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/