Tag Archives: el museo del barrio

POST PLASTICA

POST PLASTICA is a multimedia collaboration between PS 122 and El Museo del Barrio

El Teatro, El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
May 31 – June 3, $20, 7:30
212-352-3101
www.ps122.org

PS 122 and El Museo del Barrio have joined forces to present the multimedia performance Post Plastica, a virtual fantasy that imagines the future of art as well as the world itself. Created by sisters Ela Troyano and Alina Troyano, who is also known as Carmelita Tropicana, Post Plastica stars Tropicana as a woman who gets a Botox injection that puts her in a coma, sending her off on an adventure that includes a woman-bear scientist played by Becca Blackwell (Untitled Feminist Show) and the title character, played by Erin Markey (Green Eyes). A mix of video and live performance, Post Plastica features production design by Aliza Shvarts, costumes by Yail Romagoza, lighting by Chris Hudacs, and projections by Uzi Parnes. Each evening will be preceded by a special event at El Museo beginning at 6:00, including an exhibit of stereoscopic imagery by Richard Pell on May 31, the lecture/demonstration “Meet the Celebrity” with Fufurufu and Nao Bustamente on June 1, an “Urban Beekeeping” discussion with Guillermo Fernandez and Jennifer Monson on June 2, and the “Normal Is Good” interview between Shvars and Romagoza on June 3.

SUPER SABADO: CARNAVAL!

Lila Downs will perform a free concert as part of Carnaval celebration at El Museu del Barrio

FREE THIRD SATURDAYS
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Saturday, February 18, free, 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
212-831-7272
www.elmuseo.org

Fat Tuesday is next week, kicking off Mardi Gras celebrations all over the world. El Museo del Barrio will be holding a free Carnaval party on Saturday, featuring special events all day long. Mask-making workshops will take place 11:00 to 4:00 in Las Galerias and El Taller. From 12 noon to 3:00, you can dance to traditional music in the Black Box Theater, while from 1:00 to 4:00 you can don a jaguar mask made by artist Balam Soto and get your picture taken in the photo booth. Latin Grammy winner Lila Downs will perform a Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert at 4:00 in El Teatro, highlighting songs from her 2011 disc, Pecados y Milagros. Also at 4:00, Caridad de la Luz “La Bruja” will host a spoken-word workshop for teens in the Black Box. And at 7:00, a group of poets including Martín Espada, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, Junot Díaz, Willie Perdomo, Mayda del Valle, and Emanuel Xavier will pay homage to writer, poet, and teacher Piri Thomas, who passed away in October at the age of eighty-three. In addition, there will be tours of the current exhibitions, “Testimonios: 100 Years of Popular Expression” and “Voces y Visiones: Gran Caribe.”

SUPER SABADO: SUPER HOLIDAYS!

Three Kings Day will be the focus of free Saturday programs at El Museo del Barrio (photo by Gary Santana)

FREE THIRD SATURDAYS
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Saturday, December 17, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-831-7272
www.elmuseo.org

El Museo del Barrio’s free Super Sabado program for December celebrates Christmas on December 17 with a full slate of holiday fun, beginning at 11:00 as members of the musical groups Balún and Tepeu will lead a holiday sing-along in El Teatro. From 12 noon to 3:00, kids can take part in an art workshop inspired by the Three Kings puppets and costumes in El Café and El Taller or make maracas in the Black Box Theater in preparation for the annual Three Kings Day Parade. At 3:00 in El Café, this year’s madrinas and padrinos in the parade will be on hands to talk about the festivities. And at 4:00 in the Black Box, the Peace Poets will get teens to speak their mind in the monthly spoken-word workshop “Oh Snap!” In addition, there will be tours of the museum’s two current exhibits, “Voces y Visiones: Signs, Systems & the City” and “El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 2011.” And as always, be sure to come hungry, because there’s always something interesting cooking in El Café.

SUPER SABADO: CUÉNTAME! CELEBRATING ORAL HISTORY

Emeline Michel will perform a special concert as part of El Museo del Barrio’s free Super Sabado on November 19

FREE THIRD SATURDAYS
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Saturday, November 19, free, 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
212-831-7272
www.elmuseo.org

November 19 is the third Saturday of the month, which means that admission to El Museo del Barrio is free all day. It also means there will be a slate of special activities, this month focusing on oral history, beginning at 11:00 with the hands-on program “Artexplorers & Artmaking,” which continues through 3:00. From 12 noon till 3:00, you can share your favorite dicho (expression) as part of “Say Quesooooo!” At noon and 2:00 in El Café, you can sing along with Bilingual Birdies and playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights, Water by the Spoonful). At 4:00, Haitian singer-songwriter Emeline Michel will perform an hour-long show in El Teatro in conjunction with the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series. From 4:00 to 6:00, poet Caridad de la Luz “La Bruja” will lead a spoken-word workshop for teens. And at 7:00, “Speak Up!” features María Morales hosting spoken-word performances by Anthony Morales, Nancy-Arroyo Ruffin, Jennifer “Skye” Cabrera, and Maegan Ortiz. In addition, there will be tours of the museum’s two current exhibits, “Voces y Visiones: Signs, Systems & the City” and “El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 2011.” And be sure to come hungry, because there’s always something interesting cooking in El Café.

