Tag Archives: madison square park

POETRY UNDER “FATA MORGANA”

Spoken-word performances will take place under Teresita Fernández’s “Fata Morgana” installation in Madison Square Park on September 17 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Madison Square Park
23rd to 26th Sts. between Madison & Fifth Aves.
Thursday, September 17, free, 6:00
Installation continues through winter 2015-16
www.madisonsquarepark.org

We still haven’t made up our mind about American artist Teresita Fernández’s “Fata Morgana,” a five-hundred-foot-long sculpture winding through the walkways of Madison Square Park. Consisting of canopies of mirror-polished discs with small sections cut out of them resembling clouds or leaves, the work blocks the otherwise 6.2-acre open area’s access to the sky, creating a claustrophobic feeling despite very cool reflections above and intriguing shadowy forms below. “By hovering over the park in a horizontal band, ‘Fata Morgana’ becomes a ghostlike, sculptural, luminous mirage that both distorts the landscape and radiates golden light,” Fernández explains on the Mad. Sq. Art website. In conjunction with the site-specific installation, the park is hosting a number of special events, so maybe that will shed more light on the project. On Thursday, September 17, “Poetry under ‘Fata Morgana’” will feature spoken-word performances by Sandra María Esteves, Bonafide Rojas, Machete Movement, True, and Emanuel Xavier, who curated the program with Fernández as part of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Among the other free September events in Madison Square Park are Mad. Sq. Reads with Sophie McManus (September 17, 12:30), the Studio Series: Time & Luck Quartet and Kristin Diable (September 19, 3:00), Singapore: Inside Out (September 23-27), and Mad. Sq. Reads with Amanda Lee Koe and Jenny Zang (September 24, 12:30).

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “RAINY DAY WOMAN” BY KAT EDMONSON

Who: Kat Edmonson
What: Mad. Sq. Music Oval Lawn Series
When: Wednesday, July 1, free, 7:00
Where: Madison Square Park, 23rd to 26th Sts. between Madison Ave. & Broadway
Why: Houston-born, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Kat Edmonson brings her unique, old-fashioned jazzy stylings with a modern edge to Madison Square Park on July 1, playing a free show highlighting songs from her latest album, The Big Picture (Sony Masterworks, September 2014), which features such tracks as “Rainy Day Woman,” “You Said Enough,” “Oh My Love,” and “You Can’t Break My Heart.” The free Mad. Sq. Music Oval Lawn Series continues Wednesdays through July with the Stepkids, the Family Crest and Arc Iris, Kiran Ahluwalia, and the New York Night Train Soul Clap & Dance-Off featuring DJ Jonathan Toubin with the Suffers.

BIG APPLE BARBECUE BLOCK PARTY 2015

There’s plenty of smokin’ good ’cue at annual BBQ block party in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Madison Square Park
23rd to 26th Sts. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
Saturday, June 13, and Sunday, June 14, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Admission: free; $9-$12 per plate of barbecue
Fast Pass: $125; BigPiggin’ Pass: $265
www.bigapplebbq.org
www.madisonsquarepark.org

