New York City Arts Round-Up #2

I have often wondered, as I wandered around many an art gallery’s modern art wing, how it was that curators of exhibitions could tell which way was the right way to hang paintings that had no obvious clues to their orientation. Should they be hung vertically or horizontally? In the video embedded below, MoMA curator Sarah Meister and master framer Peter Perez analyze several photographs by Brazilian artist Gertrudes Altschul to determine how they should be oriented for the upcoming exhibition Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction.

The exhibition (April 15—August13, 2017), shines a spotlight on the stunning achievements of women artists between the end of World War Two (1945), and the start of the Feminist movement (around 1968). Learn more here.

For MoMA’s latest videos, and invitations to live events Subscribe here…
Explore MoMA’s collection online…
Plan your visit in-person…

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Judith Leiber: Crafting a New York Story

Now through August 6, 2017

Museum of Arts and Design

2 Columbus Circle, Manhattan.

Judith Leiber’s jeweled, embellished and patterned clutches are the subject of this exhibition, which highlights Leiber’s skillfully crafted handbags. These works of art are influenced by both art deco style and techniques Leiber learned in Europe. Her bags are known for their boundary-pushing qualities from Swarovski crystal–covered pieces to those made with fabrics and material from India, Asia and Africa. Read more here…

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The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s

Now through August 20, 2017

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

2 E. 91st St., Manhattan.

In the 1920s American style of dress came to define the jazz era. This is the first major museum exhibition to focus on American taste during the creative explosion of the 1920s. The Jazz Age will be a multi-media experience of more than 400  examples of interior design, industrial design, decorative art, jewelry, fashion, architecture, music, and film. Giving full expression to the decade’s diversity and dynamism, The Jazz Age will define the American spirit of the period. Read more here…

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Storming the Gate (detail). Elizabeth Mateer and Alexander Peters

Dancers Among Us: A Celebration Of Joy In The Everyday

Now through May 5, 2017. Free to attend.
Brookfield Place, Level 2.

230 Vesey Street, Manhattan.

Jordan Matter’s Dancers Among Us presents one thrilling photograph after another of dancers leaping, spinning, lifting, kicking—but in the midst of daily life: on the beach, at a construction site, in a library, a restaurant, a park. With each image the viewer feels buoyed up, eager to see the next bit of magic. Organized around themes of work, play, love, exploration, dreaming, and more, Dancers Among Us celebrates life in a way that’s fresh, surprising, original, universal. There’s no photoshopping here, no trampolines, no gimmicks, no tricks. Just a photographer, his vision, and the serendipity of what happens when the shutter clicks. The exhibition at Brookfield Place (230 Vesey Shops, 2nd level) features twenty large-scale aluminum and vinyl prints, and an incredible video compilation of behind-the-scenes film.

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Not Only — But Also…

Best April Events in New York City From NYCGO

Along with the first real taste of spring, April in New York City means the return of Mets and Yankees baseball, the Tribeca Film Festival and premieres courtesy of Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico and the New York City Ballet. New art exhibitions celebrate the photography of Irving Penn and Henri Cartier-Bresson and the colorful blown-glass creations of Dale Chihuly. For details on these happenings and many more, read on…

More April Events From the Village Voice

Since it is impossible for one website to list every conceivable event in New York City, here are more listings from the Village Voice… 

New York Times Op-Docs: 10 Meter Tower

Photo: Screenshot from the film

Would you jump? Or would you chicken out? Good questions. This short film by Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson (documentary filmmakers based in Gothenburg, Sweden), offers a fascinating glimpse into human behaviour, when a group of people are challenged—and who challenge themselves—to jump from a ten metre swimming pool tower into the water below. Filmed with six cameras and several microphones, all of which can be clearly seen in the footage, the film captures the participants as they voice doubts to themselves and in some cases to friends who have joined them on the tower. Aertryck and Danielson say:

Our objective in making this film was something of a psychology experiment: We sought to capture people facing a difficult situation, to make a portrait of humans in doubt. We’ve all seen actors playing doubt in fiction films, but we have few true images of the feeling in documentaries. To make them, we decided to put people in a situation powerful enough not to need any classic narrative framework. A high dive seemed like the perfect scenario.

Through an online advertisement, the filmmakers found 67 people, none of whom had ever been on a 10-meter (about 33 feet) diving tower before, and had never jumped from that height. Participants, who ranged in age from late teens to late 60s, were paid the equivalent of $30 to participate — which meant they had to at least climb up to the diving board and walking to its edge. Jumping from the tower was not a requirement of the project.

