Events | Miami, Lincoln Road and New World Symphony

Lincoln Road and New World Symphony
by Irene Sperber

Lincoln Road, in the heart of Miami Beach, is coming full circle. A flurry of new building by world renown architects has pushed Miami Beach into a new stratosphere beyond its previous heyday (30's to early 60's), culminating with the opening of Gehry's New World Symphony campus this week.

It is exhilarating to see where technology has taken us. Frank Gehry and Michael Tilson Thomas put their heads together to produce a synergistic blast-off into a New World of symphonic experience.

Visir their web site for in-depth information: New World Symphony

"Wallcast" -

Bi-weekly the New World Symphony will be projected onto the huge white plaster wall outside the symphony building. Seven sail-like screens within the theater are used to project videos inside (which you can see from outside also) to go along with the concert. Wagners "The Flying Dutchman" about a cursed Sea Captain, was one of the first pieces played on night #1. A 2.5 acre park with surround sound completes a new experience, as locals and visitors can listen to a concert from the balmy realms of Soundscape Park. The visuals and sound are spotlessly clear and clean.

Michael Tilson Thomas, NWS Artistic Director,
greets the first audience outside the concert hall on the huge 7-story WALLCAST projection.

Several pergola sculptures pepper the Soundscape Park.
Beautiful bouganvillia bushes are planted in each; one day take over the shapes to create a riot of floral color over the forms.

The Lincoln Road Cinema by Zyscovich Architects

Lincoln roads 1.5 year old parking garage with no walls by Herzog and Meuron.

The views and design are so stunning that people hold weddings and other events on the top floor. The fabulous clothing store, AlChemists, resides alone on one of the upper most floors.

1111 Lincoln Road also houses shops on the ground floor under the parking garage

First Night, January 25th

The Grand Opening of Gehry's New World Center presented a wall video mural by artists Tal Rosner and C.E.B. Reas. Outside entertainment was provided by the band, Tiempo Libre. It was the first time Gehry had seen the project finished and was moved to tears.

Photo credit: Irene Sperber

Vernissages NYC | Pierre Huyghe @ Marian Goodman Gallery

Marian Goodman Gallery presents "The Host and the Cloud" a solo exhibition by the French artist Pierre Huyghe.

The exhibition includes the film "The Host and the Cloud", the mask which appears in the film, three aquariums and an image from the artist’s descent into the Crystal Cave.

January 28 - March 12

Marian Goodman Gallery

24 West 57 Street

Vernissages NYC | Leon Ferrari @ Haunch of Venison

Haunch of Venison presents León Ferrari's first solo gallery exhibition in New York.

The Argentinian artist work was also shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in the 2009 exhibition "Tangled Alphabets: León Ferrari and Mira Schendel" in 2009. Haunch of Venison's exhibition features thirty works spanning the artist’s career from 1962 to 2010, including 10 wire sculptures and "written drawings".

January 28 -March 5

Haunch of Venison

1230 Sixth Avenue

Calendar | January

Art, culture and not only...

Vernissages, NYC, January 27

"The Independent Eye: Contemporary British Art from the Collection of Samuel and Gabrielle Lurie"@ Flowers Gallery, 529 W 20 street, 6-8pm

Tracey Moffatt "Still And Moving"@ Tyler Rollins Fine Art, 529 W 20 street, 6-8:30pm

Mark Seliger "Listen"@ Steven Kasher Gallery, 521 W 23 street, 6-8pm

Performance: Amir Baradaran "Frenchising Mona Lisa"@ Benrimon Contemporary, 514 W 24 street, 5-9pm

Ed Lederman, Kathleen Schneider "Force Field"@ Tria Gallery, 531 W 25 street, 6-8pm

Eric Heist "Monuments"@ Schroeder Romero & Schredder, 531 West 26th, 6-8pm

Kenny Scharf "Naturafutura"@ Paul Kasmin Gallery, 293 Tenth avenue, 6-8pm

"Nomadic Reality-into Contemporary with fractured culture"@ ArtGate Gallery,520 west 27, 6-8pm