The immensely popular and ridiculously crowded Big Apple Barbecue Block Party is upon us, as pitmasters from around the country gather in Madison Square Park and serve up some damn fine BBQ. The thirteenth annual event, being held June 13-14, features some old favorites as well as some up-and-comers: Mike Mills of the 17th Street Bar & Grill (Murphysboro, Illinois; baby back ribs with baked beans), Tim Love (the Woodshed Smokehouse, Dallas/Ft. Worth; lamb brisket with borracho beans), Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q (Decatur, Alabama; pulled pork sandwich with spicy mustard coleslaw), Mike Emerson of Pappy’s Smokehouse (St. Louis; baby back ribs with baked beans), Jimmy Hagood of BlackJack Barbecue (Charleston, South Carolina; pulled pork with coleslaw), Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor, Texas; Texas beef rib with pickled southern vegetables), Patrick Martin of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint (Nashville; Western Tennessee whole hog sandwich with coleslaw), Garry Roark of Ubon’s Barbeque of Yazoo (Yazoo City, Mississippi; pulled pork shoulder sandwich with coleslaw), Scott Roberts of the Salt Lick Bar-B-Que (Driftwood, Texas; beef brisket, sausage, and coleslaw), Brad Orrison of the Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint (Ocean Springs, Mississippi; pulled whole hog sandwich with baked beans), John Wheeler of Memphis Barbecue Co. (Horn Lake, Mississippi; baby back ribs with baked beans), Drew Robinson of Jim N’ Nick’s Bar-B-Que (Birmingham, Alabama; smoked pork hot links with pimento cheese), Samuel Jones of the Skylight Inn (Ayden, North Carolina; chopped whole hog sandwich with coleslaw), and local purveyors Jean-Paul Bourgeois of Blue Smoke (pork spare ribs with pickled peppers), Charles Grund Jr. of Hill Country (beef brisket sandwich with sweet and spicy pickles), John Stage of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (beef brisket with BBQ beans), and Bill Durney of Hometown Bar-B-Que (Jamaican jerk St. Louis ribs with Caribbean slaw). The lines can get extremely long, so the best way to enjoy the event is to go with a bunch of friends, get on different lines, and then gather somewhere in the park to devour your meal (while also checking out Teresita Fernandez’s new mirrored installation, “Fata Morgana”). Each plate of ’cue will run you between nine and twelve bucks, with desserts from Sugaree’s and Robicelli’s. The FastPass is no more, so if you want to go VIP, you need to pick up the BigPiggin’ Pass, where for $275 you get your food brought to you in the comfort of the hospitality tent. Saturday’s music lineup consists of the Reed Turner Band at 1:00, Shook Twins at 2:45, and Andrew Combs at 4:30, while Sunday’s is Whiskey Shivers at 1:00, Nikki Lane at 2:45, and Jonny Fritz at 4:30.

MAD. SQ. ART: EXPLAINING PUBLIC ART

Jaume Plensa’s “Echo” is a prime example of the innovative public art program in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

One Madison Ave. at 23rd St., twelfth floor
Monday, May 18, free with advance RSVP, 9:00 am
www.madisonsquarepark.org

One of our favorite places to experience public art is in Madison Square Park, where the Mad. Sq. Art program has featured site-specific works by Antony Gormley, Alison Saar, Roxy Paine, Rachel Feinstein, Leo Villareal, Shannon Plumb, Jim Campbell, and so many others over the years. On May 18, the park will host a morning symposium, “Explaining Public Art,” in the One Madison Ave. building, starting with a welcome from Madison Square Park Conservancy board chairman David Berliner, executive director Keats Myer, and Parks Department director of art & antiquities Jonathan Kuhn, followed by an introduction by senior curator Brooke Kamin Rappaport. Beginning at 9:15, eight Mad. Sq. Art participants will make presentations: Richard Deacon, Orly Genger, Paula Hayes, Mel Kendrick, Jaume Plensa, Jessica Stockholder, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Teresita Fernández, whose new installation, “Fata Morgana,” is being installed right now for a June 1 opening. At 10:30, there will be three panel discussions, one on “Site” with Bill Fontana and Charles Long, moderated by Ariella Budick; a second on “Medium,” with Sandra Gibson, Luis Recoder, and Villareal, moderated by Phong Bui; and a third on “Public,” with Feinstein, Plumb, Bill Beirne, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Jacco Olivier, moderated by Robin Cembalest. The symposium concludes with a keynote conversation between Bloomberg Philanthropies arts program head Kate D. Levin and Ford Foundation president Darren Walker. Admission is free, but advance RSVP, is required. New York City just wouldn’t be the same with public art, so this should be a fascinating way to gain insight into its creation and development.

