, even forensic effects, building like a jazz band at first feeling one another out, then coming together in exciting solos, duets, and other combinations that feed your head and swallow you whole if you let them, which you most definitely should. “Fulldome,” a kind of fantasy that is part Fantastic Voyage, part “Journey to the Center of Your Mind,” taking you through space and deep underwater — as well as anywhere else you are ready to psychically travel — will be presented Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at 9:00, preceded at 8:00 by an after-hours visit to the excellent interactive exhibition “Brain: The Inside Story.” Also, on June 4 at 6:00, the Joshua Light Show will be part of the World Science Festival program “Illuminating Light: The Journey of a Photon Through Time and Mind,” which will consist of a JLS performance, followed by a discussion with AMNH director of astrovisualization Carter Emmart, neuroscientist Joy Hirsch, and “Brain” curator Rob DeSalle ($15).

LIVING IN AMERICA: BRAIN AND THE TIBETAN CREATIVE MIND

Creation of sand mandala is part of Global Weekend program at AMNH (photo copyright Kitt Teed)

GLOBAL WEEKENDS
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.
January 25-30, free with suggested museum admission of $9-$16
212-769-5200
www.amnh.org

To inaugurate the exhibition “Body and Spirit: Tibetan Medical Paintings,” Kehn Rinpoche Geshe Kachen Lobzang Tsetan of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery and monks from Drepang Loseling Monastery will lead a procession and prayer ritual through the American Museum of Natural History on January 25 beginning at 10:30 am. The celebration also kicks off the institution’s latest Global Weekends program, which will extend over six days and feature monastic cham dances, art exchanges, the creation of a Medicine Buddha sand mandala, and public meditation that is being held in conjunction with the interactive exhibit “Brain: The Inside Story” as well. On January 29 at 1:30, Richard J. Davidson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Investigating Healthy Minds will present “Change Your Brain by Transforming Your Mind,” followed by a Q&A. Other speakers include Barnard term assistant professor Annabella Pitkin and Joseph Loizzo of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science. The meditation sessions, which require advance RSVP, are being held January 25 at 8:00 am in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, January 26 at 7:30 pm in the Hayden Planetarium Space Theatre, January 28 at 7:00 pm in the Audubon Gallery, and January 29 at 3:00 pm in the Linder Theater.

ONE STEP BEYOND WITH MATT AND KIM

Matt and Kim will play a DJ set at the American Museum of Natural History’s Friday night One Step Beyond party (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

American Museum of Natural History
Rose Center for Earth and Space
Western Pavilion, Columbus Ave. at 79th St.
Friday, January 14, $25, 9:00
www.myspace.com/mattandkim
www.amnh.org

Technically, the Ecstatic Music Festival gets under way next week, but it’s going to be hard to find a more ecstatic event than the January edition of the monthly One Step Beyond dance party at the American Museum of Natural History. Held in the Rose Center for Earth and Space, the festivities include drinks, dancing, live bands, and DJs beginning at 9:00, twenty-one and over only, please. The stars underneath the stars for Friday’s gathering are Brooklyn darlings Matt and Kim, who generally have about as much fun in their public performances as is legally and humanly possible. Although Matthew Johnson will not be behind the keyboards and Kimberly Schifino will not be at or on top of her drum kit, the Pratt pair will be manning the DJ table, blasting out hot sounds on a cool night. Also on the bill are twenty-one-year-old Dipset producer and MPC master AraabMUZIK; Nacey, known for his Nouveau Riche parties in DC; and One Step Beyond faves Activaire DJs.

KWANZAA 2010: THE LEGACY CONTINUES…

The American Museum of Natural History will celebrate Kwanzaa on December 26

American Museum of Natural History
79th St. & Central Park West
Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, first floor
Sunday, December 26, free with museum admission, 12 noon – 5:00
212-769-5100
www.amnh.org

The American Museum of Natural History’s annual celebration of Nguzo Saba, also known as Kwanzaa, takes place on December 26 with a full slate of special activities. The afternoon begins at twelve o’clock with a Kwanzaa arts & crafts and food marketplace and continues with such live performances as “Unity NOW!” with Griot Linda Humes, “The Rhythm of the Soul!” with the Kotchegna and Gestures Dance Ensemble Dance Company, “The Music of the Soul!” with McCollough Invaders of the United House of Prayer for All People, “The Birthplace of the Soul — Mother Africa!” with the Restoration Dance Theatre Company, and “The Power of the Soul!” with the Allen Liturgical Dance Ministry of the Greater Allen Cathedral, paying tribute to the seven Kwanzaa principles: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). Among the current exhibits at the museum, some of which require individual timed ticketing, are “Brain: The Inside Story,” “Race to the End of the Earth,” “On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight,” the Butterfly Conservatory, and the Space Show films HUBBLE, JOURNEY TO THE STARS, and a double feature of PASSPORT TO THE UNIVERSE and THE SEARCH FOR LIFE: ARE WE ALONE?

