A rendering of what the museum will look like after its planned expansion. |
Reel Good Art Exhibits
Moving Image Offers Film Fan Treats
By jeff feinman
The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria has a life of its own, as wide-eyed visitors are led through the winding, dark lighted hallways, learning all about movie magnificence.
There are a great number of hands-on, cutting edge museum exhibits that movie lovers of all ages can observe in wonder. As many myths of cinema magic are unfolded right before the eyes of visitors, a great deal of understanding is created between filmmaker and fan.
The top floor, where museum workers suggest is the best place to start, delves into the creation of the moving image, as there are nickelodeons and other forms of primitive moving images for viewing. There is also a row of computers where visitors have an opportunity to create their own animation, arranging a series of cartoon cutouts underneath a camera, which shoots still frames of each scene. Visitors can then view their recordings in animation form on the computer monitor.
Another interactive exhibit that is sure to elicit many smiles is a voiceover room that allows visitors to relay the lines of their favorite movies, which include “The Wizard of Oz,” “Babe” and “Glory.” The lines are displayed up on a movie screen, where visitors can read along and record their voice and then watch the scene play over with their own voice.
As patrons wander down to the next floor, the museum begins to focus on what happens in front of the camera. There are a number of plaster casts of many famous actors displayed in a wall case, including Al Pacino, Anthony Quinn, and Queens’ own Christopher Walken. There are also a number of actually used movie props and costumes, including a model of Yoda from “The Empire Strikes Back” and a prop sweater of Freddy Krueger from “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Along the wall is a media station, where actors and directors reveal tactics and secrets of movie making.
Every so often, a movie star stops by the museum to speak with fans and discuss previous and current projects. On Sunday, Aug. 20, martial arts actor Tony Jaa was on hand for a Muay Thai demonstration and a special viewing of his new movie “The Protector,” which hits theatres Sept. 8. Jaa’s appearance comes in conjunction with an exhibit called “Fist and Sword,” in which the museum will show various martial arts films through the fall.
The Museum of the Moving Image will continue to bring in many big stars. On Friday, Sept. 15, Astoria-born Dito Montiel will be on hand at a special viewing of his film “Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” which is based on his life growing up in Astoria. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 17, actor Forrest Whitaker and Director James McDonald will be on hand to talk about their new film, “The Last King of Scotland.” On Oct. 2, Director and Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam will appear in person.
back to menu
Crowds gather to Warm Up at P.S. 1. |
Warm Up In LIC
P.S.1 Gets the Party Started in Queens
By AndrEW MOESEL
On Saturday afternoons during the summer, P.S.1 in Long Island City isn’t the hippest place to be in Queens – it’s the hippest place to be in New York.
Hundreds of artsy and fashionable people descend of the contemporary art museum, which converts its courtyard into a pulsating dance hall. Well-known DJs play a mix of Techno and House music while beer flows freely from several makeshift bars posted on the crowd’s periphery. Needless to say, it’s not the Met.
The event, titled “Warm Up,” started in 1997 as a means to draw visitors across the river to the sometimes forgotten borough. Since then it has become an institution, being voted the best club in the city in 2005 by the readers of Time Out magazine.
Part art exhibit, part beach party, Warm Up creates a unique environment to enjoy a pleasant summer day (or even a nasty one, really). Every year, P.S.1 reinvents its courtyard to serve as the event venue, combining aesthetic interest with the practicality of an active party space. The design is chosen from an open contest in which artists submit their vision for the area.
The setup this year featured mesh domes supported by large wooden arches, situated in the middle of the courtyard. On the ground around the dome, several mesh bubbles breathed a cool, visible mist onto passersby.
Several shallow pools were placed around the venue. A wooden rim that encircled these pools served as a seat for many tired partygoers, though many have been known to wade into the waters to cool off. There is not much loose change to be seen; apparently making wishes isn’t considered too hip.
