Strategies of Counter-Surveillance: May 31

See Something, Say Something: Strategies of Counter-Surveillance
Saturday, May 31, 2008, 5pm
The Kitchen
512 West 19th Street

In conjunction with the exhibition For Reasons of State, guest curators Angelique Campens, Erica Cooke, and Steven Lam have organized a panel discussion on the impact of governmental and corporate secrecy on life in our contemporary society and its manifestations in visual culture.

Speakers include: Karen Beckman is a Professor in the History of Art department at the University of Pennsylvania. Beckman is completing her book "Little Bastard": Car Crashes, Cinema, and the Politics of Speed and Stasis and is an editor at Grey Room. Peter Galison is a Professor of the History of Science and Physics at Harvard University and has worked extensively with de-classified material including his 2008 film Secrecy (co-directed with Robb Moss). Thomas Y. Levin is a Princeton professor of media and cultural theory who has organized numerous exhibitions and conferences related to his continued research of the aesthetic politics of surveillance. Lin + Lam (Lin plus Lam) produce interdisciplinary projects that examine the ramifications of the past for the current socio-political moment. Yates McKee is a PhD candidate in Art History at Columbia University, and was associate editor of Nongovernmental Politics (published by Zone Books 2007).

http://www.thekitchen.org/

Jennifer Montgomery: May 30

Friday, May 30, 2008, 2 pm
Open Studio, Afternoons with Artists: Jennifer Montgomery
Whitney Museum of American Art

Montgomery's most recent work addresses the discontinuation of Kodachrome Super 8 stock and the impending obsolescence of film technology to explore memory, loss, and personal histories.

As part of the Whitney Biennial 2008, Open Studio events invite the public to engage with Biennial artists and their work in the galleries through performance and participation. Open Studio programs are free with Museum admission and are on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets may be reserved at the Museum Admissions desk or online

http://www.whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=events

Steven Kurtz: May 29

Thursday, May 29, 2008, 7PM
Eyebeam 540 W. 21st St. (btw 10th and 11th Aves.)
Presented in collaboration with the World Science Festival
Free and open to the public

Join Dr. Steven Kurtz, the artist accused by the US Department of Justice of “bioterrorism” stemming from his use of scientific materials in his award-winning art practice, and science writer Carl Zimmer for a panel discussion on the ethics of scientific and creative research and freedom of speech.

Kurtz, a University at Buffalo professor and founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble, uses biological materials in educational exhibits and performances designed to inspire debate about political and social issues, including those surrounding new biotechnologies. In May of 2004, he was detained on suspicion of "bioterrorism" for his possession of a small laboratory and petri dishes containing bacteria cultures used in several of Critical Art Ensemble's projects. When these accusations proved groundless, he was then charged with mail and wire fraud—charges which carried a possible sentence of 20 years in jail under the USA PATRIOT Act. Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed those charges; however, the US Department of Justice may still appeal the dismissal.

http://www.eyebeam.org/engage/engage.php?page=series&id=173

Night School: Seminar 5: Okwui Enwezor

Night School, Public Seminar 5:
The Politics of Spectacle (Okwui Enwezor)
New Museum, 235 Bowery

Thursday, May 29, 7pm
Screening: Le fond de l’air est rouge (The Grin Without a Cat), 1977
Director: Chris Marker, Running time: 180 min

Friday, May 30, 7:30 pm
Screening: The Case of the Grinning Cat, 2004, followed by moderated discussion with Jake Perlin, Assistant Film Curator/BAMCinematek
Director: Chris Marker, Running time: 58 mins

Saturday, May 31, 3pm
Okwui Enwezor lectures on the politics of the spectacle.

Night School is an artist's project by Anton Vidokle in the form of a temporary school. A year-long program of monthly seminars and workshops, Night School draws upon a group of local and international artists, writers, and theorists to conceptualize and conduct the program. See links for more information about individual lectures. Free with Museum admission but tickets are required.

