QMAil: May 2007

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Hi folks. Sorry for the delay in getting you your monthly dose of cultural offerings from your local international art space, the QMA. To make up for the tardiness, I'll cut right to the chase. May brings with it your last chance to see Robert Moses and the Modern City (through May 27) so check out what all the fuss is about and decide for yourself if Moses was good for New York. Also experience Lillian Ball: Go Eco before it closes and arrive at the nexus of art, environmental awareness, and an ancient Chinese pasttime. Event-wise, we offer you something that I doubt you will find anywhere else in the art world - a chance to take a bike tour led by a museum director. That's right, join cyclist, Moses enthusiast, parttime Rockaway guy and QMA director Tom Finkelpearl on May 12 for a bike tour of Robert Moses' projects in Rockaway. How can you say no to that offer? And then come back to the museum the following weekend for Cinemarosa: Queens Only Queer Film Series's third anniversary program on the 20th. I know what you are thinking and I agree - three years of groundbreaking LGBT films just flew by. Details on all of these, and more, can be found below. See you soon.

May masthead: Robert Moses' Sunset Pool, entry pavilion on the pool side, 2005. Photograph by Andrew Moore. Courtesy Andrew Moore.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Macro to Micro: Grimshaw in New York

Through May 27, 2007

Macro to Micro: Grimshaw in New York presents the body of groundbreaking projects completed by this pioneering architecture firm in the past 25 years. Macro to Micro features the newest work being produced by Grimshaw's New York office, including the plans for the highly-anticipated expansion of the Queens Museum of Art. Recent work on the Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York, the Fulton Street Transit Center in Manhattan and the Museo del Acero (Museum of Steel) in Monterrey, Mexico will be shown in conjunction with the complete array of new street furniture for New York - bus shelters, public restrooms and newsstands. Fusion, one of Grimshaw's featured exhibits, demonstrates the fluidity between architecture and industrial design. Typically used to transport design materials, the flight cases used in Fusion double as the exhibition itself. Open for public display, the cases reveal the graphics, photographs and castings used in the production process of anything from a building skin to signage. In accordance with this mission to “demystify the process by which a Grimshaw building is designed and constructed,” Macro to Micro offers intimate access into the creative process of an exceedingly dynamic organization. This multi-media exploration will incorporate building elements, drawings, video, images, models and computer generated graphics. Everyone from the novice to the seasoned designer is encouraged to interact with this multifaceted showcase.

More information is available here.

Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Road to Recreation

Through May 27, 2007

Our watchword should be that we found our city a wilderness of stone and steel, crowded and inaccessible, and that we opened it to light and air, planted with the green of parks and the laughter of playgrounds, and carved out wide spokes of rims for parkways and expressways to make the city and country one. -Robert Moses

Robert Moses (1888-1981) had a greater impact on the physical character of New York City than any other individual, and given how the process of city building has changed since his time - in response to his controversial methods - it is unlikely anyone will match him in the future. Robert Moses and the Modern City is the first comprehensive exhibition about the vast program of public works he executed as New York's master builder from 1934, when he became Commissioner of Parks, to 1968, when he was ousted from power. The exhibition is organized in three, thematic parts that highlight Moses's strategies and transformation of the city. He built miles of roadway, awesome bridges, every sort of recreational facility - parks, playgrounds, beaches, pools - a convention center, and in a career-ending crescendo, he set in motion one of the nation's largest slum clearance-urban renewal programs.

Moses began his drive to modernize the city by building recreational facilities and roads. Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Road to Recreation presents the beaches, pools, playgrounds, parks and highways that Moses built in the 1930s. They constitute one of the most remarkable and most rapid expansions of the public realm in the history of American urbanism. In a mere decade, Moses restored New York's neglected waterfront with white sand beaches, inserted hundreds of playgrounds into the five boroughs, and connected the city with majestic bridges and landscaped parkways. Never before seen historic docuemnts, models, photographs and drawings join a series of contemproary large-scale photographs by artist Andrew Moore to bring this examination of Moses' legacy to life.

The Road to Recreation joins Remaking the Metropolis at the Museum of the City of New York and Slum Clearance and the Superblock Solution at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University to form Robert Moses and the Modern City, the first comprehensive exhibition of Robert Moses's unprecedented public works. Please note: Paid admission to any one venue entitles complemetary entrance to the other two.

Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Road to Recreation at the Queens Museum of Art is made possible with funding by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

More information is available here.

Lillian Ball: GO ECO

Through May 27, 2007

GO ECO is an interactive installation that illuminates the different perspectives of several participants involved in a wetland preservation project. The concept is metaphorically based on the ancient Asian game of Go, (originally, one of the Four Arts of China along with music, painting, and poetry) which uses strategies to capture territory through balancing tactics. GO ECO also functions as an informational "serious game" installation of video vignettes. Digitally manipulated images with sound are projected in quadrants on the screen to lead players through to the next move. The final outcome of the game is determined by the teamwork of players making their way toward a solution that enables all sides to win or to lose together. GO ECO allows players of many ages to be empowered and to learn about the issues through an art experience that maps paths of action.

Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao: Habitat 7

Through June 16, 2007 - On View at the QMA Satellite Gallery at Bulova

Taiwanese-born, Queens-based photographer and winner of the 2nd Annual New York Times Magazine "Capture the Times" Photography Competition, Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, examines the various enclaves that exist on the route between Times Square and Flushing. Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao: Habitat 7 features 10 of Liao's large-scale panoramic images printed on Duratran and installed in commercial lightboxes. Some measuring 8 feet in width, Liao's illuminated cityscapes are on view at the QMA's satellite gallery in Jackson Heights, the Bulova Corporate Center.

