Artists Unite Issue

77 years ago, the vinyl LP was introduced in New York City.
WFUV in New York is paying a tribute of sorts this morning.

Many jazz players follow a tradition of jazz standard: improvising over chord changes where if you know the tune, you can try to keep up. Others go for free jazz: flowing spontaneously with the gods of musical invention. Last night I got to enjoy an extraordinary young musician who dances a middle ground. Mateusz Kolalowski performed at the Jazz Standard with veteran reed man Dave Liebman. Kolakowski works with the standard repertoire, but takes off in a delightful variety of rhythmic and harmonic directions that leave you just enough connection to the tune to help with that joy of familiarity we all have, while showing the richness of his inner compositional musings.

Here’s the intro from the Polish Cultural Institute:

Mateusz Kolakowski, whom the Polish Cultural Institute presented at age 15 playing at the Knitting Factory with U.S. clarinetist Brad Terry, comes back at 21, with three albums to his credit and many musical awards, including the prize for “most promising pianist” at the Martial Solal competition, Paris, 2002, and an honorable mention in the Jazz Piano Competition at the 2002 Montreux Jazz Festival. In 2003, his solo recital in Prague was recorded by Czech Radio during the “8th International Festival of Jazz Piano.” A CD of the performance “14th Spring” was released in Poland by Jazz Forum. In his solo piano improvisations, Ko?akowski creates a unique marriage of jazz and elements of classical music. He continues to receive wide acclaim from leading jazz critics.

Here are some tastes:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/mateusz
http://www.audiolunchbox.com/album?a=169521
or on itunes

top photo via Polish Cultural Institute © Carolina Los

From:       zjoajr@tom.com
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To:       editor@artistsunite-ny.org

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A news blast about our committed board member Rosa Naparstek:

Rosa Naparstek is in Paris at a UN conference in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As cofounder and a director of Artists unite, Rosa is representing the Greater New York Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violence. Their initiative “International Artists for Peace and World Harmony” is the subject of roundtable discussion.

The conference activities also include an exhibition, “Sketching Human Rights,” shown here.

image: Human Rights, by Jerry Robinson, USA, curator of “Sketching Human Rights.”

The June and July episodes of Now:Here:This are online at www.artistsunite-ny.org

The June 6 exhibit was actually shown live in New York as a video projection. The video is included in the online version of the episode on the Now:Here:This project page.

For more information about Now:Here:This, see the project page.

I’m not sure what this medium is called, but it’s an enjoyable summer smile-inducer that ranks artistic types high on the scale. From Huffington Post:

A Blogger’s Guide to Judging People (by their hair).

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is the kind of institution that exists in my dreams and happily, in reality: a gorgeous industrial building complex, beautifully repurposed into an art space with exciting visual arts, mainstream and avant garde performance and good food to boot.

A recent Saturday was the finale of the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, a full day of new music performed by a group of musicians who spent a three-week residency with members of Bang on a Can Allstars and other top new music performers. The featured artist was Terry Riley, who reportedly taught the residents Indian ragas every morning. There were a few pieces on the program with a visual or multimedia component. They were not so interesting from my perspective, as the relationships between components seemed weak. But overall, I have no complaints about a full-day program of New Music that is almost never performed in a venue that hosts artists like Beth Orton other nights of the week.

The gallery spaces house two hands full of shows this month. I was able to fit in several between visits to the Festival performances. The first is sculpture and paintings by Anselm Kiefer, including a 50-meter long ribbon of concrete and some spectacular paintings whose surfaces now look like a dry cracking desert. The show includes about 6 paintings plus the sculpture.

On the huge ground floor, an exhibit that explores new landscape art was varied and interesting. 