The dancing – which seems to be people’s main reason for coming – centers around a drab concrete block located near the foot of matching public steps leading up to the museum entrance. During the early afternoon, a few stragglers show off their moves, practically owning the entire dance floor themselves. But as time presses on, soon the slab became full, then packed, then overflowing, leading the dance party to extend increasingly outward into the main courtyard. By 8 p.m., revelers are stacked shoulder to shoulder in every direction.
Much like Queens, the crowd is diverse in age, race and style. Many wear fashionable hipster garb – sunglasses, ripped jeans, vintage shirts and odd accessories – but others sport the more traditional t-shirt and shorts look. There are usually even a few families around, teaching their little children to boogie down with the beat.
If a visitor grows tired on dancing and craves a little culture, all the exhibits are open. It may be good to get there early and enjoy the art, then prepare to party once the venue fills up later.
So go, be happy, be hip, and maybe learn a little something while you’re there.
The last warm-up of the year is set for this Saturday. Enjoy.
back to menu
Part of “Nexus,” a 2004 exhibit of Taiwanese-Americans. |
A Place For Us
Museum Of Art Examines Our Lives
By ANDREW MOESEL
Even for a borough that boasts the most ethnically diverse population in the world, the Queens Museum of Art, housed in the New York City building in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, has a multicultural history that stands out.
It played a central role in both the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, and in between those two events, temporarily housed the newly formed United Nations. But even as an art museum – having been handed over to the Queens Center for Arts and Culture in 1972 – the venue has maintained a focus on displaying the spirit and vibrancy of the earth’s many unique people.
Today that tradition continues with several collections that focus on Hispanic Culture, especially artists and subjects from Mexico. In a series of photographic and video artworks, the museum explores the essence of modern existence in the Hispanic world, drawing on the landscape of large urban environments to portray the reality of many Mexicans today.
In an exhibition entitled “ABCDF: Portraits of Mexico City,” the artists attempt to categorize the experience of living within such a massive urban center (over 20 million people) through a progression of photos, sound clips, paintings, prints and animations. The works are organized alphabetically in a list of 250 words that describe each piece, from Abasto to Zoom. In total, this collection gives an impression of the integral tapestry of daily life that takes place in Mexico City.
But with another exhibition, “Our Vision,” the museum makes equal strides to explain the immigrant experience, the very act of leaving the traditional Mexican culture for another. Displaying the work of many Mexican photographers that have worked in New York City, the exhibit tries to capture the process of transformation that has split the identities of million of Mexicans.
“Immigrant artists must transform themselves, taking on a range of jobs for their economic survival and cultural development,” said curator Enrique González Ibarra. “The nostalgia for what was left behind can be quite painful and the road to the future is sometimes hard to imagine.”
The museum also continues to show the permanent fixtures that have made it well-known, including the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass and, likely its most famous feature, the Panorama of New York City.
An accurate miniature model of the five boroughs, the Panorama has delighted onlookers since it was made more than four decades ago. The staff last updated the model in 1992, but plans are set to make more adjustments over the next few years. Spanning 9,335 square feet, visitors view the model from above as they walk around a circular runway attached to the wall around the model. It is a must see.
To see cutting edge art, there’s no reason to take the 7 Train under the river; simply head the other direction and get off near the park. People say they visit museums to get a little culture, but nowhere is that more true than the QMA.
back to menu
Artists put final touches on Socrates exhibits. |
Reclaiming Sculpture
Socrates Artists Redefine The Rules
By ELLEN THOMPSON
Pieces were scattered throughout the dewy grass. A month into the process and the sculptures were nowhere near ready for the Sept. 10 opening, plus the Friday morning rain wasn’t helping.
“Production at Socrates is often a struggle, and while the end result may not always be what the artist had imagined or intended, it is a valuable learning experience,” Socrates Sculpture Park Executive Director Alyson Baker said of the triangular plot of land along the East River in Long Island City and the 2006 Emerging Artist Fellows who were tirelessly building around her.
