On Wednesday I was invited to the screening of the documentary “Gregory Crewdson Brief Encounters” at the Core Club (that has been called the “Portal of Power” by The New York Times, or “Where the 1 Percent Go to Lunch” by CNBC), with popcorn, M&Ms, wine bar and all.
Both Ben Shapiro and Gregory Crewdson (and his mother) were there introducing the film. But their shyness made them refuse a formal Q&A session, so to talk to them one had to go to the reception area after the film and mingle and chat.
On Tuesday I went to listen to Mitchell J. Feigenbaum and Albert J. Libchaber (mathematical physicists) discuss chaos theory at CUNY Graduate Center.
After that I went to McNally Jackson Books, a great book store in SoHo, and to the opening reception for “Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos", at the New Museum, organized by Massimiliano Gioni, Associate Director and Director of Exhibitions, and Jenny Moore, Associate Curator, in collaboration with Rosemarie Trockel and Lynne Cooke, chief curator of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (Spain).
Number of homeless kids in NYC last year: 16,000
Number of homeless kids in NYC this year: 20,000
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/
Note: Start video on 33:33 (absolutely nothing happening before that, but just people waiting for the panelist to go on stage).
On Friday I was invited to attend Slavoj Žižeks lecture "Conditions of Possibility" with M. Hägglund & A. Johnston at City University of New Yorks Graduate Center.
Martin Hägglund (associate professor of comparative literature and humanities at Yale University) and Adrian Johnston (professor in the department of philosophy at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque and a faculty member at the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute in Atlanta) both read legthy and endogamic discourses about Heidegger, classic philosophical concepts, and stubbornly narrow minded “canons”.
A big band of skaters (I only captured a few in my photograph becuase they were left behind in a stoplight, but there were many many more) rolling down south on Broadway. As they passed, people on the side walk greeted and cheered them. More play and less politics, or the return of the playful society, please. [Update.- there is a big story behind it: the Broadway Bomb] Beecher`s Handmade Cheese, where you can sample and purchase artisanal cheese, have some wine and small apetizers in the cellar downstairs, but even more fun to just sit and watch them make cheese live, through a big glass.
On Thursday I went to 319 Scholes to attend the art opening of “Collect the WWWorld: The Artist as Archivist in the Internet Age”.
Beyond the anecdotal post/pre hispter crowd, the exhibition itself is a sad celebration of noise. Which, in itself is as valid, or invalid, as any other starting point in the endless debate about art (more so in regards with contemporary, electronic, net, etc).
But it is its legitimization attempt, with research project, curator, catalogue, and international tour, which brings the debate to a whole different level.
Tuesday, October 2nd I was invited to the member`s viewing and reception of “Silver Wind: The Arts of Sakai Hoitsu” exhibition at Japan Society. This exhibition is the first American retrospective of Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828), a samurai aristocrat turned Buddhist monk who dedicated his life to art and poetry. On exhibit there were also a few works by his chief pupil Suzuki Kiitsu, although I must admit the difference between the two is quite notable.