"Into the Neon"@ Chashama, 540 W 28 street, 6-8pm

Vernissages, NYC, January 21

Ruby Sky Stiler "Inherited and Borrowed Types" @ Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, 21 Orchard street, 6-8pm

Abby Goodman "Party @ Lucky Chengs" @ LZ Project Space, 164 Suffolk street, 7-9pm

Christian Marclay "The Clock" @ Paula Cooper Gallery, 534 W 21 street, a 24-hour loop from 6pm to 6pm

Piotr Uklański @ Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, 6-8pm

"reGeneration2: Tomorrow's Photographers Today" curated by Nathalie Herschdorefer, William A. Ewing @ Aperture Foundation, 547 W 27 street, 6-9pm

Tobias Kaspar "Why Sex Now" @ Alex Zachary, 16 E 77 street, 6-8pm

Zane Wilson "Portfolio x Appunti: Zane Wilson" curated by Paul D'Agostino @ Centotto :: galleria [simposio] salotto, Brooklyn, 250 Moore Street, suite 108, 6-10pm

Vernissages, NYC, January 20

"L'insoutenable Legerete De L'etre" @ Yvon Lambert Gallery, 550 W 21 street, 6-8pm

Lecture: Cuauhtémoc Medina "Biennale Interventions: Curatorial-Critical Experiences" @ Visual Arts Theater, 333 W 23 street, 7pm

Cory Arcangel, Pat Steir, Paul Pope, Robert Indiana, Russell Young "Printer's Proof Exhibition" A Collection of Top Artist Serigraphs Created by Master Printer, Luther Davis @ Bertrand Delacroix Gallery - BDG, 535 W 25 street, 6-9pm

Joan Bankemper, Peter Plagens @ Nancy Hoffman Gallery, 520 W 27 street, 6-8pm

A Koschmieder, D Cohen, J Winter @ Foxy Production, 623 W 27 street, 6-8pm

John Beech "The State of Things" @ Peter Blum, 526 W 29 street, 6-8pm

Halsey Rodman, Katy Heinlein, Sheila Pepe "A Room, In Three Movements" @ Sue Scott Gallery, 1 Rivington street, 6-8pm

"An Exchange with Sol LeWitt" curated by Regine Bash @ Cabinet, Brooklyn, 300 Nevins street, 7-9pm

Vernissages, NYC, January 6

Ajay Kurian, Amy Granat, Anicka Yi, Jacob Kassay, Josh Tonsfeldt, Liam Gillick, Matt Keegan, Uri Aran "No Presence" @ Hunter College (The Artist's Institute), 163 Eldridge, 6:30pm

Deborah Luster, Carlos Vega @ Jack Shainman Gallery, 513 W 20 street, 6-8pm

Ann Shostrom @ Elizabeth Harris, 529 W 20 street, 6-8pm

Hiroyuki Doi "New Works" @ Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 529 W 20 street, 6-8pm

Miguel Palma "In Image We Trust" @ Nicholas Robinson Gallery, 535 W 20 street, 6-8pm

Johannes Wohnseifer, "Another Year" @ Casey Kaplan, 525 W 21st Street, 6-8pm

Kahn & Selesnick "Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea" @ Yancey Richardson Gallery, 535 W 22 street, 6-8pm

Adam Fowler "Trilogy" @ Margaret Thatcher Projects, 539 W 23 street, 6-8pm

Adam Marnie, Ruby Sky Stiler, Tom Thayer @ Derek Eller Gallery, 615 W 27 street, 6-8pm

Leslie Thornton "Binocular" @ Winkleman Gallery, 621 W 27 street, 6-8pm

Camminando | SNOWSCAPES

Puffy, soft, immense, peaceful, powdery, brilliant, quiet,elegant, sinuous, treacherous, reflective, magical, silent, bright, majestic...