MARGARET MEAD FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL: INTIMATE STORIES / INTERNATIONAL VOICES

Judith Malek-Mahdavi and Jens Schanze’s PLUG & PRAY kicks off annual Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.
November 11-14, $12-$40
212-769-5200
www.amnh.org/mead

The thirty-fourth annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival will present more than three dozen short and feature-length documentaries that span the globe, beginning with the opening-night selection, Judith Malek-Mahdavi and Jens Schanze’s PLUG & PRAY (VON COMPUTERN UND ADEREN MENSCHEN), which examines Joseph Weizenbaum’s work in artificial intelligence, through the closing-night film, Nicola Bellucci’s IN THE GARDEN OF SOUNDS (NEL GIARDINO DEI SUONI), which looks at Wolfgang’s Fasser’s forays into sound’s healing powers. This year’s festival features works from Israel, Greece, Russia, Peru, Cambodia, Brazil, Uganda, Afghanistan, and many other nations, investigating the petrochemical plants of Port Arthur, Texas (SHELTER IN PLACE), Chinese investment in Zambia (WHEN CHINA MET AFRICA), the South Pacific erosion of the Takuu homeland in Papua New Guinea (THERE ONCE WAS AN ISLAND), plutonium accidents in Chelyabinsk (TANKOGRAD), post-apartheid economic problems for black communities in South Africa (WHEN THE MOUNTAIN MEETS ITS SHADOW), Swiss artist Ernst Abei’s return to Mali (BAREFOOT TO TIMBUKTU: ERNSE AEBI – COME HELL OR HIGH WATER), and the Mursi fighting for survival in Ethiopia (SHOOTING WITH MURSI). There is also a special section on musician and photographer John Cohen and several works being shown in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History’s upcoming “Brain: The Inside Story” exhibition, including Nadav Harel’s THE ELECTRIC MIND, about cutting-edge neurosurgery techniques. The festival, which runs at the museum November 11-14, will also offer the opportunity to discover the story behind the institution’s forty thousand glass lantern slides in the special program “Lantern Slides: Looking Glass Through History” with AMNH archivist Barbara Mathé and historians Constance Areson Clarke and Alison Griffiths.

LIZARDS AND SNAKES AND BUTTERFLIES

The Butterfly Conservatory closes for the summer on May 31 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.
“The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter” through May 31, timed-entry tickets
“Lizards & Snakes: Alive!” through September 2, timed-entry tickets
Admission: $24 with one special exhibition, $32 for all special exhibitions and films
212-769-5200
www.amnh.org

While the American Museum of Natural History is world renowned for its dinosaur collection and taxidermied dioramas, there are currently two exhibits on view that involve living creatures. There’s only one week left to step inside the glassed-in Butterfly Conservatory, in which more than five hundred butterflies and moths flitter about with adults and children alike, landing on heads and clothing, using their long proboscis to suck up fruit juice, and relaxing on leaves and plants. Most of the butterflies have a life span of only a few weeks, so every time you go, you’re sure to see something new. Just be careful where you step, in case one of them is on the ground below you. And don’t be so quick to scratch that itch – it could be a member of the Order Lepidoptera fluttering on your nose. The butterflies will be going on hiatus following Memorial Day weekend, returning to the Upper West Side in October.

Frilled lizards are among more than sixty cool creatures in “Lizards & Snakes: Alive!” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

More than five dozen squamates wriggle and writhe in “Lizards & Snakes: Alive!,” which continues through September 2. Arranged in separate glass cases based on their evolution, ancestry, and other relationships (some of which is detailed in diagrams of life called cladograms), such amazing animals as a Madagascan giant day gecko, a tropical girdled lizard, a rhinoceros iguana, an eastern green mamba, a Gabon viper, a Gila monster, and a red spitting cobra are on view in miniature habitats. Interactive stations and fascinating facts add insight to the life of these creepy, crawly creatures. On June 19 and 25, Chad Peeling will lead the special family program “Wild, Wild World: Snakes and Lizards,” offering an inside look at squamates. In addition, there are still spots left for “A Night at the Museum” those same days, when kids can sleep over at AMNH and go on their own adventures through one of the world’s finest natural history institutions. (Also on view at the museum is “Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World” through August 15, “Race to the End of the World” through May 29, and the Hayden Planetarium film JOURNEY TO THE STARS.)