Fairs | NYC: TEFAF @ Park Avenue Armory

TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) open its Fall edition on November first at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. TEFAF started in 1988 and includes fine and decorative arts, antiques, and design. The landmark building from 1880 offers a spectacular background for the exhibitor. 
The fair also hosts a cultural program: perhaps the most interesting of this edition was the screening of "Decoding Da Vinci" about Leonardo's painting.

Film screening at the Cultural Program: premiere of "Decoding Da Vinci"

performances | Elizabeth Streb - On the Fly

It’s hard to swing a new handbag without hitting an Elizabeth Streb performance on the streets of Manhattan this month……..and I mean that in the warmest and most supportive way. Choreographer Streb is daring, energetic, and goes way beyond the image conjured up as “dance’. Her performers fly through the air with the greatest of ease….. off high platforms and scaffolding in mind-bendingly athletic performances.

Along with this past weekend’s Battery Park event, “Human Fountain”, by the Streb dancers, the previous weekend found them in Gansevoort Plaza with their new work “Ascension”, commissioned by the Whitney Museum to highlight the museum’s new site being constructed nearby at the HighLine.

“Ascension” revolved around a 20 foot rotating ladder the nine performers ran up, down and catapulted off, in a perfect execution of the strength and skill of Streb’s troupe.

Streb, Inc tours throughout the U.S. and Internationally. Streb Lab for Action Mechanics resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Fearless leader, Elizabeth Streb, was awarded the MacArthur Foundation Genius Award in 1997. She is a tour de Force in action and mind.
Make a note on your latest techno-calendar to attend Streb’s Park Avenue Armory event, “Kiss the Air” in the Armory’s huge Drill Hall, December 14th – 22, 2011. For information and ticketing go to armoryonpark.org.
Two pertinent videos to watch: ASCENSION and Elizabeth Streb discussing the performance.

Exhibitions NYC | Geometric Dreams: Infinite Variety at the Park Avenue Armory

Art and science at its best: the beauty of geometry is celebrated in Infinite Variety, the spectacular exhibition of quilts presented by the American Folk Art Museum. The breathtaking exhibition, unfortunately closing today, presented 650 red and white American quilts, all on loan from the collection of Joanna S. Rose, in the Park Avenue Armory’s historic 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall.
The magic of geometric patterns from polygons, tiling, tessellations, mandalas, in the most elaborated phantasmagorical presentation, is beautifully installed as floating in the quite dramatic space of the Armory.
The entry to this event was even free of charge and photography was allowed.

With many thanks to the American Folk Art Museum.