From the many definitions of snow these are some of the words which came to my mind this morning, while I was walking through Central Park. My goal was the recording of the sun rising in this quite special morning, when NYC seemed to slow down its usual frenetic pace.

But I got intrigued instead by the peaceful beauty of the snowscapes, admiring the nature-made sculptures: the trees, with their ephemeral white powder finish, seemed structures even stronger than usual in their skeletal powerful presence.

The yellow master of the universe made finally only a brief appearance, leaving the white queen to reign undisputed, at least for this early morning.

Photo credit: Daniela Bertol

Photographs and text are excerpts from the conceptual multimedia project

“Axes Mundi: Perceptions and Understanding of Places as Intersections of Space, Time and Culture"

Vernissages | Long Island City, The Sculpture Center

SculptureCenter organized and premiered the traveling exhibition "Ursula von Rydingsvard: Sculpture 1991­2009". The exhibition presents a selection of the artist's sculptures, including wall reliefs and monumental cedar works created from 1991 to 2009.

Ursula von Rydingsvard sculptures |Photo Credit: Elizabeth Davis

SculptureCenter also presented "Vide-Poche" (from the French "empty pocket") featuring the works of Michele Abeles, Samuel Clagnaz, Isabelle Cornaro, Miles Huston, Charles Mayton, Valerie Snobeck, curated by Fionn Meade.

"Vide Poche": Isabelle Cornaro | Photo Credit: Elizabeth Davis

Exhibition Dates:
January 24 - March 28,2011
SculptureCenter
44-19 Purves Street
Long lsland City
t 718.361.1750
info@sculpture-center.org
www.sculpture-center.org

Poetry | Why Is Everything I Know Wrong? | by Gavin Keeney

WHY IS EVERYTHING I KNOW WRONG?

Who is it
That has proved
Ethics superior
To morals?
Who is it
That has shown
Naturalism
Is best?
What force
Has made money
The Answer
To All;
The negation
Of anything
Remotely divine?

Who is it
That knows
To argue the law
Is to argue for rules
That in essence
Destroy
Both virtue
And truth,
Both morals
And laws;
What passes
As law
Is the passing
Of laws.

GK (01/21/11)

Vernissages NYC | "The Clock" @ Paula Cooper Gallery

Photo credit: Paula Cooper Gallery

Time is the centerpiece of "The Clock" the 24-hour long video work by Christian Marclay, premiered in the US at Paula Cooper Gallery tonight: a 24-hour screening started at 6 pm and will end at 6pm tomorrow.

The French artist edited a multitude of film excerpts 'quoting" the passage of time. Many different timepieces, including clock towers, wristwatches and alarm clocks,
narrate the passage of time synchronized with the actual time when the video screening happens in the gallery.

As an artist myself working with different concepts and manifestation of time I found "The Clock" very clever and quite intriguing ---yet lacking of depth. It was entertaining and amusing, and definitely a tremendous effort (I would like to learn more about "the making"); a question I kept asking myself going back home in this extremely cold night was "Why"?

But I don't think a question often asked in the contemporary art scene at least in mainstream NYC art galleries.

24-hour screenings will be organized every Friday through Saturday during the course of the exhibition beginning at 10 am. More information can be found here.

Vernissages | NYC, Chelsea January 20

L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être @ Yvon Lambert

L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être @ Yvon Lambert | Christian Boltanski

L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être @ Yvon Lambert | CerythWynEvans

L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être @ Yvon Lambert | Theo Mercier

L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être @ Yvon Lambert | Dennis Adams

L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être @ Yvon Lambert | Lawrence Weiner

John Beech The State of Things @ Peter Blum

Thoughts | Cross Country Skiing and Buddhist Change

Views of Sun Farm while skiing

“Everything changes, nothing remains without change.”
Gautama Siddharta,563-483 B.C.

