The Arts in NYC

We were all lucky enough to see Cosi Fan Tutti at Lincoln Center a few weeks ago. Unfortunately due to some time issues and hectic schedules, not everybody was able to go on the tour before hand. I was lucky enough to be able to make it (I played hooky that day during classes) in time to see the Q&A and get a backstage tour with Daniele De Niese, the woman who played Despina. During the Q&A we got to hear a little about Ms. De Niese’s life and upbringing. We learned about her television show in California, her move to New York to attend college at a conservatory (I think it was Mannes. Correct me if I’m wrong.), and a little about her career so far. We were also lucky enough to see a bit of her performance as Euridice that was filmed at the Metropolitan Opera. She spoke about her voice coaching and how she choses what shows to do based on what is healthiest for her voice. After the question and answer session we were brought on the massive stage. Here we were taught a little about how the stage works. It can hold several, entire sets at once for different operas and works mechanically to rotate whole shows around when needed. This was my favorite part of the tour. The stage was massive. There was enough fly space (space above the stage) for a several story building. Also what I thought was cool was that there is a constant mist spray that is going to keep the actors throats from drying out. After this we were shown the dressing rooms and got to see some of Ms. De Niese’s costume pieces and props. We also saw her lucky bent nail collection, which apparently is an old Italian theatre superstition. This was a great tour. I had never seen an opera before so to be able to have my first experience be accompanied by an informative back stage look at one of the most famous opera houses in the world, was a great way to start what I hope will be a recurring habit.

Recently N.Y.U. has decided to re-open an historic theatre that was until recently planned to be made into a research lab. The university decided on other ways to solve the space issues they were faced with and decided that the blow to New York culture was not worth another research lab. The building, which was constructed in the 1830’s had for many years been a place where American theater was performed and tested. The theater found its way into the hands of a group of amateurs from Provincetown Massachusetts who made it there business to foster the work of writers from America. The building was bought by N.Y.U. in 1984. It is now run by the university and while some believe the changes they have made to the theater are offensive many officials believe that it is better to have at least a remnant of the old theater than to see it destroyed. The significance of this place is that it was really a cornerstone in our nations theater history. American works were allowed to be tried and tested here and that is immensely important to our nations culture. Places like this helped get Americas foot in the door when it came to cultural works and performing art and because of that I am personally glad that N.Y.U. decided to renovate it and keep it alive.

Every year in the Spring, New York host an asian art week. This year, Asia Week New York is aiming to kick off in March. This event combines museums associations like AADNY (Asian Art Dealers New York), and art auction houses to put together shows and sales highlighting eastern art. There is a slight struggle this year in getting the event together this year. While there is no one body that controls this week, in years past the Houghton International Asian Art Fair was the central event of the week. In 2009 this fair disbanded for ever and now leaves a vacancy in Asia Week New York that will be very hard to fill. Some are still hopeful that the show will be spectacular but with the collapse of the Houghton fair many other associations have, for one reason or another, been excluded form the festival. For example JADA (Japanese Art Dealers Association) has been excluded from the festivities. They plan to host there own festival but this lack of unity does not bode well for future Asia Week New York festivals. I think it’s a shame that there are “political” issues between the heads of these associations that may threaten this festival which has been running now for ten years. They’ve brought in consultants and kept spirits up but it’s hard to predict how this year’s event will go after some dealers and event guests were annoyed by the proceedings of the 2010 fair. I supposes only time will tell if this important cultural historic festival will survive.

With the ever expanding reliance on the world wide web it is hard for many to believe that originality is genuinely possible anymore. Even inspiration comes dangerously close to plagiarism because chances are someone on the internet has already done it. Recently the crew at The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson discovered a french show who was copying them almost joke for joke. Comedians especially understand this because a joke is so easy to copy when it is online. I’ve told jokes that I’ve seen comedians do on youtube so why wouldn’t actual comedians do it? The internet takes the hearsay error out of re-telling a joke. It’s already easy enough to memorize a joke. Add to that an ever expanding database of videos and compiled comedic. Ironically however, besides The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, the New York Times cites more examples of high profile shows stealing from less famous internet sources. For example South Park recently apologized for copying dialogue from CollegeHumor.com and using it in an episode. Also SNL was called out for copying an Adult Swim show. When it comes down to it you can find anything and everything on the internet. To try to pass what you find off as your own is just a show of either how careless you are or how talentless you must be to not be able to come up with your own material.

