Tag Archives: madison square park

CELEBRATE FLATIRON CHEFS!

Madison Square Park
24th St. at Broadway, Fifth Ave. & Madison Ave.
Tuesday, July 12, 5:30 entry $260, 6:30 entry $160
212-538-0018
www.madisonsquarepark.org

Madison Square Park, home of the Shake Shack, the Big Apple BBQ, and the eclectic Mad. Sq. Eats food market, continues its culinary journeys on July 12 with Celebrate Flatiron Chefs! A benefit for the park’s horticulture and outstanding free arts programming, the event features signature dishes from more than two dozen neighborhood restaurants and celebrity chefs. Among the specialties on the menu are ABC Kitchen executive chef Dan Kluger’s grilled fresh bacon and cherry-black pepper glaze and glazed donuts; Almond chef-partner Jason Weiner’s house-smoked bluefish with Old Bay potato chips and Greek yogurt; A Voce executive chef Missy Robbins’s smokey eggplant soup with whipped ricotta and Neapolitan eggplant and chocolate; craftbar chef-owner Tom Colicchio and chef de cuisine Lauren Hirschberg’s smoked pigs head terrine with citrus mostarda and crispy pork trotter with green tomato and pickled chilis; Pranna executive chef Toshi Nukui’s edamame falafel with cucumber raita, mini beef sliders with sweet chili aioli, Napa cabbage, and cilantro, and mango tres leches cake; and Eleven Madison Park pastry chef Angela Pinkerton’s strawberry shortcake with lemon thyme. Other participants include Eataly, Calexico, the Shake Shack, Hill Country Barbecue, Resto, Rickshaw Dumpling, Bar Breton, the Breslin, Brooklyn Brewery, Long Island Wineries, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and guest chef Alain Allegretti, who will be preparing heirloom tomato and watermelon gazpacho with Portuguese octopus in addition to milk-fed veal tartare with salsa verde and potato chips. Tickets are $160, but if you want an hour’s head start on everyone else, $260 gets you in at 5:30.

JAUME PLENSA: ECHO / ANONYMOUS

Jaume Plensa’s dazzling white “Echo” stands tall in the midst of the greenery of Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Galerie Lelong, 528 West 26th St., Tuesday – Saturday through June 18
Madison Square Park, Oval Lawn, through August 14 [extended through September 11]
Admission: free
www.galerielelong.com
www.madisonsquarepark.org

Barcelona artist Jaume Plensa, who has installed large-scale public sculptures in London, Zaragosa, Canada, Antibes, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Dubai, and Des Moines, at last makes his New York City debut with the intoxicating “Echo.” The forty-four-foot-high work, composed of marble, plastic, fiberglass, and white pigment and dusted in white marble, depicts the seven-layered elongated head of a nine-year-old girl, rising in the middle of Madison Square Park’s Oval Lawn, mimicking the surrounding buildings. Her eyes closed, the girl appears to be meditating, dreaming, or lost in deep thought, her whiteness in stark contrast to the lush greenery of the grass and trees around her. Plensa has carefully crafter her face, from the nose and full lips to the ears and even the braid in the back of her head. She adds to the peaceful respite the Oval Lawn offers, as people congregate around her, lie down on the grass, and nap in the sun. And at night she glows, with lights shining on her in the darkness. “Echo” will remain in the park through August 14. [Note: The installation has been extended through September 11.]

Jaume Plensa’s “Humming” is part of outstanding show at Galerie Lelong in Chelsea (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Downtown in Chelsea, more of Plensa’s work is on view in the Galerie Lelong show “ANONYMOUS” (through June 18). In a small room in the front, “Humming” is another elongated sculpture of a female’s head, this one of an older woman and standing a mere eight feet high atop a small base, allowing visitors to get right in her face and examine every detail. As with “Echo,” it was created using a real model and 3D technology, although lead was added to the process here. The clearly delineated layers represent the different parts of the woman’s inner self, her divided psyche for all to see. In the main gallery, Plensa focuses on more faces, but in this case it is a collection of photographic works on paper that pair each image with a word, many of which are charged with meaning, such as “Beauty,” “Dread,” “Innocence,” “War,” “Spirit,” “Disease,” and “Humiliation” along with such “tamer” words as “Door,” “Night,” and the questions “Who?” and “When?” The italicization of the NY in the show’s name implies that these mixed-media portraits represent the melting pot that is New York, but the inclusion of the words and dirty, vertical brown stains that run down the paper and often across the faces plays off the idea of stereotyping, imbuing each image with mixed messages amid complex states of consciousness. It’s a powerful installation that works on several levels and an intriguing counterpoint to the sheer white beauty of “Humming” and “Echo.”

