QMAil: September 2007

In this ISSUE:

   EXHIBITIONS: Generation 1.5 | Il Lee: Ballpoint Drawings | Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere: Four Site-Specific Projects

   EVENTS: Queens Parks Photo Competition | Corona Cares Celebration | CINEMAROSA - queens only queer film series | Cocktail Hour + Poets in the Galleries: Luis H. Francia | UN Traveling Film Series | 2nd Annual Ramadan Fundraising Iftar | Jackson Heights Film Festival Opening Night presentation | Cocktail Hour + Poets in the Galleries: Roger Bonair-Agard | Hispanic Heritage Celebration | For Seniors

   QMA INFORMATION: Subscribe | Ongoing Programs | Programming for New New Yorkers | Language Programs | Adult Programs | Permanent Exhibitions | Special Announcements | Credits

September masthead: Seher Shah, Interior courtyard 2 (detail), 2006. From the series Jihad Pop Progression 5. Graphite on paper, 80 x 130 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Bose Pacia Gallery, New York.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Generation 1.5

On view through December 2, 2007

Generation 1.5 is an exhibition of the work of eight artists who emigrated in their teenage years. The term "generation 1.5" is used in some communities to describe those who are neither adult immigrants nor American born – the in-between generation of people who moved from one country to another between the ages of 12 and 18. Already undergoing physical and intellectual change during these formative years, 1.5 generation individuals also experience a change in context, in language, in culture. The premise of the exhibition is that the relationship of a 1.5 artist to their adopted country is different than that of a person who immigrated when they were much younger or older. Generation 1.5 is curated by Executive Director of the Queens Museum of Art, Tom Finkelpearl and Chief Curator, Valerie Smith. The participating artists are: Shirin Neshat, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Emily Jacir, Nari Ward, Lee Mingwei, Pablo Helguera, Ellen Harvey and Seher Shah.

In lieu of a printed catalogue, Generation 1.5 will feature an online component that will grow throughout the time of the exhibition. This site is intended to generate thoughtful debate, from artists and non-artists alike, on the influence that being 1.5 may or may not have on artistic practice. Please stop by and contribute comments.

Generation 1.5 has been made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, the Taipei Cultural Center and the Crystal Foundation.

More information is available here.

Il Lee: Ballpoint Drawings

On view through September 30, 2007

The Queens Museum of Art introduces the work of Il Lee (b. 1952), a Korean-born artist living and working in Brooklyn since 1977. Using disposable ballpoint pens, Lee creates dramatic ink fields on surfaces of canvas and paper. The exhibition includes a selection of large format blue and black ink drawings, early experimental studies, and an impressive fifty-foot installation-his largest work to date. Il Lee: Ballpoint Drawings is curated by Joanna Kleinberg, guest curator.
This exhibition is funded in part by the Korean Cultural Service New York and The Vilcek Foundation.

Click for more information.

Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere: Four Site-Specific Projects

On view through October 14, 2007 at QMA

July 1 - October 14, 2007 at Corona Plaza

Corona, Queens has experienced a significant population increase since 1980 due to an influx of recent immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Today, Corona Plaza mirrors the neighborhood's diverse population in a bustling mix of shopping, eating, entertainment and leisure. The Queens Museum of Art has commissioned four emerging artists to produce temporary site-specific art in Corona Plaza, just a few blocks away from the museum's home, Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The projects are part of a larger "Heart of Corona" initiative in which the museum and community partners work towards three main objectives: to improve the health of community residents; beautify the neighborhood; and activate public spaces in the area thereby enhancing the environment for visitors, residents, and merchants alike. Artists Hector Canonge, Stephanie Diamond, Shaun Leonardo and Xaviera Simmons were asked to develop projects that would integrate with the specific conditions of the plaza. Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere: Four Site-Specific Projects will include an exhibition at the Museum which will document and expand on the projects in the plaza. The works exemplify much contemporary artistic practice that values audience participation, fun, generosity and community engagement.
Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere is made possible with support from the Institute for Museum & Library Services and the Ford Foundation.

Click for more information.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Queens Parks Photo Competition

DEADLINE: Monday, October 8, 5 pm

A salute to Queens Parks, a photo competition open to all ages, sponsored by QMA and NYC Parks & Recreation. Capture an image reflecting Queens Parks. Winning entries to be exhibited at the QMA and published in A Salute to Queens Parks: A Photo Book. Winners will receive gift certificates to a popular electronic store. Digital photos accepted via email, CD or standard mail. Entries must be received by 5 pm on October 8, 2007. Contest winners will be announced on October 22, 2007. For more information please call 718.520.5914 or visit the Parks website.