In our films, which we often call studies, we want to portray human behavior, rather than tell our own stories about it. We hope the result is a series of meaningful references, in the form of moving images. “Ten Meter Tower” may take place in Sweden, but we think it elucidates something essentially human, that transcends culture and origins. Overcoming our most cautious impulses with bravery unites all humankind. It’s something that has shaped us through the ages.

Reading through the comments from people who had watched the film makes for an interesting study in human behaviour of a different sort:

Cynthia New Hampshire > I loved this! Absolutely riveting. I could feel my own anxiety mounting as I internalized their anguish. Not only is this an observation of human trepidation but it's an exercise in empathy. By the end, I felt wrung out!

ronnie.and.peter victoria bc > i did it one time only, when i was 13 yrs old, and I am 64 now. It remains one of my most searing memories.

Then of course, there are those who think that just because they may have jumped into water from a great height, everyone else should be able to do so as well. The implication being that if you can’t you are some sort of wimp.

Laurie Cheshire CT > Have none of you cliff dived as a kid? jumping into a pool with no obstacle sticking out is a piece of cake!

Bill Daub NJ > Of course I would jump! Where do I go to try it? People do this all the time with great form and beauty,

Oh, and for the record, I have never jumped from a three metre tower let alone a ten metre one. Would I do so? I will never know unless I try, and at this stage in my life—I have no intention of trying!

Ten Meter Tower appeared at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. It is part of a series produced by independent filmmakers who have received support from the nonprofit Sundance Institute. Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson are documentary filmmakers based in Gothenburg, Sweden, who have worked together since 2013.

Op-Docs is a forum for short, opinionated documentaries, produced with creative latitude by independent filmmakers and artists. You can see more films in the Op-Docs series here at the New York Times website.

Of All The Books In The World...

"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport."

New York City Round-Up #3

NYCGO.COM Releases Official Guide to Spring 2017

New York City’s official website has just released its Official Guide to Spring in New York. This 254 page pocket guide to the city has pretty much everything you need to get you through a long, or short stay in the Big Apple.

The guide is divided into numerous sections. After in introductory section focusing on the city’s five boroughs; The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, there is a roundup of Must-See attractions, Fast Facts, Calendar & Free Events, and This is New York City.

From there the guide provides valuable information on Transportation, Hotels, Shopping, Sightseeing & Tours, Arts & Culture, Museums & Galleries, Dining, Nightlife, Sports & Wellness, and finally, Services. Of course, the obligatory map of the New York subway system is also included. All in all it is a great resource, especially for first-time visitors to the city, and I’m sure visitors returning for their second or third trip will also find the guide useful.

You can download the New York City Guide as a free PDF (24.5Mb), here, or you can order print copies of the guide here.

Watercolor of Collect Pond by Archibald Robinson, 1798,
via Wikimedia Commons

Artifacts From Foley Square

Razi Syed, writing for Our Town Downtown, has an interesting article about some of the historical artefacts unearthed at Foley Square, which was once the heart of the notorious Five Points section of Lower Manhattan, and one of the most poorest and most dangerous neighbourhoods in New York City.

Five Points was built upon the remains of Collect Pond, which provided much of Manhattan’s water until the early 18th century.

“It was this gorgeous, freshwater pond that we jokingly call ‘The Hamptons of 17th century New Amsterdam.’” said Seth Kamil, who runs Big Onion Walking Tours, which provides tours of the city’s historic districts and ethnic neighborhoods. “There were farms and summer cottages.

“It was this 60-foot deep lake, and then it was drained and became Five Points,” Kamil said.

By the late 1800s, the city acquired and razed many of Five Points’ worst buildings. Urban planning resulted in the construction of city, state and federal buildings over the early to mid-1900s.

Read the full article here…

Tony Danza Laments Closure of UWS Starbucks

Holy Moly! I have heard about the sky-high rents that people living in New York City have to pay for apartments that are often so small they would have trouble storing Kim Kardashian’s shoe collection!

However, when I saw a story in the West Side Rag about an Upper West Side Starbucks outlet that had moved due to a rent increase, I was gobsmacked by the monthly rent being demanded by the landlord. Here’s the opening part of the story:

Upper West Sider Tony Danza called into WNYC on Friday to speak to the mayor about all the mom and pops that have been closing in the neighborhood. And he mentioned one particular store that’s not a mom and pop — the Starbucks on 67th and Columbus that closed last year when the landlord hiked the rent to $140,550 a month.