I admit to rushing through, but was taken by two works in my survey. The first was Jennifer Steinkamp’s animation in which a tree, possibly inspired by the upside-down tree installation by Natalie Jeremijenko in the MoCA entranceway, moves from one position to another and back, tracing a huge reordering of branches along the way. The second was a set of terrariums by Vaughn Bell (Personal Biospheres) in which the viewer is invited to join the microenvironments by putting his/her head through a hole in the bottom. While the photo op this creates is irresistible, I tried to focus on my own experience of being in the miniature world when I put my own head into one.

On the top two floors, a group show surveys the artistic impressions of numerous Western artists visiting China. Some of the work is really good, such as a pair of photographs by Wolf that show the dense architecture of Hong Kong, but most of the work states the obvious: China is crowded and busy. The one piece that tackled the idea of scale metaphorically was a video installation by Catherine Yass entitled Lock in which we experience the view fore and aft from an industrial river barge as it changes levels in a gargantuan lock. I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching a TV show (and waiting for the host’s commentary, “Here we are fifteen minutes later—notice the water beginning to flow through the gates…”) but the idea was clever.

The highlight of the day for me, though was Jennie Holzer’s installation in a darkened room the size of a football field. From both ends of the room, cinema projectors send rolling credits across the floor walls and ceiling as the viewers walk through or lounge on the 8-person bean bag chairs mushrooming around the room. The text was a work of fiction of no particular relevance or politics. The piece appeared to be more of a formal experiment in using some medium-tech sleight of hand to put you in a state of wonder.

Getting to Mass MoCA takes you through some beautiful country from any approach, and these shows are continuing through Spring ‘09.

Roberta Smith reviews a Bronx Museum Group show and only finds a few things to like, notably Blanka Amezkua and Jeanne Verdoux. She was so taken with what she found mediocre that she turned the whole review into a criticism of art school. I’d say the whole market could fall under the same evil glare. Here’s a clip:

It does gives me pause that 26 of the 36 artists have master’s degrees in fine arts from respected universities or art schools. I think most of them should ask for their money back. On the evidence here, at least, they have only a meager understanding of what being an artist entails.

Via Wired, Congressional candidates of the Democratic persuasion are making an election topic of net neutrality. (For those of you who still have to ask me how to download attachments from email, that’s providing internet content of all kinds at the same rate rather than offering a hierarchy of service where those who pay more get better throughput of content and those who can’t — i.e., normal people — can no longer provide rich content at useable speeds.)

 My visit to Poland has been very circular. I keep looping back to the same places and topics. We’ve been photographing murals and this company called Spolem, which was the main food store, keeps showing up. I keep having the same food. I spent loads of time circling back to Bytom and now I’ve come full circle back to Warsaw, where I saw the Themerson exhibit I wrote about earlier on Artists Unite’s member blog. Today we arrived just in time to view a screening of the Themerson’s best-known film, Europa, which is unbelievably stupendous, and some shorts reconstructed by Bruce Checefsky, Director of the Cleveland Art Institute and an experimental filmmaker/director of See Saw Pictures. We talked a bit about how he created the Themerson’s photogram effects and I think I may have a summer project in store. Check out his recreation of Apteka (Pharmacy), if you get the chance. It’s gorgeous.

Create work during the next art spark for Now:Here:This and submit it by July 25 to be considered for the next exhibition at Artists Unite. To submit, go to the Artists Unite Member Network and click on the group for Now:Here:This. Instructions about the project are located there.

We look forward to seeing your work!

Marlon Barrios Solano writes about a new video from Radiohead that has a creative commons license, meaning you can use part or all of it in your own work (e.g. remixing, collaging, etc.), if you attribute their stuff to them. The video also uses some next generation capture technologies that are pretty funky-looking. Check it out at Dance-Tech.net

CALL FOR ARTWORK:
MTA –Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project:

Deadline:  Friday, August 22, 2008 7:00 PM.

Dear Artists, Friends and Community Members,

The MTA-Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project*, a long standing effort by the community, is happy to announce this call for artwork to be placed in the subway elevators at the A-Line 184h St (181st. Subway Stop) & 190th St. Subway Stations.