ART IN ODD PLACES: RITUAL

May Ivy Martin will offer “Tree Kisses” along Fourteenth St. as part of Art in Odd Places festival

CEREMONY. HABITUATION. MYTH. OBSESSION. SUPERSTITION. LITURGY.
14th St. between Ave. C & the Hudson River
Through Monday, October 10
Admission: free
www.artinoddplaces.org

Now in its seventh year, Art in Odd Places lines all of Fourteenth St., from Ave. C in the east to the Hudson River in the west, with site-specific audio and visual installations, interventions, and performance-art projects right on the street. Continuing through October 10, this year’s edition, curated by El Museo del Barrio’s Trinidad Fombella and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art’s Kalia Brooks, focuses on ritual, with works from more than sixty artists exploring the political and the personal, the individual and the community, the religious and the cultural. Scott Andresen’s “Daily Portage,” consisting of quilted detritus, can be found in shop windows between Ave. A & First Ave. Daniel Bejar adds history to subway signage for “Get Lost!” Tom Bogaert will create “Double Portraits” in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe each night from 5:00 to 7:00. Michael Borowski’s “Wash Closely” mobile sink offers passersby the opportunity to cleanse themselves in public. Laurie LeBreton’s “Pilgrimage” features more than three hundred handmade paper figures in the Fourteenth St. Framing Gallery re-creating a Buddhist cave pilgrimage in Laos. On October 6, Lawrence Graham-Brown will perform “Gimme Bak Ma Clothes!,” referencing Thomas Dartmouth Rice of the American Minstrelsy Theater and the Jim Crow laws. From October 7 to 9, Marissa Mickelberg will take a goat for a walk in “Goat Walk.” On October 8, Rob Andrews’s “Union Square Clean” will involve forty people cloaked in black, gathering in the park to have their feet washed by strangers, while a tuxedoed LuLu LoLo will doff her chapeau to you in “A Tip of the Hat on 14th Street.” On Saturday and Sunday, Alexa Hoyer, dressed in traditional Bavarian garb, will shine your shoes and take your picture in Union Square for “Just a German Shoeshine Girl,” while Lois Weaver and Lori E. Seid will hang laundry and tell stories for “Commit an Act of Domestic Terrorism.” And on Sunday, Julia Barbee will walk the length of Fourteenth St. combining prayer, perfume, and poetry for “Before/After Scenting New York.” You might be used to seeing a lot of strange things on Fourteenth St., but be prepared for things to get a whole lot stranger during this fun festival.

MUSEUMS ON US

The Bronx Zoo is one of several New York City institutions offering free admission to Bank of America / Merrill Lynch cardholders today

Bank of America, which received tens of billions of dollars from the federal government (er, taxpayers) in the bailout and its acquisition of Merrill Lynch, is the sponsor of the Museums on Us program, which offers free admission the first full weekend (Saturday and Sunday) of every month to Bank of America / Merrill Lynch cardholders. Just present a photo ID and a valid BofA/ML debit or credit card for one free general admission to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium, El Museo del Barrio, the International Center of Photography, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Hall of Science, and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Just be sure to double check with the individual institutions to confirm the deal is in place (and that the museums are indeed open) before you go.

THE (S) FILES IN TIMES SQUARE

El Museo del Barrio’s “(S) Files” bienal moves into Times Square this afternoon with free site-specific installations

The (S) Files Presenting Venue
Duffy Square
Broadway at 46th St.
Thursday, July 14, free, 4:00-8:00
www.elmuseo.org/calendar

El Museo del Barrio’s sixth bienal exhibition, “The (S) Files,” moves outside to Midtown today with four hours of special free programming. Focusing on redefining street art, the bienal consists of seventy-five New York-based emerging Latino, Caribbean, and Latin American artists, several of whom will be presenting projects in Times Square between 4:00 and 8:00. On view will be Ryan Roa’s “Times Square Beach Truck,” which visitors can enter and take pictures of themselves on a small beach; Nicoykatiushka (NyK)’s “Melt,” in which married couple Nico and Katiushka will kiss while standing on a block of ice; Irvin Morazan’s “Performance in the Center of the World,” featuring Morazan pulling into Times Square in a low rider; and Rafael Sánchez & Kathleen White’s ten-foot-tall “Somewhat Portable Dolmen.” After experiencing these site-specific installations, you can check out the rest of the bienal on Saturday, when the museum is free all day for its monthly Super Sabado celebration, which includes a block party with dance by Soul Intention, a fitness walk through Central Park, a break-dancing competition, and more.