An article about the South Park episode can be found here.

I had the pleasure of seeing the second installment of the Music and the Brain series at the 92nd st. Y this past Wednesday.  It really was quite incredible to hear about songwriting and performance from two completely different perspectives, and to be able to see the common threads between them that expose the links between our psychologies and physiologies when it comes to the uniquely human pursuit of music.

During the lecture, I had the chance to hear from musician Joe Henry about the simultaneously thrilling and frightening experience of sharing something as personal and private as songwriting in the very public forum that is a performance.  I also heard from celebrated neuroscientist and former record producer Daniel Levitan, who explained some of the beauty behind the intricate dance of evolution, anatomy, perception and computation involved in the human brain’s ability to create and enjoy music.

It’s pretty unbelievable to think that the two pounds of lumpy grayish tissue that rests inside the human skull is responsible for the complicated pattern recognition and variation that allows us to engage in musical enterprise; that it is in fact responsible for just about everything else we do and are is downright mind-boggling.  There’s something about music and art that gets right down to the heart of what it means to be a human being, and as such it seems that music is the perfect tool for investigating what about our brains is responsible for our humanity.

So I give my thanks to Mr. Levitan, Mr. Henry, and the Y for putting on an incredibly illuminating talk on one of the most fundamental aspects of what it is to be human.

In one of my earlier blogs, I wrote about how the Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa is having health problems, which affected his conducting.  Since he is not getting that much better, many people are worried that he might not be able to make an appearance for Carnegie Hall’s JapanNYC festival.  All may go well if Ozawa rests properly, but for now, he is only conducting the second half of his first to concerts (Brahm’s First Symphony on Tuesday and Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique on Wednesday).  On Saturday, Ozawa will attempt to conduct all of Britten’s War Requiem (approx. 1hr 30min.).   He has rehearsed it with the piano, so he has shown that he can physically do it. Here is the NYTimes article.

I would very much love to see Ozawa conduct Symphony Fantastique, but unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it.  Perhaps I can see him conduct all of Britten’s War Requiem this Saturday at Carnegie Hall.  Anybody interested?

Fortunately, there is a complete youtube video of Ozawa conducting the Symphony Fantastique.  Here is the last movement, called “Dreams of a Witches’ Sabbath”.  It is where Berlioz finds witches and creatures dancing around for his funeral, and then his lover joins in as well.  This last movement is the conclusion to a twisted story told by the previous four movements, where Berlioz has encounters with his love. Here is more on the Symphony Fantastique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgmJvIL4gKc&feature=related

On January 9th, at 3pm, Symphony Space is hosting an afternoon of dance.  Seven celebrated dance companies are going to partake in this event, known as “Stam-pede”.  They include Barbara Duffy and Company, Buckets and Tap Shoes, Darrah Carr Dance, David Parker and The Bang Group, Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater, Ragamala Dance, Max Pollak’s Rumba Tap, The Vanaver Caravan.  All of these groups have different styles of dance, which should make the event interesting.  Some styles include tap, traditional Irish step, contemporary modern dance, classical dance from Southern India, American jazz, body percussion, and interpretive dancing.  As we saw from the class reaction for Fall for Dance, everybody has their own style that they prefer.  This performance can please all types of audience members with at least one style that is being offered.  All of these dance companies participating have a history of performances at various celebrated places.  I think that it’s a great idea to show all of these groups together and I think that the Symphony Space is going to get a good turnout.  Here is the link for anyone interested in learning more. Below, I’m going to post a few videos of previous performances that some of these dance groups have had.

This is Buckets and Tap Shoes.

This is the Darrah Carr Dance Company doing Irish step dancing.

This is the Ragamala Dance Company.  This video features some facts about the Indian classical dancing as well as some clips of the dancing

NOW that I have watched clips from the various dance clips online, I feel like this might be an odd array of dance choices and I’m not so certain that I would like it as much as I had originally thought upon seeing this event.  This just goes to show that you should do your research before going to see something.

How much of the information in our day to day lives is chiefly visual? It only takes a moment of trying to walk around with your eyes closed to figure out that the answer is “a lot.” But consider for a moment the human-being’s range of vision: at best, it is only roughly 180º, and we are only able to see about 2º of the visual field clearly at any given time. So much of what goes on in the world around us goes unnoticed, which is what NYU photography professor Wafaa Bilal has decided to comment on with his shocking new project.