Corona Cares Celebration (offsite)

Saturday, September 15, 11 - 6 pm

The Corona Cares celebration is part of a larger Heart of Corona initiative in which the museum and community partners work towards improving the health of community residents, beautifying the neighborhood, and activating public spaces in the area. This street celebration in Corona Plaza (103rd Street & Roosevelt Avenue) will feature live music, dance, free health evaluations, health insurance sign-ups, and immigrant services. Four artists - Hector Canonge, Stephanie Diamond, Shaun El C. Leonardo and Xaviera Simmons - were asked to develop projects that would integrate with the specific conditions of the plaza and Corona, resulting in works that, like much contemporary artistic practice, values audience participation, fun, generosity and community engagement. Don't miss the Grand Finale Lucha Libre (Mexican Wrestling) match by artist Shaun El.C Leonardo as El Conquistador battling The Invisible Man!

CINEMAROSA - queens only queer film series

Sunday, September 16, 3 - 6 pm

Eye on the Guy: Alan B Stone & the Age of Beefcake (Jean-Francois Monette & Phillip Lewis, Canada, 2006, 48 min)
A documentary about Alan B. Stone, pioneer photographer of male "beefcakes" shown through vintage footage, old pictures, and varied interviews, revealing a quiet photographer and businessman, who became the master of homo-erotic photography in the '50s and '60s

Female To Femme (Kami Chisholm & Elizabeth Stark, USA, 48 min)
The film celebrates dyke femme identities, combining farce and seduction with analysis and personal history. For years, femmes have forged community and created space for themselves out of edgy performance and authentic parody. FtF recognizes these strategies and builds them into an unforgettably sexy, funny and moving film.

For more information, visit Cinemarosa.

Cocktail Hour + Poets in the Galleries: Writers Respond to Generation 1.5

Saturday, September 22, 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Poets in the Galleries series utilizes the galleries as invigorating sites of exploration, investigation and interactive readings and discussions. Lively presentations and provocative intellectual and artistic exchanges will allow audiences new ways of accessing the resources of the museum, while simultaneously presenting visitors with various inroads into the exhibitions' offerings. The Generation 1.5 exhibition lends itself especially well to this inaugural iteration, as it allows a wonderful springboard for the exchanges of ideas related to the immigrant experience. Distinguished and emerging voices in the local, national and international literary scene will contribute. So join us for a cocktail hour followed by interactive gallery tour & readings by Luis H. Francia who left his native Philippines at the age of 22 and now lives in New York City. Francia is the author of the semiautobiographical Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago, honored with the 2002 PEN Center Open Book and the 2002 Asian American Writers literary awards. A winner of the Palanca Poetry Prize, one of the Philippines' most prestigious literary honors, Francia has two earlier books of poems--Her Beauty Likes Me Well (with David Friedman) and The Arctic Archipelago and Other Poems, as well as a collection of reviews and essays, Memories of Overdevelopment. He edited Brown River, White Ocean: A Twentieth Century Anthology of Philippine Literature in English; as well as Flippin': Filipinos on America, with Eric Gamalinda as coeditor; and, along with Angel Velasco Shaw, Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999. He writes for The Village Voice and The Nation, and, in Manila, for The Sunday Inquirer Magazine as well as teaches at New York University.

Afghan Women: A History of Struggle - Documentary Screening + Discussion

Sunday, September 23, 3 - 5 pm

Afghan Women: A History of Struggle, (Kathleen Foster, USA/Afghanistan, 2007, 69 min)
This film captures the resilience and courage of women who risk their lives on a daily basis and yet still stand up for their rights. The film starts in 2003 with the drafting of the Afghan Women's Bill of Rights by women from every region of Afghanistan at a conference in Kandahar. Disturbing and amazing stories are told by women as they look back at the pivotal role women's struggle for equality has played in the country's tumultuous political history, debunk the myth that current U.S. intervention in Afghanistan has liberated Afghan women from the tyranny of fundamentalism, and expose the War on Terror as mainly a euphemism for expanding U.S. control of the region's oil and gas. Preceded by short video on the effort to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Co-presented with United Nations Association - Queens Chapter and Women for Afghan Women. Followed by Q&A with director and Fahima Vorgetts, Board Member of Women for Afghan Women

