Tag Archives: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

THE ’60s: THE YEARS THAT CHANGED AMERICA

You Say You Want a Revolution exhibition at NYPL is part of Carnegie Halls festival

“You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the Sixties” exhibition at NYPL is part of wide-ranging Carnegie Hall festival

Multiple locations
January 14 – March 24
www.carnegiehall.org

America came of age in the 1960s, from the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X to Vietnam and the Summer of Love. Carnegie Hall is paying tribute to the turbulent decade with the two-month series “The ’60s: The Years that Changed America,” inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robert A. Caro. The native New Yorker, who turned eighty-two this past October, is the author of such books as The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York and the four-part The Years of Lyndon Johnson, with a fifth tome on the way. “Luther King gave people ‘the feeling that they could be bigger and stronger and more courageous than they thought they could be,’ Bayard Rustin said — in part because of the powerful new weapon, non-violent resistance, that had been forged on the Montgomery battlefield,’” Caro wrote in Master of the Senate, a quote obviously apt for MLK Day. Running January 14 through March 24 all across the city, the festival features concerts, panel discussions, film screenings, dance, art exhibitions, and more. Below are only some of the many highlights; keep watching this space for more additions.

Sunday, January 14
through
Saturday, March 24
“Max’s Kansas City,” photos and writings, Mark Borghi Gallery, free

Friday, January 19
“You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the Sixties,” Library After Hours opening night program with experimental films, album-cover workshop, games and puzzles, curator tour led by Isaac Gewirtz, dance party with Felix Hernandez, and more, exhibit continues through September 1, the New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, free, 7:00

Kronos Quartet, works by Stacy Garrop (world premiere inspired by “I Have a Dream” speech), Zachary J. Watkins (world premiere inspired by Studs Terkel), Terry Riley, John Cage, and Janis Joplin, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, $62-$72, 9:00

Tuesday, January 23
through
Friday, May 18
“The Global Interconnections of 1968,” Kempner Exhibition Gallery, Butler Library (sixth floor), Columbia University, free

Thursday, January 25
Snarky Puppy with David Crosby and Friends, including Chris Thile and Laura Mvula, Stern/Perelman at Carnegie Hall, $26-$100, 8:00

Friday, January 26
Bernard and Irene Schwartz Classic Film Series: Coming Home (Hal Ashby, 1978), Justice in Film presentation introduced by Susan Lacy, New-York Historical Society, free with pay-what-you-wish museum admission, 7:00

Tuesday, February 6
through
Sunday, February 11
March, duet from Lessons inspired by civil rights movement, part of winter season program by Ronald K. Brown / Evidence, a Dance Company, the Joyce Theater, $26-$46

Friday, February 16
“Philip Glass Ensemble: Music with Changing Parts,” Stern/Perelman at Carnegie Hall, $14.50 – $95, 8:00

Wednesday, February 21
“The Summer of Law and Disorder: Harlem Riot of 1964,” panel discussion, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, free with advance registration beginning February 7, 6:30

Tuesday, March 13
Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series: “The ’60s from Both Sides Now: An Evening with Judy Collins,” in conversation with historian Harold Holzer, New-York Historical Society, $38, 6:30

Saturday, March 24
“The Vietnam War: At Home and Abroad,” multimedia presentation with Friction Quartet performing George Crumb’s “Black Angels” and more groups to be announced, narrated by John Monsky, Zankel at Carnegie Hall, $35-$45, 2:00

TICKET ALERT — ÓLAFUR ELIASSON: ARCTIC IMAGINATION

olafur nypl

Who: Ólafur Eliasson
What: LIVE from the NYPL
Where: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum, 476 Fifth Ave. at 42nd St., 917-275-6975
When: Thursday, September 21, $40, 7:00
Why: Danish-born Icelandic artist Ólafur Eliasson has presented environmentally related projects around the world, including here in New York, in such exhibitions and installations as “Volcanoes and Shelters” at Tanya Bonakdar in Chelsea, “The New York City Waterfalls” along the East River, and the career-defining “Take Your Time” at MoMA PS1. Eliasson, who lives and works in Copenhagen and Berlin, will be at the New York Public Library on September 21 to participate in “Arctic Imagination” as part of the “Live from the NYPL” series. “Arctic Imagination” is a library initiative involving speakers in the United States and Northern Europe sharing their thoughts on climate change and melting Arctic ice. “In just one hundred years, the Arctic and the North Pole have been transformed from extremely dangerous, mysterious peripheral areas to regions which, in the race against climate change, are now in need of our protection and sense of responsibility,” the project explains in its mission statement. “In 2017 the libraries will be focusing on this theme in ‘Arctic Imagination’ — a series of events, readings, and live conversations in New York, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, and Nuuk.” Eliasson will be in conversation with the NYPL’s Paul Holdengräber. If you are unable to attend the event, which is copresented with the Royal Danish Library and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York, you can follow the livestream here.