No, that is not a misprint. That figure again: $140,550 each and every month, until the landlord feels he can get away with raising the rent even further. Man! That’s a hell of a lot of Decaf Cappuccino’s, Skinny Latte’s and Espresso Macchiato’s needing to be sold each month. And that’s just to cover the rent, add to that wages, restocking, insurance, and much more, and it’s a wonder that anyone is able to open a business in New York let alone keep it up and running for many years. Read the full story here…

5 Tips for Your Next Visit to Central Park

Douglas Blonsky has been a Central Park regular for more than 30 years. In addition to being an Upper East Side resident who walks in the Park every morning (and often many more times throughout the day), he is also the Conservancy’s President and CEO and the Central Park Administrator. That means he oversees all aspects of park maintenance, operations, and management.

In his 32 years at the Conservancy, Doug has helped transform Central Park from an area of neglect to a beautiful and beloved refuge in the heart of Manhattan. In the process, he has become an expert on the Park which makes him the perfect person to share a few tips for ensuring a memorable visit to Central Park.

1. Don’t let the cold keep you inside 

2. It’s the people who make the Park

3. Make sure to allow for a little wandering

4. Take advantage of events in the Park

5. Find some time for yourself

Read the full post here…

West Side Rag Weekly Events

The West Side Rag publishes a weekly list of each week's forthcoming events running Monday through Sunday that is always worth keeping an eye on if you live, or are staying in that part of Manhattan.

New York City On My Mind

Regular readers of this blog might have noticed a preponderance for posts about America in general, and New York City in particular. I make no excuses for this. I have an abiding interest in that country, and after four extended stays in New York City totalling eight months, I am not done with the city or the country yet. In fact, I am returning to New York once again from mid-June, where I will spend the better part of ten weeks, and if I can’t tear myself away from the city for a couple of weeks, I will end up spending a full twelve weeks in the city this Northern summer.

With a little more than two months before I jet off to New York, you can be sure I am undertaking plenty of research into possible events and activities taking place across the five boroughs. It has always been my practise to pre-purchase tickets to special events well before my arrival in the city I will be spending the most time in. This ensures that I don’t miss out on concert and theatre tickets for performers or shows I particularly want to see. 

For example I have already bought a ticket to see Dweezil Zappa, the son of the great Frank Zappa at City Winery in mid-July. I am also waiting for bookings to open this week for a series of gigs by Michelle Shocked—also at City Winery. The Dweezil Zappa show sold out weeks ago, and I fully expect all three Michelle Shocked gigs to quickly sell out as well, so pre-purchasing tickets makes a lot of sense—or to use popular vernacular: it’s a no-brainer.

Speaking of gigs, it is also my practise to keep a ‘watching brief’ on the websites of a dozen or so favourite acts, to see if they will be performing in New York City (or near by), during my stay. Again, the point is to try and make sure I get my tickets well before I land in the city. Another benefit of doing this is that it helps to spread the cost of the trip over a much longer period, which I also find helpful.

As for pre-booking Broadway shows, this is another no-brainer. With tickets to the most popular shows often being harder to find than teeth in a chicken (the current must see show, Hamilton being a case in point), getting tickets well before the performance date is essential.

Of course, for a long stay like the one I am looking forward to, it is foolhardy to try and preplan too many events and activities. Half the fun of undertaking an extended trip is keeping your options open so as to take advantage of the unexpected, and the unplanned. And in a city the size of New York City you can pretty much guarantee there will be plenty of both.

Oh, and speaking of Hamilton, did I mention (No, Jim, you did not), that currently the cheapest priced tickets are selling for USD$441.00, while tickets for cashed up theatregoers can be had for anything up to USD$3,150.00.

Yes, that really is three-thousand-one-hundred-and-fifty-dollars! And no, I won’t be going to see Hamilton anytime soon. I think I’ll just wait for the movie.

More information

City Winery…

Dweezil Zappa…

Michelle Shocked…

Summer in South Australia

The latest online newsletter from Inside South Australia carried a great story about a local videographer, Elliot Grafton and his latest video which is fast becoming a big hit. At just four minutes in length, Elliot captures some stunning footage highlighting the joys of summer in my home state.

In the piece, Lana Guineay writes:

      “Fun, adventurous, and crazy beautiful!” That’s how 21-year-old videographer Elliot Grafton describes South Australia – and it’s an apt description for his video which has taken off on social media this week.

      The stunning footage captures a summer spent exploring South Australia, and has received an “overwhelming” response online.

      “It’s a bit crazy,” says Elliot. “Of all my videos, this one has gained so much attention – it’s been great seeing South Aussies really get into it, and say they want to get out there and explore.”