A handful of the fellows had drudged through muddy puddles, lugging their industrial materials over the park’s slick rocks that Friday morning, many of whom, without fully realizing, had entered the learning experience. The talented sculptors were breaking the constructs once placed on them by traditional galleries or museums. The new generation of sculptors was discreetly growing with their audience that rainy morning, just as other sculptures had done 20 years before them, when Socrates founder Mark di Suvero reclaimed the illegal dumpsite as the base of his utopian vision.
“Their struggle reaches beyond natures elements, it builds inside them,” Baker said, her soft voice barely audible over the clanking of sculptors’ hammers and the beeps of forklifts in the neighboring Costco parking. “The pieces are no longer theirs; it belongs to the community as much as it does the artist. The community has put in just as much time watching the piece grow and evolve as they artists have erecting it.”
Allowing the community to be a part of the creative process hasn’t been a problem for William Bryan Purcell, whose enormous pink tree stump plagued with beaver teeth marks sits near the parks entrance, or Cameron Gainer, who has been molding the contours of his life-size sasquatch in the park’s outdoor studio.
“Not every artist can handle that pressure though,” Baker said. “Some need the privacy of their own studio, allowing them to bring pieces over when they feel ready.”
While other artists were out running errands, picking up supplies, sculptor Martha Friedman sat on a damp bench in front of where her sculpture would be, gazing at the looming New York City skyline that was masked by a gray mist rising from the East River.
“One of the most unique aspects of the park is the transparency that is afforded the production phase of the creative process,” Baker said.
back to menu
Colden Center was renamed for Selma and Max Kupferberg earlier this year. |
In Our Back Yard
Cuny Presents A Wide Range Of Arts
By IMAN KHAN
Though many think of the venerable institutions around and inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park when imagining the mainstream arts culture of Queens, perhaps some of the most overlooked sites are those that are literally in so many of our own backyards.
The City University of New York has four colleges in Queens, and each has its own arts program – some more prominent that others, but each just as vibrant as the next.
Queens CUNY campuses will host a variety of arts programming at their Queens campuses this fall. Their showcases will feature a range of films, performances and exhibitions representing various parts of Queens’ communities.
Queens College
The Godwin-Ternbach Museum will be exhibiting “Popstars” during the fall semester of the school year.
Prints and multi-media works by the superstars of the Pop Art movement that took root in the 1950s and 60s are featured in this exhibition. Included in the exhibition are Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup and Electric Chair.
The Queensborough Performing Arts Center holds great performances throughout the year. |
Pop Art changed the American art scene and triggered its own unique sub-culture. Its impact has rippled through to present times and the celebration of everyday life that was Pop Art defined the generation that came of age in the 1960s and ‘70s. Warhol and his friends created a world of idolatry and excess much like that of contemporary American youth. In conjunction with the exhibition the Museum will show three of Warhol’s underground films and present a series of public lectures.
The Godwin-Ternbach Museum is located at 405 Klapper Hall and can be reached by calling (718) 997-4747 or by visiting their website at www.qc.edu/godwin_ternbach.
At the Queens College Arts Center, Figure Studies and Banyan Trees will run Sept. 12-Oct. 27.
In two recent series of photographs that combine vintage printing with digital technologies, the artist explores organic forms and investigates the tension between literal and abstract images in Figure Studies, shown here for the first time, and the Banyan Trees series, in which Gonzalez first developed this formal and metaphorical investigation.
Tony Gonzalez’s photographs have been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States, most recently this summer by the Cheryl McGinnis Gallery in New York City, and are represented in public, corporate and private collections. His work has been published in articles in Professional Photographers of America, Photographer Forum, Nueva Luz, The Futurist Magazine, The Landmarks of New York, and in monographs, exhibition catalogs and reviews.
“Untitled,” part of Tony Gonzalez’s Figure Study coming to Queens College. |
The Queens College Art Center is located on the sixth floor of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library and can be reached by calling (718) 997-3770 or by visiting their website at http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/Library/art/artcenter.html. Hours for the museum vary according to the college’s art library hours.