More information is available here.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Free Cinco de Mayo Portraits

Sunday, May 6, 1 - 5 pm

Mexican painter and visual artist Raul Hurtado will be available to take free portraits of the general public, in front of a scenic backdrop by his own design. This event is in honor of the 5 de Mayo Festival taking place in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, on May 6th, 2007. Portraits will be taken 1 - 5 pm and will be available for pick up between 5 and 6 pm. Location: Café.

Bike Tour in the Rockaways

Saturday, May 12, 2 pm

QMA Director Tom Finkelpearl will conduct a bicycle tour of Robert Moses' impact on the Rockaway peninsula. We will meet on the boardwalk at Beach 116th street (easily accessible by subway) and progress east. Helmets are required. Bring your own bike. The tour will take around two hours and will cover approximately 12 miles of riding, or 17 miles if you wish to ride back with Tom to the starting point. Free, but please call 718-592-9700 x222 or email to RSVP for the event so that no one is left behind. Rain Date: Saturday, May 26, 2 pm.

CINEMAROSA: Queens Only Queer Film Series presents “MILESTONE VISIONS”

Sunday, May 20, 3 - 7 pm

Celebrating its 3rd Anniversary, CINEMAROSA brings the media makers and the films that help pave the road for Queer Independent Cinema.

PARIS IS BURNING (Jenny Livingston, USA, 1990, 71 min.)
Poignant documentary that reveals the community of New York's minority drag queens, gay black and Latino men who cross dress as women and invent the dance style of "voguing," imitating the fashion poses on the covers of the magazine Vogue.

ANTHEM (Marlon Riggs, USA, 1994, 9 min.)
Marlon Riggs' experimental music video politicizes homoeroticism of African American men. With images-sensual, sexual and defiant - and words intended to provoke, Anthem reasserts the "self-evident right" to life and liberty in an era of pervasive anti-gay, anti-Black backlash and hysterical cultural repression. Co-presented with The National Black Programming Consortium

RULES OF THE ROAD (Friedrich, USA, 1993, 31 min.)
A typical American family car for an atypical American family, it provides the women at first with all the familiar comforts. But when their relationship ends, the car becomes the property of one and the bane of the other's existence.

CARMELITA TROPICANA: YOUR KUNST IS YOUR WAFFEN (Ela Troyano, USA, 1996, 28 min.)
Latina performance artist Carmelita Tropicana (Alina Troyano) gives a day-in-the-life account of her experiences as a lesbian living in New York's Lower East Side. The day begins with being mugged, and escalates into defending an abortion clinic with a militant feminist group.

Filmmakers J. Livingston, E Troyano, and S. Friedrich, and performance artist Carmelita Tropicana will be in attendance. Plus celebrate CINEMAROSA's 3rd Anniversary with Cocktails & Cake! Visit Cinemarosa's website for more info.

Family Fun Panorama Challenge

Sunday, May 27, 5 - 6 pm

The Geography Trivia Event of the Year! Panorama challenges will be held immediately after open gallery hours. Think you know New York?
Get out your binoculars, grab your friends, and head out to the Queens Museum of Art for an interactive game challenge at the newly refurbished Panorama of the City of New York. The Panorama Challenge pits teams against one another for prizes and prestige. Directed by laser-wielding Game Controllers, teams will identify landmarks, parks, neighborhoods, bridges and more from the Panorama's almost one million structures. Individuals as well as groups are welcome to participate. The Panorama Challenge was created and produced by Levy's Unique New York!, NY's first family of tour guides, performers, and event impresarios. FREE!, no advance RSVP required - meet on the 2nd floor at 5 pm to join the Challenge. Free trolley between Shea Stadium 7 Train Stop & QMA from 2 - 6:30 pm.

FOR SENIORS

The Listening Series with The Forest Hills Chamber Players present “Vocal Chords”

Thursday, May 10, 3:30 pm

The Forest Hills Chamber Players will be joined by a special guest for a selection of works for voice and chamber ensemble.

THE FILM SERIES - Patriots and Traitors

When are heroes less than noble, and "traitors" really "patriots"? What are thetensions between national allegiance and personal integrity? What kinds of people transcend self-interest for a cause? Join Mark Ethan and see ten films that are sure to spark lively discussion. Films obtained courtesy of Columbia University's Film Division.
Mondays, 2 pm, Free.

Deceptive Heroes and Whistle-Blowers
May 14 - The Official Story (Luis Puenzo, 1985, Argentina)
May 21 - Shut Up and Sing (Elia Kazan, 1954)

THE LOOKING SERIES - Looking at Special Exhibitions in New York

In this series of slide talks we focus on special shows that are on view at major New York museums and galleries during the 2007 season. In each case, we consider the artists involved, the movements to which they relate and the general context in which they work. The idea is to prepare the viewer for a comfortably informed interaction with the show, its ideas and the work within it. The Looking Series is organized by Miriam Brumer, former QMA Coordinator of Adult Programs and an artist who recently exhibited at Skoto Gallery, New York.
Thursdays, 2 - 3:30 pm, $5 per session, free for members.

May 10 - Impressionist and Early Modernist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
May 17 - Surrealism: Europe and USA, The Nassau County Museum of Art
May 24 - The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson, The Jewish Museum

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