The footage just goes to show how much can be done with new photographic technology such as lightweight drones, tiny GoPro cameras, and Digital SLR cameras. Elliott says he wanted to show a different side of his home state, to locals and further afield.

      “Over the last few years I’ve heard people say things like South Australia is boring and there is nothing to do. That’s not what my friends and I thought.

      “I love it here and wanted people to see how beautiful it really is. Growing up, my family has always taken me on adventures, whether that’s camping or out on the boat. Then I found my love of videography, and realised it’s a great chance to show a different side of the state. This video showcases the things that my friends and I love to do in our spare time, we are so lucky to live in such an amazing state. Get off your phone and get outside, explore what’s out there!”

You can see Elliot’s breath-taking video below. Make sure you hit the 'full screen' icon to watch it in all its glory.

The New York Wheel, Staten Island

Artist rendering of the New York Wheel

Way back in June, 2015, in a post titled The New York Wheel: Myth or Reality, I wrote about the then much hyped New York Wheel—a Ferris wheel so large that to equate it with your normal State Fair type Ferris wheel is to do the New York Wheel a grave injustice.

Well, here we are almost two years later, and I am excited to report that the New York Wheel is well into its construction phase, with about another 12 months of the build still to come before it is ready to accept its first passengers. As for the many passengers the wheel is slated to carry, here are some statistics that give some idea of the scope of the project:

The wheel will be 630 feet high (192 Metres), and have 36 pods carrying up to 40 people per pod. That’s up to 1,440 visitors per 38-minute rotation. The wheel will be open from 10:00am to Midnight seven days a week. Assuming the wheel completes a minimum of 14 rotations (one per hour), that adds up to more than 20,000+ passengers each day. That figure also assumes that each pod will be filled with 40 passengers.

Which ever way you look at it, the New York Wheel is going to dominate the skyline of Staten Island for many years to come. Though somewhat dated now (commentary in the video suggests the Wheel will be completed in 2017), the video below provides a look at the construction of the wheel and an idea of what visitors can expect from their New York Wheel experience.

More Information

New York Wheel…

The Killers In Manila

Screen shot only. The full video is embedded below.

I have never been to the Philippines, or had any real interest in visiting that land of many islands. After watching this new documentary from the New York Times, I have even less interest in going there. As a subscriber to the online NYTimes, I have been following with growing feelings of horror, the brutal slaughter of thousands of that nation's poorest citizens, who have been targeted because they are either drug dealers or drug users.

Some of the victims of President Duterte's 'war on drugs' have almost certainly been the victims of false accusations by people bearing grudges, while other have been innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. At almost 15-minutes, this short documentary provides shocking proof of what can happen to sane and civil societies everywhere, when police and other thugs, hiding behind a presidential decree are able to brazenly flout the rule of law.

Below I include in full, the email I received today from the New York Times, and Andrew Glazer, the Senior Story Producer for the Times. Be warned however, that the film contains footage of violent death, grief, and graphic violence. You will need to decide for yourself if you want to visit the Philippines after viewing this film. For myself, I know I will never visit there.

When a President Says, ‘I’ll Kill You’

By Andrew Glazer and Jeremy Rocklin

Dear Subscriber, 
My name is Andrew Glazer, and I’m a video journalist for The Times. My colleagues and I have been working hard to bring you the documentary “When a President Says, ‘I’ll Kill You.’ ” I invite you, a valued subscriber, to take a look.

The film will bring you to the front lines of a deadly campaign led by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He’s called for police and vigilantes to kill drug suspects and pushers; and the official death toll since he took office last summer has reached at least 3,600 — but the actual number is probably much greater. Most of those killed were poor and living in slums. Few of the killings have been investigated. 

A corps of local journalists has worked tirelessly to document the killings and the survivors to highlight their humanity. One, photographer Raffy Lerma of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, is a subject of our documentary. He’ll bring you, the viewer, along as he rushes from crime scene to wake to funeral. You’ll not only see the brutality of their demise but also the desperation and grief of their families. And you’ll hear from the top drug enforcement officials who justify the draconian campaign. 

Putting this together was a team effort. I worked with two talented Manila-based journalists — cameraman/producer Carsten Stormer and co-producer Yasmin Coles — and film editor Jeremy Rocklin and director of enterprise Liz Baylen. And, of course, you, who helped fund this effort with your subscription. 

On behalf of the 50 journalists on The Times video desk, I want to thank you for your support. I hope you continue to explore more of our video journalism in the weeks ahead. We do this for you. 