We are looking for six (6) original artworks by artists from the community (must be CB 12 resident)** to be produced as posters and placed, one in each of the 3 elevators per station. Three other poster slots per elevator will display MTA Arts for Transit posters.

This is a one-year pilot project, changing mid-year for new images. It is our hope that in time, we can eventually claim all frames for local artists, setting a model program for the MTA to place community-inspired artwork and neighborhood depictions in the subway system

(*Originally begun under the auspices of the Washington Heights Quality of Life Committee.)

** CB 12 covers Manhattan north of 155th street, river to river.

Guidelines:
• Material must be sensitive to and respectful of the diversity of the community.
• Materials may reflect icons associated with the surrounding neighborhood (by way of example, local parks, places of interest, etc.); they may not include depictions of commercial establishments or photographs of individuals, pets, or private residences.
• Materials shall not include written or printed text.
• Materials shall not include messages that might reasonably be interpreted as an endorsement or advocacy of any political, religious, social or ethnic organization, cause, or belief nor contain logos or other symbols of same.
• The transit system is used by a diverse population, and accordingly, the materials shall be appropriate for viewing by persons of all ages and varying backgrounds.  They shall not include content or references which might be reasonably construed as being of a sexual or violent nature.
• Proposed art must lend itself to reproduction as a two-dimensional poster, no more than 29.5 inches wide by 45 inches long, printed on standard paper stock.
• Allow room for a seven-inch strip running across the bottom of the poster on which will appear the text, “New York City Transit Celebrates Washington Heights” and the MTA New York City Transit logo.

Deadline for submissions: Friday, August 22, 2008, 7:00 PM.

Projected Exhibition Dates: September 28, 2008 – March 28, 2009
It is our hope to have the posters in place for the Medieval Festival.

Submission Format:
Work may be in any medium: painting, collage, sculpture, photography…
Please submit no more than 3 images for viewing: JPGs or photos. (Do Not Mail The Original Art Work.)
JPG Files should be @ 72 DPI and no larger than 700 by 700 pixels in any direction.
(Selected artists will be contacted regarding image specifications
for reproduction.)

Send Images by e-mail to: rosa.naparstek@verizon.net
or mail JPGs CD or Photos to:
Rosa Naparstek
720 Fort Washington Ave. #2K
New York, NY 10040  (or hand delivery by arrangement)

Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope
if you want your CD or photos returned.

For More Information:
contact rosa.naparstek@verizon.net or call: 212.740-9378

Judging:
Artists Unite will convene a 5-7 person panel to select artwork. Final approval
by the MTA in accordance with listed guidelines.

We look forward to your entries. This is an exciting opportunity to develop a model for an MTA- community based arts program for our city’s subway system.

Thank you,
Rosa Naparstek

Concurso de Arte
MTA –Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project:
Plazo limite para someter propuestas: 22 de Agosto de 2008 @ 7:00 PM.

Estimados artistas amigos, y miembros de la comunidad:

El  MTA-Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project*, anuncia que esta recibiendo propuestas de trabajos art_sticos  para ser expuestos en los elevadores de la L_nea A  en las estaciones de la calles 181st & 190th .
Se buscan 6 trabajos de Arte de artistas residentes en la comunidad (deben residir en la zona del CB12)**. Los trabajos ser_n reproducidos como carteles (posters) y exhibidos en cada uno de los elevadores en ambas  estaciones del tren.

Este es un proyecto piloto  que durara 12 meses y que cambiara los carteles a mitad del periodo. Se espera que este proyecto se vuelva permanente y se convierta en un programa modelo de  MTA que promover_ y apoyar_ a los artistas de la comunidad.

(*Originalmente comenz_ bajo el apoyo del Washington Heights Quality of Life Committee.)