TICKET ALERT — LEE FRIEDLANDER WITH GIANCARLO T. ROMA: PASSION PROJECTS

Lee Friedlander, who has revived his self-publishing company with his grandson, Giancarlo T. Roma, will mare a rare public speaking appearance at the New York Public Library on June 20 (photo © Lee Friedlander)

Who: Lee Friedlander, Giancarlo T. Roma
What: Live from the NYPL
Where: New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 476 Fifth Ave. at 42nd St., 917-275-6975
When: Tuesday, June 20, $40, 7:00
Why: Legendary Washington-born photographer Lee Friedlander will make an extremely rare speaking appearance on June 20, his first in more than thirty years, when he comes to the New York Public Library, sharing the stage with his grandson, Giancarlo T. Roma, who describes himself on his Twitter page as a writer, stockbroker, business partner, guitar player, and more. Now eighty-two, Friedlander’s work over the last sixty years has included such series as “America by Car,” “Mannequin,” “Letters from the People,” and “Sticks & Stones,” capturing the social landscape of the country. Roma, whose mother is Friedlander’s daughter, has been collaborating with his father, photographer Thomas Roma, since the boy was in single digits, and he has now revived his grandfather’s self-publishing company, Haywire Press. The conversation, titled “Passion Projects,” will focus on Friedlander’s life and career, which he continues to do his way, not following any conventional methods.

CELEBRATING LOU REED — 1942-2013: THE RAVEN & THE POETRY OF LOU REED / LOU REED: DRONES

The life and legacy of Lou Reed will be celebrated on July 30 with free all-day festival at Lincoln Center

The New York Public Library is celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of Lou Reed’s birth with a two-part exhibition and two live programs

Monday, March 13, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, free with advance registration, 7:00
Wednesday, March 15, New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum, 476 Fifth Ave. at 42nd St., free with advance registration, 6:00 – 10:00
www.nypl.org/loureed
www.loureed.com

In honor of what would have been Lou Reed’s seventy-fifth birthday on March 2 — the legendary Brooklyn-born musician passed away in October 2013 at the age of seventy-one — the New York Public Library is paying tribute to the Velvet Underground leader and solo star with a pair of exhibitions and two live programs. “Celebrating Lou Reed: 1942-2013” consists of items from the Lou Reed Archives, newly acquired by the library under the guidance of Reed’s widow, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson. The show runs through March 20 at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and the main branch at Fifth Ave. and Forty-Second St. In addition, on March 13 at 7:00 in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, “The Raven & the Poetry of Lou Reed” features a performance of Reed’s The Raven, based on the Edgar Allan Poe tale, and other poetry, with music and spoken word by Anderson and special guests. On March 15 in the Celeste Bartos Forum, the soundscape installation “Lou Reed: Drones” will be performed from 6:00 to 10:00, led by original Reed collaborator Stewart Hurwood, along with tai chi demonstrations led by Ren Guangyi at 7:00 and 9:00. Admission to all events is free, but advance registration is necessary for the live programs.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON: STRIVER, STATESMAN, SCOUNDREL

After Alonzo Chappel, “Hamilton at Yorktown in 1781,” steel engraving (New York: Johnson, Fry, and Co., 1858. NYPL, Picture Collection)

New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery
476 Fifth Ave. at 41st St.
Daily through December 31, free
917-275-6975
www.nypl.org

