Grantee Spotlight
May 2012: Jaime Davidovich - Re:PLAY
Re:PLAY, Video Survey 1972-2011 Jaime Davidovich
LMCC grantee Jaime Davidovich’s solo exhibition Re: PLAY will be featured at MediaNoche, a new media gallery in East Harlem from April 19 - June 9, 2012. Davidovich is a painter, conceptual, video and installation artist known for his pioneering work in creating artist-run, avant-garde local cable television programming with the founding of Cable SoHo and the Artists Television Network. Re: PLAY re-examines many of Davidovich’s key works within the context of new media experimentation and community.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1936, Davidovich came to the US in the 1960s when artists were breaking away from institutionalized spaces like museums and galleries, displaying work on billboards, the sides of buildings, and storefronts. As an artist experimenting with the boundaries of visual art, space and texture, Davidovich fit right in. His early works pushed the limits of painting as a medium, eventually moving into a focus on media and television. He is perhaps best known for The Live! Show, a weekly variety program that aired on Manhattan cable television from 1979 until 1984. Hosted by his television alter-ego Dr. Videovich, this weekly half-hour program gave the alternative art scene a television presence, featuring performances by and interviews with art world personalities, live phone-ins, and a home-shopping segment. Several episodes of the Live! Show are on view at the gallery and also on Youtube.
While not a retrospective, the exhibition re-examines key works in light of the artist’s preoccupation with space and subjectivity, which transgresses the domain of each medium with which he works. The exhibition includes works spanning the early 70's to the present, from one of his earliest, a single-channel video called Road (1972), to his latest work, Urban Landscape (2011) that melds technology with painting. Re: PLAY considers the video work of Jaime Davidovich as whimsical challenge to the conventions of television and painting.
Re: PLAY, which displays works in both Spanish and English, is presented by MediaNoche, a gallery in East Harlem serving the Latino community and the wider NYC public. Hear from the artist on May 12th, when Mr. Davidovich will present an artist talk to discuss past and present work and respond to questions from the audience.
Location:
MediaNoche
1355 Park Avenue (Corner Store at 102nd St), New York, NY
www.medianoche.us
www.facebook.com/MediaNoche.us
Dates & Times:
April 19 - June 9, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 19, 6PM-8PM
Artist Talk: Saturday, May 12, 2PM
Gallery Hours: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 2PM-6PM and by appointment
May 2, 2012permalink
April 2012: Urban Word NYC
From March 8th to April 2nd, six preliminary and four semi-final Slams will take place in New York City’s most notable literary and performance venues. They will showcase more than 500 teens, aged 13-19, that honor poetry and the art of spoken word & hip-hop. A slam is a competition where poets perform original work of three minutes or less, without props, costumes or musical accompaniment. The 500 competing slam poets will manifest the work of Urban Word NYC, which harnesses the appeal and energy of competition while honoring the courage and value of youth self-expression. 24 teen poets will advance through these preliminary and semifinal rounds to compete at the Grand Slam Final at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on April 7th.
The Annual Urban Word Teen Poetry Slam has grown to be the largest slam poetry event in New York City. During this competition, 24 of New York City’s best teen spoken word poets will perform their own original work – for a chance to become one of six members to represent the City of New York this summer at the 2012 Brave New Voices Nationals in San Francisco. The NYC Team reined champion of this competition in 2005 and 2010 and placed second in most of the years in between. This year, top six winning teens from the Annual Urban Word Teen Poetry Slam will compete at the National Teen Poetry Slam in San Francisco, as featured on the HBO series Brave New Voices.
Urban Word NYC, founded in 1999 is a non-profit organization that uses the competitive format of spoken word poetry and creative writing to attract teens into an environment, which nurtures youth expression, development, and higher education.
Location
Apollo Theater in Harlem
Dates & Times
Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 7PM
Ticket information
Price: $20 for adults, $12 for teens
Tickets are available at http://www.ticketmaster.com.
April 4, 2012permalink
March 2012: Stefanie Nelson Dance Group
Stefanie Nelson Dance Group presents Prolegomena II (isolation and elevation) at Joyce SoHo from March 8-11, a new interdisciplinary artistic collaboration created by choreographer Stefanie Nelson, visual artist Karolien Soete and composer Alexander Berne. The evolving compositions for movement; stop-motion mural animation; and soundscapes of the dance are created as part of an ongoing fascination with inner and outer spaces, and is inspired by the camera obscura, and ideas about enclosure, elevation, and isolation.