Andrew Glazer 
Senior Story Producer, The New York Times

Addendum: After adding this post today, and reviewing my introduction to the email and the video, I realised that some readers may think I am ignoring the problem of drugs in society. Any society. I am not. I am well aware of the pain and suffering drugs inflict on the users, their families and friends, and society at large. This however does not excuse the blatant disregard for the rule of law that is now underway in Manila. Laws are there for a reason, as are courts, judges, and prisons. Use them.

A Tale of Too Many Moscow’s

Moscow, Russia

 Yesterday’s post (A Tale Of Two Sydney’s), started me thinking about other potentially conflicting and confusing city names. To my surprise, there were a lot more than I thought there would be. For instance, the cities of Moscow, London, Melbourne, Athens, and Paris, to name just a handful, crop up multiple times across the world. 

To take the Russian capital, Moscow as an example—depending on which online source you consult—there may be twenty-three places called Moscow in the world, or they may be a lot more. Even trying to find the precise number of Moscow’s in the United States varies from eighteen to twenty-six, although again, there could be more (see below). You will find Moscow’s in the states of Idaho, North Dakota, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Maine. Some of these are big enough to be called cities, but most are generally not much bigger than small towns or hamlets.

      There are or have been at least 30 American towns named Moscow, according to American Demographics magazine. Ohio and Kansas had four each. These aren`t enclaves of pinkos, explains geographer Irina Vasiliev of the State University of New York at Buffalo, who studies the derivation of town names. Moscow, Vermont, is so called because townspeople there thought blades in the local sawmill sounded like cathedral bells of Moscow, Russia. Moscow, Maine, was named to commemorate Russia`s victory over Napoleon, and Moscow, Minnesota, came into being after a forest fire reminded residents of the scorched-earth policy Russian contemporaries adopted to foil the French dictator.
      Only two of America`s Moscow’s actually were named by Russian immigrants, according to Vasiliev. One is in Kansas, the other in Pennsylvania. Then there is the case of Moscow, Texas, which is named after Moscow, Tennessee. Most of America`s other Moscow’s were afterthoughts, named quickly, American Demographics says, “when settlers needed a label for their post office.”
      In most cases, Vasiliev says, the name Moscow was a way to get attention or improve a town`s image. Obviously, these ill-conceived public relations campaigns predated Lenin.[Source: Chicago Tribune…]

Looking south towards Moscow, Idaho

The town of Moscow, Idaho, is one of the biggest towns in America bearing that name. However, when the first US post office opened in 1872, the town was called ‘Paradise Valley,’ but the name was changed to Moscow in 1875. According to the Wikipedia entry for the town:

     The precise origin of the name Moscow has been disputed. There is no conclusive proof that it has any connection to the Russian city, though various accounts suggest it was purposely evocative of the Russian city or named by Russian immigrants. Another account claims that the name derives from a Native American tribe named "Masco”. It was reported by early settlers that five men in the area met to choose a proper name for the town, but could not come to agreement on a name. The postmaster Samuel Neff then completed the official papers for the town and selected the name Moscow. Interestingly, Neff was born in Moscow, Pennsylvania and later moved to Moscow, Iowa.

I am tempted to start a series of regular posts about place names and their origins, but at the moment I have more pressing matters to address. For now I will leave you with this fascinating 21:32-minute radio program from Public Radio International that looks at the prevalence of towns called Moscow in the United States.

A Tale Of Two Sydney's

Screen grab from The Guardian

Ouch! Look at that headline from The Guardian online this past Saturday, April 1st. For a moment or two I thought it might be an April Fool’s Day joke, but no, a young Dutch man, Milan Schipper, thought he had grabbed the bargain of lifetime when he scored a cheap flight from Amsterdam to Sydney, Australia.

Schipper’s plan was to backpack through Australia, taking in its lush coastal landscapes and white sand beaches before heading to college after the Northern summer. Since he knew it was late summer in Australia, he came dressed for the occasion—in a T-shirt, sweatpants and a thin jacket.

Instead, the Dutch teenager found himself 10,000 miles away from Sydney, Australia – staring out at a snow-covered, frozen landscape – as he realised that he had accidentally booked a flight to Sydney, Nova Scotia, a municipality of 32,000 people on Canada’s east coast.

“I thought I was going to Australia, but that turned out a little different,” the 18-year-old told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday.

During a stopover in Toronto, Schipper began to have doubts about his destination after he noticed that the plane lined up on the tarmac was a lot smaller than he thought it should be.