The Max, aka the Kupferberg Center for the Performing Arts (formerly the Colden Center) is located on the main campus of Queens College, at the corner of Horace Harding Expressway and Kissena Boulevard and can be reached by calling (718) 793-8080 or by visiting their website at www.coldencenter.org. There is a wide range of performances planned for the fall. Hours for the center vary according to the performance schedules. Please contact the website for upcoming events.
York College
The York College Performing Arts Center will host a Jazz Faculty concert Tuesday, Sept. 5, from noon to 2 p.m. Though a full fall schedule is in the works, it was not available as of press time. For additional information regarding upcoming performances call (718) 262-3750 or visit www.york.cuny.edu/pac.
Queensborough Community College
On Friday, Sept. 8, the Queensborough Community College Performing Arts Center will premiere the film, The Latin Legends of Comedy.
This presentation is subsequent to the success of the QPAC’s presentation of the Latin Legends in concert. The documentary and autobiographical film of Joe Vega, JJ Ramirez and Angel Salazar, also known as the Latin Legends of Comedy, captures their personal, political and social struggles and ultimate successes in an engaging factual and humorous manner.
On Sunday, Sept. 17, QPAC will host an evening with Marvin Hamlisch, a Queens son who was one of the most successful composers of the 20 century. Some of his compositions include the Broadway shows A Chorus Line, They’re Playing Our Song, The Goodbye Girl, movie scores including The Way We Were, The Sting, Funny Lady, The Entertainer, The Spy Who Loved Me, Sophie’s Choice and popular music written for none other than Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli.
Queensborough Community College’s Art Gallery has been hosting Andy Warhol Graphic Works through the summer and will continue to run the exhibition through Sept. 30. Warhol’s art formulates transformations that proliferate – artistically, philosophically, and morally. It defined a new understanding in social relationships that no other society has previously upheld.
For more information about this exhibit contact the art gallery at (718) 631-6396 or visit www.qccartgallery.org.
LaGuardia Community College
As part of Queens Theatre in the Park’s JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center presented the world premiere of a new work by the popular Latin American dance and music company, Grupo Krapp, Aug. 3.
Upcoming shows include the premiere of Peruvian singer Tania Libertad on Oct. 12, the film premiere of Queensbridge: The Other Side, Oct. 20.
Dance companies, musicians and children’s shows round out what is sure to be an exciting season at LaGuardia – and at all of the borough’s CUNY arts sites.
To learn more, go to www.cuny.edu .
back to menu
Inside the Noguchi Museum. |
A Life Of Design
Noguchi’s Work Has A Queens Home
The Isamu Noguchi Museum, named after influential Japanese sculptor Isamu Noguchi, was opened in 1985 to display the many works of the distinguished artist. A unique talent, Noguchi designed artwork using a variety of mediums, including wood, stone, metal and even light installations.
For years, the museum’s collection comprised solely of Noguchi’s art, more than enough to fill the 13 galleries in the building. But after a 2-1/2-year renovation that added a new education center and a climate control system, in 2004 the museum began to add temporary exhibits to its already extensive compilation of Noguchi’s work.
Converted from an old photograph engraving factory in Long Island City, the curators refurbished the interior while making sure not to disturb the modern décor that Noguchi designed. Not to mention, they put in a café for visitors to grab a bite while taking in the museum’s contents.
Several of the temporary exhibits combine Noguchi’s works with artists who served as friends and collaborators during his lifetime. The current exhibit, Best of Friends: Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi, shows the two men’s discourse of ideas through shared pieces in a variety of different forms.
“It provides a window onto the humanistic, utopian perspective that informed not only the work of Fuller and Noguchi, but much of the art and architecture of the era in which they worked,” according to the museum’s Web site, www.noguchi.org.