** CB 12 abarca toda la zona Norte de Manhattan desde la calle  155th .

Bases de la propuesta para el cartel (poster):

Debido a la variedad de edades y procedencia de los usuarios del sistema publico de transporte. el dise_o del cartel (poster) no deben tener referencias de contenido sexual, violencia, s_mbolos de grupos espec_ficos ni contenido religioso.

Los materiales a utilizar:

• Deben respetar la diversidad de la comunidad.

• Pueden representar iconos asociados con la comunidad (parques, puntos de inter_s etc.), sin incluir lugares comerciales, fotos de personas o animales y/o residencias privadas.

• No deben incluir texto escrito o impreso.

• No deben incluir causa, creencias o mensajes pol_ticos, religiosos, sociales o _ticos incluyendo logotipos y/o s_mbolos.

• La propuesta art_stica debe permitir ser reproducida en dos dimensiones sin exceder 29.5 pulgadas de ancho por 45 pulgadas de largo, impresas en papel de tama_o est_ndar.

• El cartel debe designar un espacio en la parte inferior para incluir un emblema que diga: “New York City Transit Celebrates Washington Heights” incluyendo el logotipo del MTA.

Plazo limite para someter propuestas: 22 de Agosto de 2008 @ 7:00 PM.
Fecha de Exposici_n: 28 de Septiembre de 2008 – 28 de Marzo de 2009 ( Se espera que los carteles est_n en los elevadores el d_a del Festival Medieval en el parquet Ft. Tryon)
Formato del trabajo:
El arte puede ser pintura, collage, escultura, fotograf_a o cualquier otro medio.
Favor enviar JPG o fotograf_a. No enviar trabajo original y no m_s de 3 im_genes. (JPG Files deben ser @ 72 DPI  y no mas de 700 x 700 p_xeles).  Los artistas seleccionados ser_n contactados para detalles sobre sus im_genes.

Instrucciones de envi_:

Por email: rosa.naparstek@verizon.net

Por correo JPGs CD o Fotos:

Rosa Naparstek
720 Fort Washington Ave. #2K
New York, NY 10040

Favor incluir sobre con direcci_n y estampillas si desea que su trabajo le sea devuelto.

Para mas informaci_n escriba a rosa.naparstek@verizon.net o llame al  212.740-9378

Jueces:
Artists Unite reunir_  a un panel de  5-7 personas para seleccionar los trabajos. la aprobaci_n final ser_ hecha por el MTA de acuerdo a las reglas establecidas.

Gracias por su participaci_n.

Rosa Naparstek

Today we spent the night in Katowice, the largest of an “agglomeration” of towns in the coal district of Silesia in southern Poland. Katowice has an “art roundabout” and an astounding amount of Soviet-era apartment buildings. Karolina arranged for us to stay in a hotel most Poles learn about in elementary school, the Spodek, or “saucer,” which was built between 61 and 71. Here’s a link to the polish site for it, plus my photo from last night.

My project with Dominik Lejman and Karolina Wysocka made the papers here in southern Poland. Here’s the paper; I’m the one in the hat. I told Dominik, we look like a rock band! We’re standing in front of a soviet-era mural of a forest in Bytom, Poland.

I edited a few minutes of handheld video from the finale of this interesting festival. You can view here or go to my member site.

Find more videos like this on Artists Unite

We are here to see the conclusion of the 18th Annual Jewish Culture Festival. I shot some video from the closing concert, which I will post in the next day or two, but our first activity here was to visit the Bunkier Stucki, or art bunker, an alternative art space dedicated to contemporary Polish artists housed in a former Soviet building. We received a quick tour from the director Maria Potocka and then took some time to review the three shows. The most impressive was from Edward Krasinski, who’s work in this exhibit revolved primarily around actions and films in the 60’s and 70’s dealing with the line. The work could easily have joined Catherine de Zegher’s “Freeing the Line” exhibition from a couple year’s ago. Here are a few photos referenced from other sites.