His suspicions were confirmed after he boarded and checked the flight map on his seat screen. “I saw the flight plan was going to go right, not left. It was about the time that I realized there was another Sydney,” he said. “I felt terrible. I think I swore in my head for like 10 minutes. But there was nothing I could do about it because I was already up in the air.”

Sydney, Australia.                             Sydney, Nova Scotia
(Images: Jason Reed, Steve Wadden/Reuters)

On landing in Sydney, Nova Scotia, he discovered the locals were bracing for a snowstorm expected to bring strong winds and 10 to 15 cm (four to six inches) of snow. After Schipper spoke to airline representatives and explained what had happened, he ruled out heading straight to Australia—which would have cost him another €1,500 ($1,600), and another 30 hours of air travel—and decided to fly back to Amsterdam instead.

Incredibly (or so it seems to me), an American woman on the same flight as Milan Schipper made the same mistake! And this incident is not the first time travellers have confused the two Sydney’s. In 2002 two British teenagers ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, while trying to visit Australia, as did an Argentine tourist in 2008, another Dutch man and his grandson in 2009, and an Italian couple in 2010.

Clearly, it helps to have more than a passing knowledge of world geography. It also helps to pay a lot more attention to the booking process.

New York City Arts Round-Up #1

MoMA: Unfinished Conversations

This is the first of a regular series of posts highlighting the current art scene in New York City. I have long had an interest in the arts, and now visit to New York is complete without spending time in at least one or two the city's great art institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and so many others. If You are a New Yorker, you know you are spoiled for choice when it comes to immersing yourself in the arts there.

MoMA: Unfinished Conversations: New Work from the Collection brings together works by more than a dozen artists, made in the past decade and recently acquired by The Museum of Modern Art. The artists that make up this intergenerational selection address current anxiety and unrest around the world and offer critical reflections on our present moment. The exhibition considers the intertwining themes of social protest, the effect of history on the formation of identity, and how art juxtaposes fact and fiction. From Cairo to St. Petersburg, from The Hague to Recife, the artists in the exhibition observe and interpret acts of state violence and the resistance and activism they provoke. They reexamine historical moments, evoking images of the past and claiming their places within it. They take on contemporary struggles for power, intervening into debates about government surveillance and labor exploitation. Together, these artists look back to traditions both within and beyond the visual arts to imagine possibilities for an uncertain future.

Now through July 30, 2017. More at MoMA…

Rubin Museum: Gateway to Himalayan Art

Rubin Museum of Art

150, West 17th Street, rubinmuseum.org

The Rubin presents art that traverses Asia’s diverse cultures, regions, and narratives. The Museum’s special exhibitions celebrate art forms that range from ancient to contemporary, including photography and multimedia, while its permanent collection galleries are focused primarily on art from the Himalayan region. Of particular interest are two exhibitions: Sacred Spaces: Himalayan Wind… (through until June 5, 2017; and Gateway to Himalayan Art (through until June 27, 2017). Sacred Spaces invites visitors to reflect on devotional activities in awe-inspiring places, while Gateway to Himalayan Art introduces visitors to the main forms, concepts, and meanings of Himalayan art represented in the Rubin Museum’s collection.

Grandma's Closet At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

Sara Berman's belongings became an unlikely meditation on immigration, re-invention and feminine independence. By Priscilla Frank, Arts Writer, The Huffington Post

Sara Berman kept her closet in perfect order ― shoes lined up in an unerring row, crisply ironed white shirts stacked one atop the other, her signature bottle of Chanel 19 perched within easy grasp. Her children and grandchildren would gaze into the modest, meticulously organized niche reverently, as if staring at a work of art. Still, they never actually imagined their mom or grandma’s closet would one day, quite literally, find its way into The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“If someone told my mother her closet would be in the Met one day, she would have thought they were crazy,” artist, author and illustrator Maira Kalman said during a talk held at the museum last week, alongside her son, Alex Kalman, and Amelia Peck, a curator of American decorative arts at the Met. And yet, among the period rooms in the museum’s American Wing, most of which display opulent domestic craftsmanship from the 17th to 19th centuries, is Berman’s neat and tidy closet of the 1980s. 

If You Go:

Sara Berman’s Closet… 

Now through September 5, 2017

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park & Fifth Avenue

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Carol Rama: Antibodies at the New Museum

From April 26—September 10, 2017

235 Bowery, New Museum…

Appassionata (1940), by Carol Rama; Photo: Studio Gonella

This exhibition is the first New York examination of the work of the late Italian artist Carol Rama. The exhibition lays claim to being the largest presentation of her work in the US.