For a piece commissioned by the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art last month, Bilal recently visited a NY piercing studio to have a camera surgically implanted into the back of his skull.

Yeah, you may want to take a second to read that again.

Called “The 3rd I,” the project will involve the thumb-sized camera (which is mounted on a titanium plate inserted into the back of Bilal’s head) taking a photographs of Bilal’s rear-view each minute of everyday activities for one year. The images will then be transmitted to the museum, located in Qatar, for the building’s December 30 opening.

Weird? Of course … but I’ve got to admire any artist wiling to cut open his own cranium to make a point. In the artist’s own words, “This will expose the unspoken conditions we face… a project like this is meant to establish a dialogue about surveillance. I wanted to lose that subjectivity [of knowingly taking photographs]. At the same time I wanted to capture everyday mundane images.”

“The 3rd I” is not Bilal’s first venture into the realm of strange and controversial art.
A 2007 project called “Domestic Tension,” an exhibit that prompted The Chicago Tribune to name Bilal artist of the year, allowed virtual exhibit patrons to engage in a live webchat with Bilal for a period of 24 hours, during which they would have the option to remotely trigger an in-gallery paintball gun to shoot him as they spoke.

Bilal’s work is definitely eye-catching, but the underlying exploration of how privacy, invasion, and technology interact in modern life is what makes his art truly worth checking out.

Take a look at his website HERE.

Last Wednesday, we went to a poetry reading in Rosenthal Library and it made me realize that poetry isn’t really an art form  that we generally talk about.  Art is though, a means of expressing ourselves, and many people do that through poetry.  Poetry is not only meant to be read, but it can also be performed to better show the emotion that the poet is using.

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is located at 236 East 3rd Street in Manhattan.  In 1989, this poetry club was the first place to hold a poetry slam in New York City.  Since then, the club has built up its reputation and increased the number of events it holds.  Like Birdland, this club has regular events weekly as well as special events.  Every Wednesday night, there is a poetry slam that anyone can participate in- as long as you are one of the first 20 poets to arrive and sign up.  There are also poetry slams on Friday nights, and after they end, the room is open for anyone who wishes to read his poems with no judges.  I think that places like this are great for people to openly express themselves with peers of similar interests.

Below, I’m posting a link just to show how powerful the feelings behind a poet can be.

My public speaking teacher showed us a great video of a poetry reading last year, I’m still trying to find it.  If I do, I’ll definitely post it

I found it! I just remembered the name…a little late but anyway here it is, watch this one!

Another interesting idea with the use of technology: Time Warp. Artists use high definition cameras and slow motion effects to capture and watch an event unfold in speeds up to 20000X slower. The resulting product is extremely cool:

If you guys are interested in seeing this type of art form, there’s a Discovery channel show called Time Warp that airs Wednesdays at 8. The point of the show is to capture everyday events and then view them is slow motion in order to unveil the principles of physics in our lives.

Out of all the little clips in the video, I think the ones involving water and the human face are the most intriguing. Water has this amazingly beautiful quality to it and I think it is shown very clearly here. It’s also interesting to see our faces warp in different situations. Like in the scene where the guy is getting punched, you can see a series of emotions through his facial expressions.

I think this is such a cool idea, because we get to see everyday things we would miss or not think twice about. Also I think the city is so fast-paced that sometime we can just stop and look around.

Following ToniAnn’s post about artists winning prizes, Cinthia Marcelle, a Brazilian artist, won the $100,000 First Generation Art Prize.  This award is giving out twice a year, and was founded in 2006 by a Ukranian art billionaire and art collector, Victor Pinchuk.  Only those 35 or younger may apply, and Marcelle was 35 years old when she applied, but she is 36 now.   This prize attracted over 6000 applicants from 125 countries, and the panel of judges include the dean of the Yale University School of Art, the director of the Stadelschule Art Academy in Frankfurt, and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.  This award is really interesting, because to make sure that the $100,000 isn’t wasted, $40,000 of it must go into art production.  These keeps the artist producing more works. Here is the link to the NYTimes article.

Marcelle’s work included three films on a loop, where the repetition of motions seem mundane and pointless until it all comes together to form geometric shapes.  Then you start to see that the art is actually reflecting economic, political, and social behavior in modern society.You can see her videos on the Pinchuk website here, just click on the thumbnails shown. This website also talks more about Marcelle’s art.

Here is one of the videos that are shown.