Buddhist thinking focuses on change and transformation as characteristics of reality. It is in the Buddhist philosophy and spiritual practices. I always understood this essential interpretation of reality at an intellectual level but only recently I have started to experience at a personal level how adapting to change is the most fulfilling way of living. It so not as easy for me as I make it sound, a very bumpy road with a lot of switchbacks, just to use a quite common metaphor. But still learning to appreciate the possibilities instead of following out of reach desires, can bring unexpected and rewarding surprises.

A few days ago I had a quite important experience which may sound very banal: A few days ago I had a quite important experience which may sound very banal: for the first time in nine years I wore a pair of skis and went cross country skiing.

On February 17 2002 I had a major down hill injury, caused by somebody else (not by surprise he is a partner in a large NYC corporate architectural office) lack of attention, which resulted in a broken femur, 3 surgeries, 6 weeks on a wheelchair, intense physical therapy. Although I totally recovered, reaching a fitness level higher than before the injury, I was totally terrified about skiing.
Until I finally reached the conclusion that downhill skiing was not the right activity: not only for the implicit great risk of being victim of accidents because of somebody else's carelessness, but because is highly invasive of the natural landscape and not sustainable. At this stage of my life I am trying to be very sensitive to environmental concerns so even without the fear caused by the accident downhill skiing would not be appropriate for my ecological awareness.
So I for the first time in my life I tried cross country skiing, and really enjoyed the peacefulness and closer connection with nature brought by this winter activity.

Camminando | Biscayne Bay, Flagler Memorial

photos and text by Irene Sperber

Flagler Memorial - A 96 ft obelisk located on the 2 acre man-made Monument Island in Biscayne Bay is visible from downtown Miami and the western side of South Beach. Four 18 foot Italian hand carved cast-stone statues cling to each corner of the obelisk representing, pioneering, industry, engineering and prosperity. It was restored in 2009 after years of neglect.

Built in 1921 by the founder of Miami Beach, Carl Fisher; the monument was erected to honor Henry Flagler who built the Florida East Coast Railway, opening up South Florida to support his hotel ventures up and down the coast all the way to Key West.

Late day sun skimming across Biscayne Bay as a storm darkly gathers on the horizon creating a dynamic light

Typical daylight in Biscane Bay

The Memorial with downtown Miami in the background

Performances and Vernissages | NYC, January 14

Yesterday, during my walkabouts in very cold NYC evening I unexpectedly ran into two quite stimulating events.

Mark Borthwick music and video images performance at Martos Gallery, was quite evocative and totally immersive. It unusually involved all the five senses, with the smell of burning incense and even taste ---from the food offerings prepared impromptu on the gallery floor.





The Camera Club of New York presented self portraits of Linda Salerno, Selections from the Black Mirror Series, curated by Allen Frame and Martin Kunz, a series of experimental large scale photographs.
The exhibition was presented in collaboration with Centro Luigi Di Sarro in Rome.

Events | ART DECO WEEKEND 2011 Miami Beach

A Deco Car and the Parade -photo credit: Irene Sperber

ART DECO WEEKEND 2011 Miami Beach

Friday, January 14, 2011 - Noon - 11PM
Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 10AM - 11PM
Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 10AM - 8PM

For 25 years Miami’s South Beach has been honoring the historic Art Deco District with a variety of themes highlighting the era 1925-1945.

This year’s Theme: SELLING GLAMOUR & STYLE (1920s and 30s)

Participate in Guided Walking Tours, Fashion, Furniture, Cars and parade

Lectures include:
Miami as a Cultural Intersection
Tropical Art Deco’s Influence on the 1939 World’s Fair
Selling Art Deco Preservation
Films:
The Easiest Way, It should Happen to You. Lover Come Back, The Ad & the Alter Ego

For Information Visit: Art Deco Weekend
Or call 305-672-2014.

My First Recording of the Sun Rising in 2011: NYC. Central Park