Nobutaka Aozaki, “Transportation” (2016), digital rendering (courtesy of the artist)
This week is filled with openings and events that will get you thinking — about the Citi Bike as readymade, the role of the curator in artwashing, the way you eat and play, parenting in the art world, and more.
Citi Bike as Readymade
When: Opens Wednesday, January 27
Where: ISCP (1040 Metropolitan Avenue, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
Countless artists have revisited the idea of readymade in the century since Duchamp, but Nobutaka Aozaki’s approach is particularly compelling. For every day of this brief exhibition, curated by Rachael Rakes, Aozaki will rent, exhibit, and then return a Citi Bike from a dock near ISCP. In the gallery the bike will be displayed on a raised white platform, prompting all kinds of musings on the intersections of culture and capitalism. And Aozaki will accrue fees and fines during the run of the show, raising questions about the way our rental systems are rigged.
Hito Steyerl in Free Fall
When: Wednesday, January 27, 10:30am–6pm & Friday, January 29, 10:30am–10pm
Where: Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan)
Having recently watched Hito Steyerl’s excellent “How Not To Be Seen. A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File” (2013), a beguiling and amusing take on our image-saturated world, I’m intrigued to see “In Free Fall” (2010), in which the artist follows the life cycle of a Boeing 707 from its construction to its eventual scrapping. “In doing so,” states the Whitney Museum’s event page, “Steyerl traces tangled economies through the life of a commodity.” The plane that Steyerl investigates was apparently purchased for Israeli military operations and later used on the set of Jan de Bont’s Hollywood thriller Speed (1994). It all sounds a bit too crazy to be true. —TM
Learning Object Lessons
The cover of Alison Kinney’s ‘Hood,’ part of the ‘Object Lessons’ series (via objectsobjectsobjects.com)
When: Thursday, January 28, 7–8:30pm
Where: McNally Jackson (52 Prince Street, Nolita, Manhattan)
Bloomsbury and The Atlantic have collaborated on a new series that turns the object lesson into a piece of writing, either essay or book. The result is a series of idiosyncratic disquisitions on “objects” as varied as the drone, the driver’s license, and silence.
To help officially launch the series, on Thursday night three writers of such lessons — Hyperallergic contributor Alison Kinney, Lydia Pyne, and Kim Adrian — will discuss their respective objects: the hood, the bookshelf, and the sock. The presentations will, of course, include visuals.
What Is Artwashing?
When: Thursday, January 28, 6:30–8:30pm
Where: CP Projects Space (132 W 21st Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)
Though not quite as prevalent as greenwashing, “artwashing” has gained visibility as a dirty word over the last two decades, with companies in industries including tobacco, weapons manufacturing, and oil extraction trying to boost their sullied corporate images through conspicuous cultural sponsorship. Being that we’re in New York, where real estate dominates and dictates everything, this panel organized by SVA’s MA Curatorial Practice program will address how the companies benefiting from development and gentrification use and support art and artists, as well as the role of curators — two of whom, No Longer Empty’s Manon Slome and the Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation’s Sara Reisman, will participate — in that dynamic. —BS
Illumination Against Gentrification signs outside a bodega in Bushwick (photo courtesy Illumination Against Gentrification)
Four Movements for Essex Hemphill
When: Friday, January 29, 7pm
Where: BHQFU (33 34th Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn)
This past December 1, aka World AIDS Day, aka Day With(out) Art, filmmaker and artist Tiona McClodden took over the website of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, with a tribute to Essex Hemphill. “Af·fixing Ceremony: Four Movements for Essex” is a powerful multimedia introduction to the work of the poet and activist, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1995, at the age of 38. When I encountered it, I was captivated from the very first lines:
I was counting T-cells on the shores of cyberspace and feeling some despair…. I have miscegenated and mutated, tolerated and assimilated and yet I remain the same in the eyes of those who would fear and despise me. I stand at the threshold of cyberspace and wonder, is it possible that I am unwelcome here, too?
Friday night offers the chance to hear McClodden present and discuss the project, as well as Hemphill’s legacy, in more depth.
Meal of Fortune
(via moutharcade.com)
When: Friday, January 29–Saturday, January 31, 7:30–10pm
Where: Babycastles Gallery (137 W 14th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)
Presented by Mouth Arcade, this immersive event will examine our daily rituals of eating with a four-course meal and a paired series of games (digital and analogue) — which sounds like a pretty ideal way to spend an evening. Theory Kitchen’s Theo Friedman is in charge of satisfying tastebuds, while artists Thu Tran and Will Rahilly will deal with the entertainment program. Attendees will also be introduced to three new games, all edible, so arrive with an empty stomach and your A game. —CV
Performing Snow
When: Friday, January 29 & Saturday, January 30, 7:30pm
Where: The Invisible Dog (51 Bergen Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn)
Snow can transform the most ordinary of city blocks into something temporarily magical, when quiet falls over everything and sweeping waves of white shroud the street. Reimagining elements from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” and the transformative power of the winter weather, Snow is a multimedia performance piece involving music, dance, and puppetry. Tiny instruments by toy pianist Phyllis Chen, instruments invented by Ranjit Bhatnagar, and masks by Nina Barlow accompany dance and unexpected movement, as choreographed by Jordan Morley with music by John Glover. —AM
Parenting in the Art World
“And Everything Else” (2015) (© and courtesy Melissa Smedley & Home Affairs)
When: Opens Saturday, January 30, 2–4pm
Where: EFA Project Space (323 West 39th Street, Garment District, Manhattan)
Discussions of feminism abound in the art world of late, but something these conversations often leave out is the question of parenting — or questions, really, of whether the space where you’re showing your work offers child care, whether you can bring your kids to the residency you’ve been offered, whether you’ll have to give up your career if you’re interested in having a family, and many more. The Let Down Reflex, a group show curated Amber Berson and Juliana Driever at EFA Project Space, “attempts to recognize the complexities of parenting in the art world, and asks if a better alternative for families can exist.” I’m eager to hear what these artists have to say and see what they suggest.
* * *
With contributions by Allison Meier, Tiernan Morgan, Benjamin Sutton, and Claire Voon