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/