In its creation and presentation, the work engages diverse members of the local community, individuals committed to the development and communication of ideas as well as a larger cyber community. The project has been shaped through collected responses to the question, "What comes to you when enclosed in a dark space?" with a development process that enables audience involvement through open rehearsals, and question and answer sessions for audiences. Two moderated post-performance discussions are designed to promote public engagement through dialogue, to de-mystify the choreographic process, and to encourage audience participation in the development of a new work.
Featuring dancers: Nicole Von Arx, Gierre Godley, Daniel Holt, Stefanie Nelson, Sarah F. Parker, Hunt Parr, and Yin Yue, with Lauren Garson, Joanna Taubeneck, Kiki Williams, Juliann Witt, and Caroline Yost.
Original Sound Scores and Live Music: Alexander Berne, Regina Sadowski
Lights: Andrew Dickerson
Dates & Times: March 8-11, 2012 (March 8-10 @ 7:30pm, March 11 @ 2pm).
Live painting and music pre-show - 30 minutes before the performance.
March 9 post-performance discussion will be moderated by Abby Bender (Founder and Artistic Director, Triskelion Arts), March 10 post-performance discussion will be moderated by Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer (Executive Director, Queens Arts Coucil)
Location: Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street (Houston/Prince), New York, NY 10012.
(B/D/F/M to Broadway-Lafayette, R to Prince, 6 to Bleecker)
Tickets: $22 ($18 student/senior)
Purchase at www.joyce.org, or JoyceCharge (212) 242-0800
March 7, 2012permalink
February 2012: Center for Architecture Foundation (CFAF)
Left: The Center for Architecture Foundation worked with PS 150’s third grade class to help them realize a large scale model of an Eastern Woodland Indian longhouse. Right: Second grade students in Center for Architecture Foundation’s Learning By Design:NY residency present their model long house and wigwams to classmates and family. Photo: Tim Hayduk
In 2011, The Center for Architecture Foundation (CFAF) brought its Learning By Design: NY residency program to 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms at PS 150 Tribeca Learning Center, to study the Eastern Woodland Indians with a focus on their culture and their dwellings dating back 400 years. The project, supported by LMCC’s Creative Curricula program, brought together the skills and professional perspectives of a teaching architect with the experience of a classroom teacher, allowing both instructors to co-create and teach a rich and dynamic hands-on, project-based curriculum.
LBD:NY’s education methodology puts learning in the hands of students, accessing multiple intelligences, fostering creative thinking and problem solving and familiarizing students with careers and skills related to design. During the course of the semester, the PS 150 students engaged in a variety of art and artifact-making, writing, and other cross-curricular work to encourage students in a deep understanding of Native American life. The final project was a scale model of a native settlement that included long houses and wigwams, detailed representations of crops, food, and personal effects, surrounded by the natural environment in which the Eastern Woodland Indians built its community. The students presented their work to peers and family at the end of their program.
The Center for Architecture Foundation promotes public awareness and a broader appreciation of the important role architecture and design play in our daily lives. CFAF engages the general public in contemporary topics on the built environment to encourage design literacy.
For more information about CFAF, please visit www.cfafoundation.org.
Upcoming Events at the Center for Architecture Foundation:
FamilyDay@theCenter
Skyscrapers!