Starting in November, the museum will show photographs of the Shin Banraisha, a former building at Keio University in Japan. The work of Noguchi, architect Yoshirô Taniguchi and interior designer Isamu Kenmochi, the Shin Banraisha combined both Western and Eastern themes to represent the soul of a country still coping to reconcile its past and present. Razed in 2003, only pictures and scatter artifacts remain to give the impression of this architectural milestone.
As always, the museum displays its wide and diverse collection of Noguchi’s many masterpieces, spanning his more than 60 years of artistic endeavor. With such a wide body of work – from head sculptures to furniture, each with a distinctive look – it’s hard to categorize Noguchi’s talent. But each piece experiments with the boundaries of form and space, challenging accepted notions of the way objects interact with the world.
Born in Japan and educated at Columbia University, Noguchi adds elements of modern artwork with traditional Japanese styles. He designed architectural around the world and has been featured at the world’s most famous galleries.
But despite his fame, best chance to see his work may be closer to home than you think – right in Long Island City. If you’re serious about sculpture, make sure to take a trip.
back to menu
A recent Flushing Town Hall exhibit. |
Smithsonian Links At Town Hall
By brian m. rafferty
From a somber Sept. 11 remembrance to kick off its fall season to an evening with members of the New York Philharmonic to end the year, Flushing Town Hall has another world-class fall planned for 2006.
This mainstay of the Queens art scene has not always been one of the mainstream places – as a matter of fact is was a jail, a courthouse and a dinner theater – among its many incarnations. It wasn’t until the late Jo-Ann Jones and a group of artists decided that something had to be done that the 19 th Century building was renovated to become of the cultural icon it is today.
And what could be more mainstream than the fact that building has a relationship with the Smithsonian Institute? For the last two years Flushing Town Hall has brought in top-notch exhibits to match its cabaret, jazz and theater evenings.
On Oct. 13 cabaret star Mark Nadler will bring his Broadway Hootenanny to the stage with surprise guests in a celebration of the American Song Book. The first of a series of singers coming to Town Hall, Nadler will get the place swinging.
A Latin beat will move in Oct. 25 as school kids join Felix Pitre on a theatrical journey of music, storytelling and puppetry. The theme stays through Oct. 28 when tango lessons in the early evening are followed by an evening filled with spectacular dancing, exciting theatricality, and the haunting music of Astor Piazzolla.
As Halloween draws near, kids will enjoy the Fourth Annual Fright Fest, from noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 29 with a day of magic shows, karaoke contests, art projects, face painting, story telling and a grand costume parade.
If jazz is more your thing, come to Town Hall Nov. 17 as jazz masters Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, Tootie Heath, Benny Powell and Earl May return to the Flushing Town Hall stage for the third time. Two weeks later, Dec. 1, jazz veteran Harold Ousley will be joined by Paul Ramsey, Chip Crawford, Napoleon Revels Bey and Eve Cornelious in an evening of jazz and blues.
For a more classic feel, join in some of the final celebrations of Mozart’s birthday with Magical Mozart Dec. 2, a special performance featuring spectacular musicians performing and celebrating the music of Mozart. This will be part of the Magical Mozart Festival, which will include a “hands on” Magic Flute opera workshop for children, Mozart in Words and Music, and a chamber music extravaganza.
Of course there’s plenty for kids to do as the Nutcracker arrives Dec. 17 followed Peter & The Wolf Dec. 26, Silly Jellyfish Dec. 27 and Monkey See, Money Do Dec. 28.
One thing is for sure about the arts at Flushing Town Hall – it definitely has a little something for everyone.
back to menu
St. Petersburg Ballet will come to Queens Theatre in the Park. |
Queens Theatre Leads The Mainstream
By brian m. rafferty
Without a doubt, the Queens Theatre In The Park is the leader of the borough’s theater scene – hands down.
From special performances by such luminaries as Jackie Mason, Valerie Harper and Jack Klugman in the past to this coming season, with Dan Lauria, Robert Klein and Michael Feinstein, this is the place where the stars come to shine.