Michael Portnoy Presents: May 29

Michael Portnoy Presents: Milk the Weasel, Pull the Rug
Thursday, May 29, 2008, 7pm
Sculpture Center, 4-19 Purves St, Long Island City

Director of Behavior Michael Portnoy and special guests open the tables for gambling sessions. Accompanied by a card counting demonstration by Melissa Brown, a lecture on the acceleration and collapse of time by Adina Popescu, and a presentation on dice-footed animals and pre-Columbian dermatology by Marianne Vitale.

http://www.sculpture-center.org/pe_ca_may.html

World Science Festival: May 28- June 1

OK, The World Science Festival is not an art event per se, but it does involve artists Matthew Richie and Jonathan Harris, choreographers Bill T. Jones and Karole Armitage and interesting experts from a wide range of disciplines. Founded by the compelling physicist Brian Greene and journalist Tracy Day, the festival aims "To cultivate and sustain a general public informed by the content of science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future." Check out the full schedule of events here:
http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/2008-festival/events/all-events-by-date

Amie Siegel: May 23

Friday, May 23, 2008, 2 pm
Open Studio, Afternoons with Artists: Amie Siegel
Whitney Museum of American Art

Described as "uncanny reflections on absence, historical disorientation and nostalgia," the conceptual films and multichannel installations of Berlin- and New York-based Siegel investigate how memory and identity are influenced by a sense of place.

As part of the Whitney Biennial 2008, Open Studio events invite the public to engage with Biennial artists and their work in the galleries through performance and participation. Open Studio programs are free with Museum admission and are on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets may be reserved at the Museum Admissions desk or online

http://www.whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=events&page=at_whitney_publicopen#event_14

Mark Leckey: May 21

Cinema in the Round: Mark Leckey
Wednesday, May 21, 2008: 7pm
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, Peter B Lewis Theater
1071 Fifth Avenue

Mark Leckey will give a lecture on the unstable nature of images accompanied by a collection of visual examples. He will address the divisions between static and time-based imagery, and the theoretics of a highly visual culture. This talk will be performative and informative, engaging the structure of the lecture format while working inside of it.

http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2008/heyhey/events.html

Feminism + Land Art: May 17

Paradigms and Parallels: Feminism and the Politics of Structure
Saturday, May 17, 4:30pm
Sculpture Center, 44-19 Purves St, Long Island City

In conjunction with the exhibition: "Decoys, Complexes, and Triggers: Feminism and Land Art in the 1970s". Curator Catherine Morris and WACK! Curator Connie Butler speak with exhibiting artists about making sculpture in New York in the 70s, the ways in which feminist content is or is not manifested in their work, and how they see their relationship to feminism then and now.

http://www.sculpture-center.org/pe_ca_may.html

Penelope Umbrico: May 17+18

Aperture Presents:"The Secret Life of Images"
featuring Lesley Martin, Joachim Schmid & Penelope Umbrico
Saturday, May 17, 5-6pm
New York Photo Festival, St. Ann's Warehouse
37 Main St, Brooklyn

This talk is given in conjunction with the exhibition "The Ubiquitous Image", in which the curator, Lesley A. Martin, book publisher at the Aperture Foundation, reflects on the replication and reproduction of the photographic image in The Ubiquitous Image, focusing on how contemporary artists are using the seemingly limitless cache of disseminated images to create their own work.