February 18, 2012
Build a Geodesic Dome
March 10, 2012
Walking Tour of Historic Brooklyn Heights
March 17, 2012
Design Your Own City Block
March 24, 2012
School Vacation Programs
Design Your Own Island (Grades 3 - 5)
February 21 – 23, 2012
Skyscrapers! (Grades 3-5)
March 27 – 29, April 10 – 12, 2012
Digital Design with Google Sketch-Up (Grades 6 - 9)
February 21 – 23, March 27 – 29, April 10 – 12, 2012
Summer@theCenter Open Houses
February 23, March 29, April 12, 2012
Summer@theCenter
June 18 – August 31, 2012
February 10, 2012permalink
January 2012: The Apollo Theater
5th graders from C.S. 154 perform a story about Amateur Night at the Apollo as told by Significant Elder Andi Owens. Photo: c. bay milin
In 2008, the Apollo Theater established the Oral History Project in partnership with a neighboring school, C.S. 154, the Harriet Tubman Learning Center, to help students better understand and appreciate the history of Harlem, reflect on the present and future of the community, and understand the elements of creating a theatrical production. The Apollo Theater Oral History Project leads fourth and fifth graders in a two-year sequence of interviewing neighborhood elders and transforming their life stories into creative projects in theater, music, poetry, and the visual arts. The students have conducted over 70 hours of interviews with music performers, dancers, talent scouts, comedians, business managers and owners, directors, and staff. Through interviewing members of the group the Significant Elders of Harlem, the students were able to compare and contrast events of the past and present. Students use the transcribed interviews to build theatrical vignettes, which serve as creative documentation of their subjects’ first-hand accounts of their lives and of historical events.
In creating the project, the Apollo Theater aims to provide an opportunity for students to learn about the history of Harlem during the 20th century from those who experienced it first-hand. The students and teachers are engaged in the art-making process from the selection of content to the staging of a theatrical production. Along the way, students were able to learn about a variety of careers in the theater both behind the scenes and in front of the audience. Through the Apollo Theater Oral History Project students continue to forge intergenerational relationships. While doing so, students develop a sense of responsibility and commitment to the communities around them.
For more than 75 years, the Apollo Theater has been a part of the legacy of Harlem. As one of the primary connections between Harlem’s past and present, the Apollo is at the forefront of a resurgence of arts and culture in the community as well as a forum for the exchange of social and political ideas.
January 4, 2012permalink
December 2011: Danisarte
On December 10th & 11th, 2011, Danisarte will present four one-act the plays at the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center. The theatrical festival is aptly named Shadows of the Past/Sombras del Pasado because the recurrent theme in all four selected plays is the effect of the past on the present lives of young people. The program features the work of playwrights from Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, and Russia and performances by actors from diverse countries of Latin America.
The program was developed through Danisarte’s bilingual (English and Spanish) theatrical project, Los Nuevos Valores/ The New Treasures which offers multigenerational bilingual playwriting and acting workshops as well as script development readings. The plays reflect the multi-national and multi-cultural essence of immigrants in New York City.
Danisarte, which has primarily served the East Harlem community since 1992, has its roots in the Latino theater of the neighborhood. The theater company attracts both seasoned professionals and novice artists, and an audience of all ages, including those that have little or no exposure to the theater, with the goal of turning them into theatergoers and artists. Danisarte's mission is to develop original productions in English and Spanish to showcase the talents of minority actors as well as to increase connections among people of many cultures and nations.
Festival Schedule
Un Regalo Duradero/An Enduring Gift written by Masha Kuznetsov (in English and en Espanol) and Directed by Franco Galecio
A young girl’s grandfather gives Alina a life-changing birthday gift.
Saturday and Sunday at 5:00pm
Medardo, con el alma en los labios/ Medardo, with his soul on his lips, written by Julio Ortega (en Espanol) and Directed by Alicia Kaplan
A young poet is torn between the love of his life and the seduction of death.
Saturday and Sunday at 6:00pm
Sinfonia en Sofia Menor/Symphony in Sofia Minor, written by Sonia Suarez Schwartz (en Espanol) and Directed by Cecill Villar
The melodies of the past sins accompany the romance of a young Jewish Cuban descendent of the Holocaust and the grandson of a Nazi
Saturday and Sunday at 7:00pm
Capitan Veneo/ Captain Poison, written and Directed by Juan Guzman (en Espanol)
A father and son’s conflict spans all eternity
Saturday at 8:00pm
Location
The Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center, 1680 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10029
Dates & Times
Saturday, December 10, 2011, 5–9PM
Sunday, December 11, 2011, 5–8PM
Tickets: $10 suggested donation, children free. Available at the box office
For more information, please visit www.Danisarte.org.
December 1, 2011permalink
November 2011: Anneke Hansen
Anneke Hansen, Aoife McAtamney, and Ariel Pierce rehearse Hansen’s project “youandyouandyou” in University Settlement’s gymnasium
"youandyouandyou," a new dance work choreographed by LMCC grantee, Anneke Hansen, will be presented in 6 performances from November 16-19 at University Settlement. The work is performed by dancers Aoife McAtamney, Ariel Pierce, and Anneke Hansen, and features an original score by composer Nathan Koci, lighting design by Holly Ko, and costumes by Deborah Black.