PAULA HAYES: GAZING GLOBES

Paula Hayes’s “Gazing Globes” offers a different way to look at Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

MAD. SQ. ART
Madison Square Park
23rd to 24th Sts. between Madison & Fifth Aves.
Daily through April 19, free
www.madisonsquarepark.org
www.paulahayes.com
gazing globes slideshow

In exhibits such as “Nocturne of the Limax maximus” at MoMA and “Land Mind” at Lever House, visual artist and landscape designer Paula Hayes created living botanical environments, terrariums that held plants and fish while emphasizing the relationship between humanity and nature. Now Hayes, who was born in Massachusetts and is based in New York City, has incorporated outdated technology into the mix with “Gazing Globes,” an illuminating site-specific display in the southwest gravel section of Madison Square Park. Eighteen glass orbs, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty-four inches in diameter, sit on fiberglass pedestals of varying heights between two and four feet, filled with detritus from analog radios, electronic transistors, vacuum tubes, rubber tires, and other technological and industrial waste, along with crystals, forming futuristic miniature postapocalyptic cities of blue, green, purple, gold, and black, layered with dust made from crushed CDs. The spheres change with the weather and the time of day, morphing from snow globes to colorful crystal balls to enchanting glowing orbs at night as they also reflect the surrounding architecture of the Flatiron District. As spring heats up and Teresita Fernández’s massive, five-hundred-foot-long “Fata Morgana” goes up in the park, “Gazing Globes” will mutate yet again, offering yet more fascinating glimpses into our past, present, and future.

TONY CRAGG: WALKS OF LIFE

Tony Cragg’s undulating “Points of View” is part of Madison Square Park installation “Walks of Life” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Tony Cragg
What: “Walks of Life”
Where: Madison Square Park, between Madison Ave. & Broadway and 23rd & 26th Sts., 212-520-7600
When: Daily through February 8
Why: For nearly twenty years, Turner Prize-winning artist Tony Cragg’s “Resonating Bodies” have flanked the entrance to Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, a lively pair of large-scale musical instruments. Now the Liverpool-born artist, who lives and works in Wuppertal, Germany, has placed a trio of bronze sculptures, collectively titled “Walks of Life,” on the Madison Square Park lawns, twisting shapes that seem to shake with the location’s high energy. In the southwest corner, visitors are encouraged to walk inside “Caldera,” which stands on three tiptoes, and look up at the sky. On the central Oval Lawn, three eighteen-foot-high works form “Points of View,” rising up with dynamic, humanistic undulating forms; from various angles you can make out abstract facial profiles. And in the northwest corner, the green, dynamic “Mixed Feelings” teeters like a warped Statue of Liberty

HOLIDAY LIGHTINGS 2014

The Sigafoos’ Christmas tree pulls into Rock Center earlier this month (photo courtesy TODAY show)

The Sigafoos’ Norwegian spruce pulls into Rock Center earlier this month from Pennsylvania (photo courtesy TODAY show)

Over the next few weeks, Christmas trees and menorahs will be lit all over the city, accompanied by live performances, seasonal treats, special guests, and family-friendly activities, all free. Below are only some of the many highlights as the Big Apple prepares for the holidays.

Park Slope Holiday Tree Lighting
Fifth Ave. at Third St.
Saturday, November 29, 6:30
www.parkslopefifthavenuebid.com
Live music by Amy Miles, carols by Opera on Tap, crafts, puppet shows, cookies, marshmallows, hot chocolate, popcorn, children’s activities, Santa and Frosty the Snowman

Fifteenth Annual Winter’s Eve at Lincoln Square
Dante Park, Broadway between 63rd & 64th Sts., Time Warner Center, David Rubenstein Atrium
Monday, December 1, 5:30 – 9:00
www.winterseve.nyc
Emcee Billy Porter, ice sculpting, live performances by Arlo Guthrie and family, Alice Farley Dance Theater, Golem, Spuyten Duyvil, Batala NYC, the Lucky Chops Brass Band, M.A.K.U. SoundSystem, the N’Harmonics, Uptown Vocal, the Cafe Wha? House Band, the Jazzmeia Horn Quartet, Bach Vespers, Annika, Hungry March Band, Raya Brass Band, Shinbone Alley Stilt Band, Dylan Meek, Elena Ayodele Pinderhughes, the Hot Sardines, Yaz Band, Mariachi Real De Mexico, the Suzi Shelton Band, the Big Apple Circus, Chinese Lion Dancers, Kinky Boots, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, dance groups, WNET characters, a screening of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, food tastings ($1-$4), Sesame Street’s Digital Playground & Walkaround Abby Cadabby