So what would Alexander Hamilton himself have thought about the controversy surrounding the cast of Hamilton confronting incoming vice president Mike Pence during the curtain call at a recent performance of the hit musical at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway? It’s hard to know, as the current New York Public Library exhibit “Alexander Hamilton: Striver, Statesman, Scoundrel” reveals. Consisting of a densely packed amount of materials gathered from the library’s holdings, the exhibition focuses on the unpredictability of the Founding Father and his ever-evolving views as the new nation set its course. “Hamilton was at best a complicated hero and, at worst, an admirable scourge,” the wall text explains, pointing out several of Hamilton’s seemingly inconsistent beliefs involving states’ rights, finance, slavery, support of France, and the Constitution itself. “Alexander Hamilton: Striver, Statesman, Scoundrel” features letters, books, illustrations, and official documents from throughout Hamilton’s life and career, following him from Nevis-born orphaned immigrant to secretary of the Treasury to his death in a duel against political rival Aaron Burr. Among the books and papers on view are Hamilton’s “Plan of a Constitution for America,” his original draft of President George Washington’s Farewell Address alongside the final version, various pamphlets he published, newspaper articles he cowrote under pseudonyms, and a copy of The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, by Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. There are also engravings of Hamilton Grange, a look at his relationship with his wife, Eliza Schuyler, and her powerful family, and a wall mural of Hamilton and Burr dueling. There’s a lot to read and the room is very dark, so bring reading glasses if you have them. “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a / Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten / Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor / Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” Burr asks at the beginning of the Broadway musical. “Alexander Hamilton: Striver, Statesman, Scoundrel” provides a fascinating, if brief, investigation into that very question.

KINETIC PAINTING: AN ART BOOK SERIES EVENT

carolee schneeman kinetic painting

Who: Carolee Schneemann with Kathy Battista, Jenny Jaskey, and David Levi Strauss
What: Celebration of the release of Carolee Schneeman monograph Kinetic Painting (Prestel, February 2016, $60), edited by Sabine Breitwieser
Where: New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Auditorium, Fifth Ave. at 42nd St., 917-275-6975
When: Wednesday, March 9, free, 6:00
Why: In Kinetic Painting, editor Sabine Breitwieser writes, “Schneeman’s vital contributions to the establishment of a feminist art practice, her ‘painting constructions,’ her choreography and performances, and her experimental films, whose full significance has not yet been recognized: these are only some facets of her oeuvre, and a thorough review of her prodigious output, which now spans six decades and reflects the period’s social and technological changes in its extraordinary diversity, has been long overdue.” The fully illustrated monograph seeks to rectify that, and on March 9, Schneeman will be at the New York Public Library to talk about her career, joined by Kathy Battista, director of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art; Jenny Jaskey, director and curator of the Artist’s Institute; and writer, cultural critic, and professor David Levi Strauss. The monograph was published on conjunction with a major retrospective of Schneeman’s work at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, which was organized by Breitwieser and Branden Joseph. A book signing will follow the discussion.

LORRIE MOORE: WATCHING TELEVISION

Lorrie Moore will discuss the changing nature of narrative on television in annual Robert B. Silvers lecture at the NYPL

New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum
Friday, October 25, $15-$25, 7:00
www.nypl.org
www.nybooks.com

Once upon a time, not really all that long ago, people had to get off their couches in order to change the channel on their television sets, and even then, their choices were limited; here in New York, it was only channels 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC), 5 (WNEW), 7 (ABC), 9 (WOR), 11 (WPIX), 13 (WNET), and 21 (WLIW). Television has gone through some maturation over the years, not only technologically but also in quality, as the once-standard phrase “the boob tube” has seemingly gone into disuse. Bestselling, award-winning author Lorrie Moore, who has written such novels as Anagrams and A Gate at the Stairs, such collections as Like Life and Birds of America, and the children’s book The Forgotten Helper, will discuss how storytelling and narrative has changed on the small screen when she delivers the annual Robert B. Silvers Lecture, titled “Watching Television,” on October 25 at the New York Public Library’s main branch. The lecture series is held in honor of Robert B. Silvers, who has been editor of the New York Review of Books since 1963, a year in which the most popular television shows included The Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and Candid Camera. Moore, a native New Yorker, is a frequent contributor to the prestigious publication, having recently reviewed the Showtime series Homeland in the February 21 issue. Among the previous Robert B. Silvers lecturers are Joan Didion, J. M. Coetzee, Zadie Smith, Oliver Sacks, and Derek Walcott.