BIG APPLE BARBECUE BLOCK PARTY

Perhaps the weather will cut down the ridiculously long lines at annual Big Apple Barbecue in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Madison Square Park
23rd to 26th Sts. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
Saturday, June 11, and Sunday, June 12, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Admission: free; $8 per plate of barbecue, $4 per dessert
www.bigapplebbq.org
www.madisonsquarepark.org

When it first began nine years ago, we were instantly addicted to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, in which BBQ experts from around the country offered their delectable delights in a city starving for good ’cue. But soon the crowds became so ridiculous, the lines hours and hours long, that it just wasn’t worth it. And then the Union Square Hospitality Group, which sponsors the event in Madison Square Park, began selling a Fastpass a few years ago, a ticket that allows you to pay extra to cut the line — and then those lines started getting long as well. It all left a bad taste in the mouth, but we’re willing to give it another shot, all in the anticipation of fine barbecue; we’re also thinking that maybe the weather will keep a lot of people away. This year’s pitmasters include Joe Duncan from Baker’s Ribs in Dallas (St. Louis-style ribs), Mike Emerson from Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis (baby back ribs), Chris Lilly from Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur (pulled pork shoulder), Patrick Martin from Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in Nashville (western Tennessee-style whole hog), the ever-popular Mike Mills of 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro (baby backs), Raleigh’s Ed Mitchell (whole hog, all-natural whole turkey barbecue), Jimmy Hagood from BlackJack Barbecue in Charleston (pulled pork shoulder), Tommy Houston from the Checkered Pig in Danville (St. Louis-style ribs), Myron Nixon from Jack’s Old South in Unadilla (beef brisket), Garry Roark from Ubon’s Barbeque of Yazoo (pulled pork shoulder), Drew Robinson from Jim ‘N’ Nick’s Bar-B-Q in Birmingham (smoked sausage), and Michael Rodriguez from the Salt Lick Bar-B-Que in Driftwood (beef brisket sausage). There are also several booths from New York City, but we never understand why people would wait two or three hours to get a small plate of food from a restaurant they can go to anytime they want. Bambi Kino, Guitar Shorty, and Dale Watson will perform on Saturday, with Doug Wamble, Those Darlins, and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears playing on Sunday. Among the free seminars are “Corn: The Great Comrade,” “Dips & Drinks,” “The Raw Deal: Killer Sides from Raw Ingredients,” “Southern Living Fourth of July Feast,” “Kentucky Toast,” and “To Live and Die in Avoyelles Parish.”

DELTA DUGOUT

Jose Reyes will lead the Mets — without Ike Davis and David Wright — against the Yankees this weekend in the Bronx, but fans can catch all the action in Madison Square Park as well (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Madison Square Park
May 20-22, free
www.madisonsquarepark.org
www.delta.com

We miss the Mayor’s Trophy Game, the annual battle between the Mets and the Yankees that used to be held during the season but was only an exhibition match. Purists that we are, we refuse to financially support the way-overhyped Subway Series that this weekend brings the Queens-based Metropolitans, struggling to get out of last place, to the Bronx, where the Bombers are trying to fight their way into the division lead. In celebration of this overrated event, Delta Air Lines is setting up the Delta Dugout in somewhat neutral Manhattan, hosting a bevy of special programming in Madison Square Park, including a baseball memorabilia silent auction that will benefit Harlem RBI. Each day will feature a Gaming Village and the Delta Sky360 Lounge, with children’s activities, trivia contests, a photo booth, batting cages, a fast-pitch challenge, and other baseball- and airline-related things to do and see, after which Mets and Yankees fans can join together to watch the games. On Saturday at 12 noon, Joba Chamberlain will give a pitching clinic, while Josh Thole will lead a home-run derby contest; the very scary Mr. Met will pose for pictures at 3:00, followed at 5:15 by a concert by former Yankees outfielder and current jazz sensation Bernie Williams. On Sunday, the third annual Fan Flair Challenge will take place, with lots of giveaways for most spirited and best costumed fans. Even if you’re not much of a baseball person, Madison Square Park is a great place to spend an afternoon; don’t miss Jaume Plensa’s spectacular “Echo” sculpture on the lawn, and avoid the ridiculously long lines at Shake Shack and instead pick up something to eat at the cool booths at the intersection of Fifth Ave. & Broadway. Oh, and also, “Let’s go, Mets!”

JIM CAMPBELL

Jim Campbell, “Scattered Light,” approximately 2,000 LED lights, wire, custom electronics, 2010 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)


“Scattered Light/Broken Window”: Madison Square Park, 23rd St. & Fifth Ave., free, extended through March 7
“4 Works”: Hosfelt Gallery, 531 West 36th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., Wednesday – Saturday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm, free, extended through March 19
www.hosfeltgallery.com
www.madisonsquarepark.org/art

An MIT grad with dual degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics, Chicago-born digital-media artist Jim Campbell has been creating complex light sculptures built around the subjects of perception and memory for more than twenty years. Since October 21, his three-dimensional “Scattered Light” has been dazzling the public on the oval lawn in the middle of Madison Square Park, a twenty-foot-high, eighty-foot-wide hanging grid consisting of nearly two thousand LED lights that depict people passing by in shadows. Although one might assume that it is relaying actual movement — many of his previous works have incorporated live processing — in this case, it is all preprogrammed by computer, adding an extra layer of mystery. Be sure to walk all around the sculpture to get its full impact. “Scattered Light” is supplemented by “Broken Window,” a six-foot-by-six-foot glass-brick wall near the corner of 23rd St. & Fifth Ave. that appears to be a blurry window showing live movement of people and cars making their way through the Flatiron Triangle but is actually composed of previously shot video, and “Voices in the Subway Station,” a series of rhythmically modulated lights on the ground that seem to be holding their own conversation. Campbell’s largest public installation ever — he’s also had commissions in Phoenix, Battery Park, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Berlin, Paris, San Diego, Montreux, and his longtime hometown of San Francisco — “Scattered Light” will remain on view through March 7.