While Rama has been largely overlooked in contemporary art discourses, her work has proven prescient and influential for many artists working today, attaining cult status and attracting renewed interest in recent years. Rama’s exhibition at the New Museum will bring together over one hundred of her paintings, objects, and works on paper, highlighting her consistent fascination with the representation of the body.

Seen together, these works present a rare opportunity to examine the ways in which Rama’s fantastical anatomies opposed the political ideology of her time and continue to speak to ideas of desire, sacrifice, repression, and liberation. “Carol Rama: Antibodies” celebrates the independence and eccentricity of this legendary artist whose work spanned half a century of contemporary art history and anticipated debates on sexuality, gender, and representation. Encompassing her entire career, the exhibition traces the development from her early erotic, harrowing depictions of “bodies without organs” through later works that invoke innards, fluids, and limbs—a miniature theater of cruelty in which metaphors of contagion and madness counteract every accepted norm.

More at New Museum…

More Arts Information

Museum of Modern Art…
Rubin Museum of Art…
The Metropolitan Museum of Art…

Village Voice Guide to NYC’s Spring Art Exhibits…

Ending The Elephant Slaughter

Intercepting poachers at Lewa Conservancy.

I have never understood the attraction of hunting, either for profit or for adventure. I do of course understand the need for hunting if your personal survival depends on it. I also understand that many native populations around the world still rely on hunting wild game to supplement their diets, even if they have access to modern food sources. However, it is rare, if not completely unheard of for native populations who hunt wild game to indiscriminately slaughter large numbers of wild animals simply for ‘sport’ or ‘adventure’.

I was shocked to read recently that the Convention on The Trade in Endangered Species estimates that at least 20,000 elephants were killed for ivory in 2015. In fact, there are now fears that more elephants are being slaughtered each year than are being born. Needless to say, it is impossible to know exactly how many elephants are dying each year at the hands of criminal poaching gangs.

In 2016, the Great Elephant Census indicated that poachers slaughtered nearly 30% of East Africa’s savanna elephants from 2007 to 2014, some 144,000 animals. Poachers also killed nearly two-thirds of central Africa’s forest elephants between 2002 and 2013. Currently, fewer than 400,000 elephants are believed to remain in 18 sub-Saharan countries. While this figure may seem large, when elephants are being slaughtered at the rate 20,000+ creatures a year, it doesn’t take a brilliant mathematician to work out that at the current rate of slaughter, Africa’s wild elephant population could be extinct in twenty years.

Thankfully, there are organisations and people prepared to do whatever they can to minimize—even if they cannot completely end—this wild life slaughter. One of these people is the philanthropist (and former co-founder of Microsoft), Paul Allen, who has funded a new high tech anti-poaching system known as the Domain Awareness System (DAS). Responding to the elephant poaching crisis in the Great Elephant Census report, Allen and his team of technologists and conservation experts are partnering with park managers across Africa to provide the new technology to help protect this iconic species and other wildlife threatened by human activities. 

(Stock image). Credit: © jhvephoto / Fotolia

The Domain Awareness System aggregates the positions of radios, vehicles, aircraft and animal sensors to provide users with a real-time dashboard that depicts the wildlife being protected, the people and resources protecting them, and the potential illegal activity threatening them.

Other high tech tools that are helping in this vital fight are satellites, drones, camera traps, animal sensors, weather monitors and eventually new technology yet to be invented. The new technology also helps take the guess work out of the anti-poaching fight. With real-time data at their fingertips, park rangers can respond quickly and effectively to catch poachers before they wreak havoc on elephant herds and other wild game. 

Sadly, however, it is not just the wild game that are threatened by poachers. Each year, heavily armed poaching gangs kill dozens of park rangers across Africa’s numerous game reserves. The Game Ranger website reports that, “More than 1,000 rangers have been killed worldwide and many more injured over the last 10 years.” Clearly, the stakes are high for both the wild life and their human protectors, so anything that can help reduce the human and animal death toll is to be applauded—which brings us back to the Domain Awareness System. 

The system has been installed at six protected wildlife conservation sites since November 2016. Working with Save the Elephants, African Parks Network, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Singita Grumeti Fund as well as the Lewa Conservancy and Kenya’s Northern Rangelands Trust, a total of 15 locations are expected to adopt the system this year.

When the system is fully operational by the end of 2017, it will cover more than 90,000 square miles of protected area. An ongoing consortium of conservation NGOs, government partners, and technology companies, is working with Paul Allen's team to integrate DAS with software used in nearly 500 sites across 46 countries to measure, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of wildlife law enforcement patrols and onsite conservation activities.