Performed in the Lower East Side settlement house’s historic 6th floor gymnasium, “youandyouandyou” explores a movement vocabulary of effort and delicacy, the individual working as part of a collective “we,” a sense of abandon and of repose. At the top of a flight of stairs, the open space of University Settlement's historic gymnasium will greet the entering audience. Dancing will fill the space as the trio negotiates solitary and group activity - exploring the moments when individuals agree to transform into a collective force.
Anneke first conceived the piece in 2008 when she viewed University Settlement’s 6th floor gymnasium, with its creaky wooden floor and original detailing, for the first time. The space gave her the opportunity to work with dance in an environment where it doesn’t usually exist and to explore how art-making can be geographically and socially isolated from everyday life. Anneke’s work is concerned with dancing and dancers and strives to create meaning through evocative, sensuous, and sophisticated movement. Questions of what the body and mind are capable of—in terms of coordination, texture, and timing—are central to her studio explorations. She uses site-specific venues to break the performer/audience barrier and create a sense of immediacy to the experience.
Through “youandyouandyou” the artist will connect with her audience through performances as well as two dance workshops for the community, offered with University Settlement, creating broader exchange between this project, the settlement house, and the Lower East Side community.
Location
University Settlement, Top Floor Gymnasium, 184 Eldridge Street at Rivington Street
Dates & Times
Wednesday, 11/16 at 8PM
Thursday, 11/17 at 8PM
Friday, 11/18 at 7PM & 9PM
Saturday, 11/19 at 7PM & 9PM
November 9, 2011permalink
October 2011: Music Mondays
This fall, 2011 LMCC Grantee, Music Mondays, presents free monthly concerts with performances by a variety of chamber music ensembles. Since 2003, Music Mondays has been presenting a series of monthly concerts for the Upper West Side community. The series presents diverse chamber music including contemporary music, attracts a diverse audience, and fosters young talent. Music Mondays has filled a void for both the audience and the performers, as very few performances take place in New York on Monday evenings. Neighborhood residents who cannot afford pricier New York City venues, students, and people who are curious about but unfamiliar with chamber music are have all been part of the audience. Now in its ninth season, the audience has grown over the years and attracts over a thousand people during the nine-concert season.
All concerts are free and take place at the Advent Lutheran Church/ Broadway United Church of Christ, designed by the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany. At the concerts, musicians often speak briefly about the works before performing. Each concert is followed by a casual reception where audience members can meet the musicians and mingle with other concert-goers.
For the complete schedule through May 2012, visit www.musicmondays.org
This fall Music Mondays presents:
Trio Con Brio Copenhagen | October 24
After making waves across Europe, the award-winning Trio con Brio Copenhagen, declared “accomplished and sensitive” by the New York Times, stops at Music Mondays on its U. S. tour. Denmark’s premiere chamber ensemble performs with “uncommon fluidity and polish, phrasing with unanimity and playing with sensitivity” (Gramophone).
Miró Quartet | November 7
Since their residency at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Miró Quartet has grown to become one of the nation’s most eminent and innovative string quartets. Hear their “explosive vigor and technical finesse” (New York Times) in a program of works by Haydn, Brahms, and Philip Glass.
Brentano Quartet | December 12
Beloved around the world for its “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism" (New York Times), Music Mondays is fortunate to present the Brentano Quartet during the ensemble’s 20th anniversary season. Join the Brentanos for a "passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding" performance (London Times) that is “rewarding in every way” (Washington Post).
Location:
Advent/ Broadway Church
2504 Broadway at 93rd St.
New York, NY 10025
Dates and Times:
October 24, 7:30 PM
November 7, 7:30 PM
December 12, 7:30 PM
These concerts are free and open to the public.
October 11, 2011permalink
September 2011: South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC)
LMCC grantee South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) presents its 14th annual visual arts exhibition of work dealing with the theme of “Open/Close.” Guest curator Maymanah Farhat has chosen work that not only deals with this theme in a variety of ways, but can also serve as a point of entry for exploring the community, sights, sounds and visual culture that has come to define this year’s exhibition venue, Cuchifritos. The venue is a non-profit art space that is supported by the Artists Alliance and is located in the Essex Street Market in Lower Manhattan.