Executive Director Jeff Rosenstock and the rest of the crew at the theater consistently run a tight ship, bringing a wide range of activity to the theater for adults, children, families and seniors. From puppet shows on the weekend to the Latino Cultural Festival every summer, Queens Theatre In The Park has something for everyone.
The same can be said of their 2006-07 season, which has just been announced.
The entertainment will kick off Friday, Oct. 13, with a Spanish performance by Manuel Donayre, known as the Black Diamond, whose distinctive high voice has been compared to Eva Allyon and Peru Negro.
Jumping ahead, comedian Robert Klein will take his stand-up act to the theater Nov. 19, mind control master Marc Salem comes to town Dec. 23 and Pat Cooper makes his return April 7.
For musical theater lovers, enjoy “A Musical Journey,” featuring tunes by Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill and Charles Anzavour Oct. 29. Witness one man’s personal journey discovery in “MotherSON…No one comes out alone” in March, and be sure to get your tickets early for Dan Lauria and Wendy Malick in Anne Nelson’s “The Guys,” the true story about a fire captain who lost eight men on Sept. 11 and enlists the aid of an editor to prepare their eulogies.
In collaboration with Queens College, Queens Theatre In The Park will lend its name to two stellar performances to be hosted at the Kupferberg Center for Performing Arts. The first will feature crooner Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder on Oct. 28 singing American standards by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Henry Mancini and more.
The second will be an evening with Nancy Wilson, who will bring a mix of pop, R&B and jazz classics to the stage April 21.
To learn more about the wonderful performances planned at Queens Theatre In The Park, check out their Web site at www.queenstheatre.org.
back to menu
Kids take turns making bubbles at the Hall of Science. |
Art from The Lens Of A Microscope
By andrew moesel
The New York Hall of Science has always been a great place for young students to learn about how the world works, but the museum also focuses on teaching them about how the world feels and inspires – in other words, the art and beauty of science.
A rotating art gallery at the Hall features the artistic expressions of science, or scientific expressions of art. These displays seek to deepen the visitor’s understanding beyond the nuts and bolts construction of nature, touching on the connection between the external world and our internal emotional responses.
Wonderland , a photo exhibit by Andrew Levine being shown at the museum through mid-September, shows close-up and highly detailed pictures of exotic flowers. These images seek to capture the inherent beauty in natural creatures and the intricate complexity that sometimes develops in life.
A similar exhibit called Small Things Considered puts forward a complementary theme, displaying the winners of an international photomicrography (pictures taken through highly-powered microscopes) contest. When examining seemingly mundane objects under this extremely close perspective, it gives new and often aesthetically pleasing view of intricate elements composing the material fabric of our world.
In another collection, Alluring Androids, Robot Women, and Electronic Eves, which takes a different tack on the art of science, images from films, photography, multimedia art, animation, and video games illustrate artificial women – ranging from early automatons to today’s life-like female robots.
These visual creations show the beauty of mechanical ingenuity, combining two traditionally adverse concepts: the softness of feminine features with the concreteness of scientific engineering.
Starting in September, a new exhibit entitled Invoking Presence: Synthesizing Art, Science and Spirituality takes the influence of art even further, to the metaphorical level. Paintings by chemical engineer turned artist Norman Galinsky use geometric shapes found in nature to inspire a power than can heal the human spirit.
But there’s also more than just art. The Hall, located just off 111th Street in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, is a high-tech playground (both literally and figuratively) that has been entertaining and educating kids and adults for decades.
Having opened a 55,000 square foot expansion in 2004 and having refurbished and rebuilt its rockets at Rocket Park, the hall is an obvious attraction.
Besides the art gallery, science influences into every exhibit. From an exhibit on the brain in 2002 that showed large-scale models of how neurons work to the current exhibit of Hidden Kingdoms, the World of Microbes, all the fun is interactive and educational.
There’s a world of learning to discover at the NYHS, and it doesn’t just have to be facts and figures. The museum tries hard to show everything in nature, even those things that can’t be explained in mere words.
back to menu