One can only hope that the combined forces—human and technological—arrayed against the illegal trade in elephant tusks, can put an effective end to this criminal practice before it is too late.

Here is a short video outlining how the Domain Awareness System works in practice:

More Information

Great Elephant Census...

Convention on The Trade in Endangered Species... 

Study: Legalizing ivory trade won’t save elephants…

Game Rangers Association of Africa…

New York City Round-Up #2

Remembering Jimmy Breslin

I came very late to the writing of Jimmy Breslin when I eventually 'discovered' him last year and bought an eBook copy of The World According to Jimmy Breslin, a 1988 compilation of some of his best essays. Since then I have added another seven Breslin books to my collection, and I am slowly working my way through all of them. I’ll let Wikipedia introduce the man:

James Earle "Jimmy" Breslin (October 17, 1928 – March 19, 2017) was an American journalist and author. Until the time of his death, he wrote a column for the New York Daily News Sunday edition. He wrote numerous novels, and columns of his appeared regularly in various New York City newspapers. He served as a regular columnist for the Long Island newspaper Newsday until his retirement on November 2, 2004, though he still published occasional pieces for the paper. He was known for his newspaper columns which offered a sympathetic viewpoint of the working class people of New York City, and was awarded the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary "for columns which consistently champion ordinary citizens".

Breslin, who passed away last week, was one of the old school newspaper greats, certainly in the same league as Joseph Mitchell, Alistair Cooke, and Meyer Berger, although the focus of his topics was often quite different.

Read A Part Of A Cop’s Past Lies Dead, the column Jimmy Breslin wrote following the murder of John Lennon in 1980.

If you can't find print copies of Breslin's books, many of his most popular works are now available as eBooks for Kindle, iPad, and other electronic devices. If you have never read the man, I urge you to seek out his work online, in secondhand bookshops, or electronically, and spend a few weeks as I am catching up with his remarkable writing.

Wikipedia entry for Jimmy Breslin…

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OpDocs: Who Makes The Bronx?

In the shade of the 4 train’s elevated track, Jerome Avenue’s dense clusters of auto-repair shops, storefronts, and manufacturers have long formed the economic spine of the Bronx, one of New York’s increasingly rare blue-collar neighborhoods. But as the city government considers rezoning the corridor to add residential development, change looms for the neighborhood’s social and economic landscape. 

Against that backdrop of uncertainty, Giacomo Francia, writing for the New York Times presents six short documentaries profiling an orange seller, ice cream vendor, glass cutter, hairdresser, mechanic, and pigeon keeper.

Giacomo Francia writes:

To make these profiles of the people who live and work around rapidly changing Jerome Avenue in the South Bronx, I decided to spend last summer [2015] there. That summer turned into 10 months. I spent so much time with the workers on Jerome Avenue that when I greeted them in the morning, smiling, they would nod back at me and say “cuidate” (“be safe”)! I found that the rhythm of Jerome Avenue is driven by the mechanics and street vendors who line its streets, and the shops run by hard-working families, who are often sustaining small businesses proudly handed down to them from generations past.

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Destination Midtown App

Planning a visit to New York City? If so you might want to check out the newish Destination Midtown app. Some of New York City’s top attractions are highlighted in this interactive tour guide to Midtown Manhattan. 

The app features ten step-by-step walking tours that include 34th and 42nd Streets, parts of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, as well as suggestions for rainy days, nights out, the fashion conscious, and others.

Destination Midtown claims to be “your perfect companion to all the best landmarks, museums, restaurants, and shops.” Along with the ten walking tours users will find:

• Detailed attraction profiles featuring locals-only info, insider tips, photos, hours of operation, and more
• Perfectly-framed selfie spots to help you snag that next profile pic
• Always-up-to-date event calendar with Midtown’s top happenings
• The ability to save your favorite walks, attractions, and destinations in “My Trip” to help plan your day
• “Back of the guidebook” info about eating, drinking, and getting around in the Big Apple

The app, which is available as a free download for both Apple and Android devices, has been developed by the Destination Midtown Alliance, founded last year by Empire State Realty Trust. The Alliance is a coalition of businesses and attractions who joined together to spread the word about Midtown Manhattan as a primary tourist destination. The Alliance provides visitors with a variety of interactive itineraries of Midtown’s best sightseeing, dining, shopping and entertainment, all within a 15-minute walk of the heart of New York City, and the Empire State Building.

Here’s a six minute video from Expedia highlighting some of the main New York City attractions including those around the Midtown area:

New York City Vacation Travel Guide | Expedia from Expedia on Vimeo.

More Destination Midtown information and links to the free apps…