Penelope Umbrico is also giving a talk as a "featured artist" on Sunday, May 18, 2-2:45pm

Just a couple of the many events put on by the New York Photo Festival. See here for full calendar: http://www.nyphotofestival.com/calendar.html

Paul Chan: May 16

Paul Chan: Tin Drum Trilogy followed by a Q&A with the artist
Friday, May 16, 7:30 pm
New Museum, 235 Bowery

The New Museum presents the New York premiere of Paul Chan’s Tin Drum Trilogy: RE:THE_OPERATION (2002), BAGHDAD IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (2003), and NOW PROMISE NOW THREAT (2005), followed by a Q&A with the artist. A departure from Chan’s exhibition, “The 7 Lights” on the third floor of the New Museum, these video works delve into the real or projected perspectives of Chan’s would-be enemies. $6/ $8 More info here:

http://www.newmuseum.org/events/180

Leslie Thornton: May 14

Leslie Thornton: Photography is Easy
Artist Talk + Screening
EAI, 535 West 22nd Street, Fifth Floor
Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 6:30 pm

Leslie Thornton joins EAI for an evening exploring the role of photography in her moving image work. Thornton's rigorously experimental film and video work is an investigation into the production of meaning through media. For Thornton, form and content are equal and inseparable. At EAI, Thornton will screen rarely-seen film and video works in which she has investigated the porous boundaries between the still and the moving image. She will speak about the impact and influence of photographic concepts and techniques on her media practice. In addition, Thornton plans to test an early version of an in-progress interactive video installation at the event, incorporating the audience into her presentation.

http://www.eai.org/eai/currentPrograms.htm

Artists Using YouTube: May 13

Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 7pm
The Kitchen, 512 West 19th St

Despite popping up in the media as a constant analogue to television, movies, music videos, and even political campaigns, YouTube is a more invisible phenomenon in the art world. This event should reveal how YouTube serves as a promiscuous source of inspiration and distraction for many of today’s contemporary artists. Artists Sue de Beer, Matthew Higgs, and Matthew Ronay will share their favorite YouTube clips—most of which provide indirect fodder for their own practices. Their presentations will be followed by a question and answer session with the artists and organizer Rachel Greene. $5

http://www.thekitchen.org/

Bruce Mau + Matt Mullican: May 14

Icon Culture: Lingua Franca for a Global Culture
Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 6:30 pm
MoMA, Cullman Education and Research Building
Theater 3 /The Celeste Bartos Theater

Icons are a language of their own in contemporary society, transcending linguistic boundaries with simple graphic imagery. In this program, Bruce Mau and Matt Mullican discuss how they use iconic language as a means of communication. $10/$8/$5

http://www.moma.org/calendar/events.php?id=7826&ref=calendar

James Welling and Walead Beshty: May 13

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 7 pm
Seminars with Artists: James Welling and Walead Beshty
Whitney Museum of American Art

Photographers Welling and Beshty both take up the representational field of photography itself as the subject of their works, often producing abstractly beautiful compositions of common objects. $8/$6

http://whitney.org/www/programs/eventInformation.jsp?EventTypeID=1#ad-calendar

Trevor Paglen: May 9

Blank Spots on a Map: State Secrecy and the Limits of the Visible
Friday, May 9, 7:30pm
New Museum, 235 Bowery

Geographer and artist Trevor Paglen takes us on a road trip through the world of hidden budgets, state secrets, on covert military bases, and more, guiding us through a landscape that military and intelligence insiders call the "black world." Over the course of his talk, Paglen leads us from "nonexistent" Air Force and CIA installations in the Nevada desert to secret prisons in Afghanistan and to a collection of even more obscure "black sites" startlingly close to home. Using hundreds of images he has produced and collected over the course of his work, Paglen shows how the black world's internal contradictions give rise to a peculiar visual, aesthetic, and epistemological grammar with which to think about the contemporary moment. $6 Member, $8 general public

http://www.newmuseum.org/events/178

Carey Young: May 9

Speechcraft: Carey Young and Toastmasters International
Friday, May 9, 6:30 pm
42 West 44th Street, 2nd Fl.