2nd Annual Ramadan Fundraising Iftar: "She Speaks! Voices of Hope, Strength & Compassion"

Sunday, September 23, 5:30 - 9 pm

Turning Point is a community based, non-profit organization addressing the needs of Muslim women and children through culturally competent crisis intervention, individual and group counseling, advocacy, outreach, education and training. Turning Point helps women empower themselves and transform their own lives as well as those of their families and children. Join Turning Point to celebrate Ramadan with food and live entertainment. Special Guest: Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar, translator of The Sublime Quran, the first english translation of the Qur'an by an American Woman.
For more information visit Turning Point online

Jackson Heights Film Festival Opening Night presentation (offsite)

Friday, September 28, 9 - 11 pm

Punching at the Sun (Tanuj Chopra, USA, 2006, 86 min)
South Asian immigrant culture, post 9/11 politics, interracial relationships, violent streets, and the American firestorm of hip-hop culture all mix into a fierce concoction in Tanuj Chopra's vibrant and spirited first feature. Elmhurst, Queens, is a rough place for Mameet Nayak, a beautiful 17-year-old South Asian immigrant with a passion for basketball and a hair-trigger temper. It gets rougher when his older brother, Sanjay, is gunned down in the family convenience store. The loss leaves Mameet in a complicated state of mourning and adolescent nihilism. His rage and antagonism toward the world make him a magnet for trouble...
Followed by Q&A with director, moderated by Prerana Reddy, QMA Director of Public Events and Co-founder 3rd i NY. Light refreshments will be served in the lobby.
Location: Eagle Theater, 37th road between 74th street and Broadway near the 7train 74th Street/Roosevelt Avenue Stop. Click For more info and advance tix.

Cocktail Hour + Poets in the Galleries: Writers Respond to Generation 1.5

Saturday, September 29, 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Poets in the Galleries series utilizes the galleries as invigorating sites of exploration, investigation and interactive readings and discussions. Lively presentations and provocative intellectual and artistic exchanges will allow audiences new ways of accessing the resources of the museum, while simultaneously presenting visitors with various inroads into the exhibitions' offerings. The Generation 1.5 exhibition lends itself especially well to this inaugural iteration, as it allows a wonderful springboard for the exchanges of ideas related to the immigrant experience. Distinguished and emerging voices in the local, national and international literary scene will contribute. So join us for a cocktail hour followed by interactive gallery tour & readings by Roger Bonair-Agard. Mr. Bonair-Agard weaves living, breathing tapestries out of politics and the notion of home; a native of Trinidad and Tobago, Roger has lived in Brooklyn for seventeen years and his work reflects the struggles of a man in voluntary exile in a conflicted 21st-century America. He is co-author of Burning Down the House (Soft Skull Press, 2000), and author of tarnish and masquerade (Cypher Press, 2006). He also co-founded the louderARTS Project (of which he is also Artistic Director), an organization dedicated to the evolution of poetry through the craft of writing and performance. Roger is also a Cave Canem fellow, studying with such luminaries as Yusef Komunyakaa, Marilyn Nelson, and Cornelius Eady. In 1998, he was named the Nuyorican Poets Café Fresh Poet of the Year. That same year, he coached the Nuyorican team to victory in the National Poetry Slam. The following year he earned the title of National Individual Slam Champion while leading and coaching the New York City louderARTS team to the final four of the National Poetry Slam, a feat he repeated in 2000. Roger's work has been widely anthologized, and has been commissioned extensively through the multi-disciplinary performance troupe VisionIntoArt. He has also authored a successful one-man show, and chaos congealed (1998) and the acclaimed one-man poetry concert MASQUERADE: poems of calypso and home.

Hispanic Heritage Celebration

Sunday, September 30, 2 - 4:30 pm

Latin American Cultural Center of Queens presents its annual celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month featuring the Hispanic Pride Awards and live entertainment including Tito Castro, Maurizio Najt, Jorge Longo, Mirian Conti and tango dancers Fluk & Silvana Brizuel. Honorees include: NYS Senator John Sabini, QMA Executive Director Tom Finkelpearl & NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs, Guillermo Linares.

FOR SENIORS

Senior programs will return in the fall. Please call 718.592.9700 x133 for more information.

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