Guest curator Maymanah Farhat is a Mexican-Lebanese writer specializing in modern and contemporary Arab art currently based in New York City. Farhat has selected work that deals with this idea of “Open/Close” through the “opening” of the gallery space to the market and its surrounding area. At the heart of her curatorial premise are the connections that can be made between work by South Asian women artists and the daily happenings of the Essex Street Market. How can visitors of the market be drawn into the gallery space so that the seemingly “closed” nature of the contemporary art scene is “opened” to such a diverse community? This will be realized through a special emphasis on the objects, layout, and overall experience of the market so that the exhibition becomes an integrated reflection of the gallery’s location.
The exhibition is curated through an open call for submissions and collaboration with an art space in New York City. Through this annual exhibition, SAWCC seeks to provide a platform for South Asian women artists within the context of the New York art scene while connecting audiences across the city with the experiments, subjects, and approaches of artists who are often underrepresented. Prospective artists from across the globe are encouraged to submit work that deals with a specific theme. The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective has served South Asian women since 1997 and has earned a reputation for showcasing cutting-edge work that deals intelligently with issues of gender and cultural representation.
Location:
Cuchifitos Gallery at the Essex Street Market
120 Essex Street NY, NY 10002
Dates & Times:
Saturday, September 17, 4–6PM
Tuesday, September 20, 12–6PM
Wednesday, September 21, 12–6PM
Thursday, September 22, 12–6PM
Friday, September 23, 12–6PM
Saturday, September 24, 12–6PM
Tuesday, September 27, 12–6PM
Wednesday, September 28, 12–6PM
Thursday, September 29, 12–6PM
Friday, September 30, 12–6PM
Saturday, October 1, 12–6PM
Tuesday, October 4, 12–6PM
Opening: Saturday, September 17, 4 – 6PM
Exhibition: September 17 – October 4, Tuesday through Saturday, 12 – 6PM
This event is free and open to the public.
September 2, 2011permalink
August 2011: Donna Kaz: Performing Tribute 9/11: Ordinary People, Remarkable Stories
This August, LMCC grantee Donna Kaz, presents a unique play entitled Performing Tribute 9/11: Ordinary People, Remarkable Stories, produced by her company Endurance Theater. Set to be staged in the theatre district, Harlem and the Upper East Side, Performing Tribute weaves together the perspectives of individuals who were separately yet directly impacted by the events of 9/11. The play is performed by those individuals who include family members who lost loved ones; survivors of the North and South Towers; an evacuated area resident; a retired FDNY firefighter who responded to the site, and a volunteer with the Salvation Army who helped in the recovery.
Performing Tribute is created by playwright and director Donna Kaz, a former Battery Park City resident, along with 8 other members of the 9/11 community. The director was inspired to create Performing Tribute to honor all those lost by sharing stories of hope and healing. The play aims to inspire the 9/11 community to share their stories as well, and each performance will be followed by a facilitated discussion with the audience. At each presentation of Performing Tribute, a piece from the cladding of the towers will be on display. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey distributed pieces of the World Trade Center rubble to organizations and cities around the world for memorials. Endurance Theatre received a small piece in August 2010.
Donna Kaz has worked as a writer and director across the US and UK, most recently at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Performing Tribute 9/11: Ordinary People, Remarkable Stories is written and directed by Donna Kaz with producer Jill Bernard and a cast including Gerry Bogacz, Desiree Bouchat, Gail Langsner, Paul McFadden, Fred Sager and Ann Van Hine.
Location, Dates & Times:
Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 7:30–9:30PM – Harlem Stage, The Gatehouse, 150 Convent Avenue, New York, NY 10031
Wednesday, September 7, 2011, 7–9PM – Theater at St. Clements, 423 W. 46th Street, New York, NY 10036
Thursday, September 8, 2011, 7–9PM – All Souls Church, 115 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10075
Saturday, September 17, 2011, 7–9PM– Jan Hus Church, 351 E. 74th Street, New York, NY 10021
All performances are free. For more information visit http://www.performingtribute.com