In Speechcraft, London-based Carey Young’s debut public performance in the U.S., the artist will collaborate with local branches of Toastmasters International—a group dedicated to the development of public speaking skills through practice and feedback. Young’s performance will be modeled on a typical Toastmasters meeting (in which club members practice and critique impromptu and prepared speeches), but in Speechcraft, Toastmasters members will be challenged to speak about objects that Young finds artistically inspiring. An audience of about 250-300 will be invited to participate in the performance, and as with every Toastmasters meeting, speeches will be evaluated by fellow members in a cycle of inspiration, review, and reward.

http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2008/heyhey/events.html

Adam Putnam: May 9

Open Studio, Afternoons with Artists: Adam Putnam
Friday, May 9 at 2 pm
Whitney Museum, 945 Madison Avenue (at 75th St)

Putnam's recent installations orchestrate the interplay between shadow and light, using various projection techniques to manipulate space and stage architectural interventions.

As part of the Whitney Biennial 2008, Open Studio events invite the public to engage with Biennial artists and their work in the galleries through performance and participation. Open Studio programs are free with Museum admission and are on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets may be reserved at the Museum Admissions desk or online

http://www.whitney.org/www/programs/eventInformation.jsp?EventTypeID=1

Daniel Joseph Martinez: May 7

Wednesday, May 7, 7 pm
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave (at 75th St)

Known for his interventions in identity politics and artistic boundaries, Martinez takes up globalization and violence in his Biennial installation of painted panels questioning the function of violence in everyday life. $8/$6

http://whitney.org/www/programs/eventInformation.jsp?EventTypeID=1#ad-calendar

Julia Peyton-Jones: May 7

Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, Serpentine Gallery, London
Wednesday, May 7, 6:30 pm
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave (at 89th St)

Good Better Best: Perspectives on Connoisseurship
This high-profile series on creativity and judgment demystifies the thought process and perspectives employed by experts in modern and contemporary art. Now in its fifth season, art museum directors join curators, critics, collectors, and artists to share personal views of what makes a work of art good, better, or best. $10 ($7 for members, students, and seniors).

http://www.guggenheim.org/education/tours_lectures.shtml#category_10

The Eroticism Of Pedagogy: May 4

May 4, 2008, 6pm
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South

Ryan Gander, Bedwyr Williams, Liam Gillick & Tirdad Zolgadhr, Adam Pendleton, and Frances Stark will respond to the title of this program, The Eroticism of Pedagogy, by giving performances that subvert (and pervert) the traditional lecture format—exploding ideas of didacticism, information exchange, and the power of the speaker over his/her audience. Musical interludes between each by Vert (Adam Butler) will encourage the audience to move beyond their usual role as complacent listeners.

http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2008/heyhey/events.html

Robert King Wilkerson & Rigo 23: May 3

May 3, 2008 3pm

The New Museum
235 Bowery

Robert King Wilkerson—a member of the Black Panther Party who spent 29 years in solitary confinement in Angola Prison—will discuss the use of speech under the pressure of complete isolation. This presentation is developed with Rigo 23, a longtime collaborator of Wilkerson’s, who will present a video documentary about how he has used language in his visual artwork to support and broaden awareness of figures like Wilkerson, and how the idea of language relates to ideas of truth.

http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2008/heyhey/events.html

Jonathan Lethem and Paul D. Miller: May 2

Jonathan Lethem, author of You Don’t Love Me Yet (Vintage)
Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky, author of Sound Unbound (MIT Press)
Friday, May 2, 7pm
McNally Robinson Bookstore, 52 Prince St

Two consummate authors of music, language, and culture join forces! Jonathan Lethem (author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude) reads from his novel You Don’t Love Me Yet, now out in paperback, which sends up the L.A. alternative band scene with a story of overnight fame based on (sort of) stolen lyrics. Conceptual artist, writer and musician Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, presents his book Sound Unbound, a meditation by various artists (including Lethem) on the remix–how music, art, and literature have blurred the lines between what an artist can do and what a composer can create. Join us for an evening of great art and entertainment as well as serious discussion about cross-pollination between artists and genres.

http://www.mcnallyrobinsonnyc.com/2008/03/24/jonathan-letham-and-dj-spooky/