Jim Campbell, “Scattered 17,” 17 panels of 192 LED lights each, plexiglass, custom electronics, 2011 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

In conjunction with the Madison Square Park installation, Campbell is also having a solo show indoors at Hosfelt Gallery on West 36th St., featuring four new technology-based works from 2010-11 spread around the dark space. “Scattered 17” consists of seventeen LED panels of 192 lights apiece that appear to be jutting out from a black wall but are not as they show what look like birds flying across the lighted rectangles that recall television sets. Visitors can walk into “Tilted Plane,” a room in which 256 doctored LED lightbulbs hang from the ceiling at an incline; although it is fun wandering around the lights, you’ll get a better feel for the piece as a whole by standing in one of the corners. “Taxi Ride to Sarah’s Studio” is composed of one row of wires filled with LEDs that takes you on a short trip through the city; as with “Scattered Light,” look through your camera lens for the best viewing experience. And “Home Movies (Glimpse)” is gimmicky but intriguing, confounding visitors by appearing to click through a series of family slides that include movement within them. The show also includes the red “Reconstruction #9 (Ganges)” next to the office, in which you’ll find the blue and white “Reconstruction #3” and “Fundamental Interval (Tourists),” a plexiglass box of 1,728 LEDs depicting people and ghostly shadows moving through a train station. There’s something innately satisfying in Campbell’s work, especially if you don’t get caught up in the technology and just let the intoxicating, often dreamlike visuals take you away.

SEAMLESS WEB TRUCK

Multiple locations
October 18-24, 11:30 am – 7:30 pm
Admission: free
www.seamlessweb.com

We try hard to limit our myriad addictions, but one we’re not in any mind to even consider trying to break free of is our intense dependence on SeamlessWeb. SeamlessWeb is a restaurant delivery portal from which you can order breakfast, lunch, or dinner from hundreds of local eateries. You can even include the tip (although we suggest you do that in cash), and SeamlessWeb stores your credit card info and lets you manage your favorite orders so you don’t have to start from scratch each time. In addition, they list only those restaurants that are delivering at that specific time; if a place is closed, you can’t access it. Many of the restaurants offer twenty percent off your first order, and they recently added a feature where you can order in advance and pick it up yourself and accumulate points toward future discounts. No more futzing around with someone on the other end of the phone who always proceeds to get your order wrong — and, of course, no more menus! The SeamlessWeb truck will be giving out $10 discounts and lucky number fortune cookies and collecting menus at Union Square on Monday, Sixth Ave. between 55th & 56th Sts. on Tuesday, Madison Square Park on Wednesday, Lexington Ave. between 57th & 58th Sts. on Thursday, Sixth Ave. between Carmine & West Fourth on Friday, and at the Brooklyn Flea on Saturday and Sunday. Artist Kevin O’Callaghan, chair of SVA’s 3D design program, will gather all the menus and create a sculpture that will be unveiled over the weekend at the Brooklyn Flea.

MAD. SQ. MARK’T: FOOD SQUARE

There’s a plethora of good eats to make anybody happy at Mad. Sq. Mark’t (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Madison Square Park
Intersection of Broadway & Fifth Ave. between 24th & 25th Sts.
Open daily 11:00 am – 8:00 pm through October 23
Admission: free
www.urbanspacenyc.com
www.madisonsquarepark.org

For the next three weeks, there’s no need to wait on those crazy long lines at Shack Shack if you want to get some fine food in Madison Square Park. The Food Square at Mad. Sq. Mark’t is back for its second year, featuring good eatin’ from more than a dozen specialty booths. You can get a bacon-scallion or truffle-cheddar pretzel from Sigmund, a chorizo taco or Fatty heritage pork and XO sausage dog from Cabrito / Fatty Crab / Fatty ’Cue, a zaatar cheese markook and fried cauliflower from Ilili, an egg and truffle sandwich from Piccolo Café, freshly fired pizza from Roberta’s, a thick-sliced pastrami sandwich on an onion roll from Almond, a chicken biscuit from Pies ‘n’ Thighs, or a gourmet sweet or savory crepe with crispy frites from Bar Suzette. Follow that up with Italian pastry from Stuffed Artisan Cannolis, a chocolate and nutella waffle from Wafels & Dinges, a ginger molasses cookie from Pies ‘n’ Thighs, a chocolate-chip, peanut butter, and pretzel-chunk cookie from Sigmund, apple cider donuts from Breezy Hill Orchard, or other delectable delights. The market, which also includes more than a dozen shops, is open daily from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm on the pedestrian median at the intersection of Fifth Ave. & Broadway at 25th St.