The South Street Seaport’s Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony
Fulton St. at Front St.
Tuesday, December 2, 5:45
Live music, family-friendly activities, more
www.southstreetseaport.com

Winter Village Tree Lighting
Bryant Park
40th – 42nd Sts. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tuesday, December 2, 6:00
www.wintervillage.org
Details to be announced

Eighty-Second Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting
Rockefeller Plaza, between West 48th and West 51st Streets and Fifth and Sixth Avenues
Wednesday, December 3, 7:00 – 9:00
www.rockefellercenter.com
Musical guests to be announced; tree will remain lit through January 7

Central Park Conservancy’s Eighteenth Annual Dana Holiday Lighting
Charles A. Dana Discovery Center inside the park at 110th St. & Malcolm X Blvd.
Thursday, December 4, 5:30 – 6:30
www.centralparknyc.org
Flotilla of more than twenty illuminated trees on Harlem Meer, live ice carving, photos with Santa and his elves, Christmas carols, and hot cocoa and cookies

Christmas in Richmond Town: Traditional Tree Lighting
Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island
441 Clarke Ave.
Sunday, December 7, 5:00
www.historicrichmondtown.org
Festivities begin at 11:00 am ($2 per person, six and under free) with shopping village, carolers, storytelling, Santa Claus, tours, Bell Choir, horse & carriage rides ($2, two and under free), free Christmas tree lighting at 5:00

Carl Schurz Park Holiday Tree Lighting
East 86th St. at East End Ave.
Sunday, December 7, 5:00
www.carlschurzparknyc.etapwss.com
Christmas carols, Cantori choir, Orbital Brass, candlelight, candy canes, and hot chocolate

The Park Avenue Tree Lighting
Outside Brick Presbyterian Church, Park Ave. at 91st St.
Sunday, December 7, 6:30
www.fundforparkavenue.org
Annual lighting of trees along Park Ave. Malls between 54th & 97th Sts., starting with tree outside Brick Presbyterian Church

Mad. Sq. Holiday 2014
Madison Square Park
23rd – 26th Sts. between Madison & Fifth Aves.
Tuesday, December 9, 3:30
www.madisonsquarepark.org
Live performances by Audra Rox and cast members of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, horticultural workshop with a red twig dogwood planting led by Gardener Steph, Reading Rangers storytelling, Gingerbread Boulevard, seasonal treats from Hill Country Chicken, SD26, and Frittering Away, tree lighting at 5:00

Washington Square Park tree will be lit on December 10 (photo courtesy Washington Square Park Blog)

The Washington Square Park Tree Lighting
Washington Square Park Arch at Fifth Ave.
Wednesday, December 10, 6:00
www.washingtonsquarenyc.org
Live music by the Rob Susman Brass Quartet, songbooks for caroling, Santa Claus

Holiday on the Hudson
West Harlem Piers Park, West 125th & Marginal Sts.
Saturday, December 13, 5:00
www.riversideparknyc.org
Live music by the All-City High School Chorus, holiday decorations workshop, more

Zuccotti Park Holiday Lighting
Broadway & Liberty St.
Saturday, December 13, 5:30
www.artsbrookfield.com
Live music by the Manhattan Dolls and Metropolitan Klezmer, sweet treats, more

World’s Largest Menorah will be lit nightly in Grand Army Plaza (photo courtesy Chabad Park Slope)

World’s Largest Menorah will be lit nightly during Hanukkah in Grand Army Plaza (photo courtesy Chabad Park Slope)

World’s Largest Menorah
Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
December 16-23, 6:00
Live music, hot latkes, gifts for kids
www.chabadparkslope.com

World’s Largest Hanukkah Menorah
Grand Army Plaza, Manhattan
Fifth Ave. between 58th & 59th Sts.
December 16-23, 6:00