Edward Krasi?ski wystawa w Galerii Foksal, 1986
foto. Tadeusz Rolke

Edward Krasinski with Dzida (spear), 1964, Photo: Eustachy Kossakowski

Two other exhibits at the museum are more uneven. Here’s a blog post about them. One is by painter Pawel Ksiazek who has some really potent stuff going on. The second is a group show about the uncomfortable aspect of the mother/child relationship

Wendy and I were invited to visit Wroclaw (which through the oddities of Polish pronounciation is vr-ah-tsw-ah-v) by Joanna Klass, who is organizing the Year of Grotowski for 2009. Joanna is a theater producer from Poland who has lived in Southern California for 15 years and brought cutting edge theater to major L.A. venues and alternative places like the Getty Museum.

In Wroclaw, we were treated to a tour of this beautiful city, which became Poland as part of the Post WWII division of territories between Germany, Russia and the Eastern Bloc. We were told by other Poles that Wroclaw has a unique flavor partly due to the fact that all the Poles who live there were “assigned” to this home after the war and so share that unusual uprooted background.

One of the stunning features of the city is an architectural phenomenon by Max Berg, the largest dome of its time made of formed concrete for the 1912 World Exhibition. The structure was so controversial that 4 different sets of authorities required evaluation and sign off, and the construction crew refused to remove the supporting scaffolding — forcing Berg to start the removal himself with passersby whom he snagged to help.

The theater in which drama revolutionary Jerzy Grotowski worked before leaving Poland is now the Grotowski Institute, which houses the performance space, an archive of Grotowski’s writings and photographs and administrative offices. The Institute is the base for the year of Grotowski, which will include a festival in Wroclaw during June of next year.

We viewed two parts of a triptych in progress from the Institute’s resident theater company, Zar. The work was directed by Jarek Fret, who knew — but never worked with — Grotowski and is in the generation of theater-makers who were both influenced by the master and have an independence from his technique. The evening consisted of unrelated one-acts which were presented in reverse of the order they will hold in the finished triptych, according to Fret. The first, Cesarian Section, was an unsettling dance of love, loss and transcendence. The in-the-round production began with music of a string ensemble with piano, two glasses of wine and a plywood floor divided in two by a 4-inch trench of shattered glass. The lights went out and in the dark, the sound of smashing wine glasses shattered the room. When the lights came back up, there ensued a beautiful interplay between Ditte Berkeley, Kamila Klamut and Tomasz Bojarski that had them playing powerful visual metaphors around, in, and straddling the now lit-from-below stripe of broken glass; wine as blood; running without breaking free and destruction as a response to frustration.

The second part, Gospels of Childhood, resulted from primary research in the Caucuses Mountains, where the group investigated lingering forms of early Christianity and learned songs used there that have their roots in the beginning of the Common Era. The resulting piece is a cross between bible reenactment and authentic ritual that the director later told me aims to fulfill the same purpose as a religious practice, activating spiritual energy through the intercession of art.

The music in both pieces (the first a mix of Satie, Balkan-flavored accordian and Corsican song; the second polyphonic church sect music of the Caucuses), and the musical and physical talent of this young troupe, is superb. Gospels of Childhood comes to its end with a song accompanying the miracle of Lazarus raised from the dead. In complete darkness with the sound of shovel and dirt and mourning wails, the funeral song type called “Zar” from which the company takes its name, fills the air with a potent prayer that is followed by the lighting of four suspended wheels of candles. These primative candleabra are pushed to swing the piece to its eventual dissolution. In both pieces the audience remained silent at the end; in the case of the latter many of us watched the candles swing for five minutes before leaving the magical space.

Save the date for the festival in June 2009 and Zar’s performances in L.A. in Fall 2009. Both promise to be fantastic.

I talk a bit about the fifteenth annual dance fest in Bytom here with a continuation link to more review at Dance New Amsterdam’s member network. Take a look…

I reviewed one of Silesia’s only contemporary art spaces here.