QMAil: February 2008

In this ISSUE:

EXHIBITIONS: New York States of Mind | Jaishri Abichandani: Reconciliations | Anthony Auerbach, Empire State Pavilion | Back on the Map: Revisiting the New York State Pavilion at the 1964/5 World's Fair

EVENTS: Wear Red Day Celebration | MetLife Foundation presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: The Texaco Road Map of New York State | Bridging the Gap-A Black Tie Poetry Slam | Black History Month & Dominican Heritage Month Screening: Dominican Identity & Migrations to Hispaniola | Chinese New Year Celebration for the Year of the Rat. | NY States of Mind Film Program | CINEMAROSA - queens only queer film series

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

February masthead: Iona Rozeal Brown, "a³ … blackface # 78" (detail), 2004. Mixed media on paper. © Joshua White. Courtesy of private collection, Los Angeles, CA. and Sandroni Rey.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

New York States of Mind

On view through March 23, 2008

After critical and popular acclaim at Berlin's House of World Cultures, the Queens Museum of Art presents New York States of Mind, an exhibition, film and performance program that offers a fresh vision of New York from an outsider's perspective. New York City — the larger-than-life myth that envelops our everyday reality mdash; is an urban hub where diverse communities seek refuge and flourish; a concrete jungle where only the strong survive; and a 24-hour space of limitless opportunity. Through an interdisciplinary exploration, New York States of Mind provides a fresh backdrop to this mythical New York while demonstrating how artists have engaged with the city as a democratic and experimental space. Featuring a dynamic group of emerging and established artists whose work reflects the New York City's shifting paradigms and demographic, New York-States of Mind focuses on the more flexible practice of contemporary art from Marcel Duchamp to David Hammons to Kehinde Wiley.

Participating artists are: Iona Rozeal Brown, Ian Burns, Laura Carton, Carolina Caycedo, Patty Chang, Marcel Duchamp, Rainer Ganahl, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, Jonathan Horowitz, Tehching Hsieh, Kim Jones, Michael Joo, Jon Kessler, Terence Koh, Nikki S.Lee, Mark Lombardi, Mary Ellen Mark, Sarah Morris, Gordon Matta-Clark, Josephine Meckseper, Ana Mendieta, William Pope.L, Printed Matter Inc., Elaine Reichek, Carolee Schneemann, Ward Shelley, Tavares Strachan, Kehinde Wiley, Fred Wilson and Jordan Wolfson.

New York States of Mind is an exhibition curated by Shaheen Merali of The House of World Cultures, Berlin.

More information is available here.

Jaishri Abichandani: Reconciliations

On view through March 23, 2008

Having left her home country of India when she was 14 to come to Queens, New York, Jaishri Abichandani knows what it means to reconcile different worlds. She has analyzed her relationship to those worlds through photography, her first medium, by using herself as a subject and then expanding to her family and immediate circle of friends who share her nomadic existence. In Reconciliations, an ongoing series of appropriated images of cities and landscapes culled from the Internet and photoshopped together, Abichandani has transferred the intimacy of her private life and the idiosyncrasies of her vision to the public realm of geopolitics.

Born in Bombay, India, Jaishri Abichandani immigrated to New York City in 1984. She received her Master of Visual Arts Degree from Goldsmiths College, University of London and has continued to intertwine art and activism throughout her career. Abichandani has shown her work work internationally throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean as well as Mérida, Mexico, New Delhi, Mumbai, Cape Town, Zurich, Utrecht, Glasgow, and London. She has also curated a number of exhibitions at the Queens Museum of Art and Exit Art and is the founding director of the South Asian Women's Creative Collective (SAWCC), New York and Asian Women's Creative Collective, London.

Jaishri Abichandani: Reconciliations is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

Back on the Map: Revisiting the New York State Pavilion at the 1964/5 World's Fair

On view through May 4, 2008

The Texaco Road Map is the large-scale terrazzo art pavement commissioned for the New York State Pavilion. Designed by renowned American architect Philip Johnson for the 1964 World's Fair, the Pavilion is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, next door to the Queens Museum of Art (former home of the New York City Pavilion). Commissioned by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the New York State Pavilion featured a complex of structures: a Theaterama building, three observation towers, and the "Tent of Tomorrow," a 12-story, open-air elliptical pavilion capped by the World's largest suspended cable system roof fitted with colored acrylic panels. For the floor of the "Tent of Tomorrow," Johnson commissioned the largest-known representation of any area of the earth's surface: a 130-foot-by-166-foot terrazzo replica of a Texaco New York State road map. A fusion of Pop Art imagery and traditional craft techniques, the map pavement was a crucial component of "The Tent of Tomorrow." In addition to the works of Pop artists Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and others displayed on the exterior of the adjoining Theaterama, the Road Map helped solidify the Pavilion's status as a landmark of 60s avant-garde culture.

Built as a temporary structure for the Fair, the Texaco Road Map along with the Pavilion has suffered from over 30 years of weather exposure and vandalism. This year, however, the Map returns to the spotlight for a long-overdue comeback. Back on the Map aims to inform and engage the public about the significance of this historic gem. A culmination of conservation activities by the City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania School of Design Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, the exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art will features restored sections of the Road Map and elaborate the project findings through text panels and an interactive website. Visitors can also witness the restoration process up close as conservators restore portions of the Road Map in the Museum's galleries.

Back on the Map is supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the School of Design, University of Pennsylvania.

Anthony Auerbach, Empire State Pavilion

On view through May 4, 2008

Anthony Auerbach's installation Empire State Pavilion reflects on one of the most memorable features of the 1964-1965 World's Fair. Like the New York City Pavilion (now home to the Queens Museum of Art), which housed the "Panorama of the City of New York," the New York State Pavilion contained a miniature representation of the whole state in the form of a giant road map inlaid in the terrazzo floor. While the Panorama has been preserved and updated over the years, the terrazzo map became derelict and overgrown.

Adopting techniques of aerial photography–as used by geologists, archaeologists, cartographers and spies–the artist documented the entire surface of the terrazzo map from a height of seven feet. The survey resulted in some 2,500 detailed images of a map in the process of reverting to a landscape. Auerbach's current installation invites the viewer to look–inspect and decipher the material preserved in the artist's photographic archive. The installation comprises 3 works configuring the archive material in different ways: Emperor Panorama, 2007, consisting of 6 light-tables and a stereoscope that magnifies the road map, The State of New York, 2006, a fake projection of the interior of the NYS Pavilion showing the survey in process, and an untitled video projection showing the antique city-states and former colonial capitals such as Troy, Athens and Rome which can be found upstate.

The project speculates on how history is recorded–in traces and inscriptions–and how it is erased. As Auerbach suggests, "The map is memorable because it remained after the rest of the Fair was demolished. Exposed, shattered by frost and colonized by plants, the map marked the time and prompted feelings for the past. Ironically, the first thing the conservators did was sweep away nearly all the history which my survey recorded."

Anthony Auerbach is supported in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Wear Red Day Celebration

Friday, February 1, 4 - 7 pm

Go Red For Women is the American Heart Association's nationwide movement that celebrates the energy, passion and power to band together and wipe out heart disease in women. Both the Panorama and the Unispere will "Go Red." There will be a lecture on heart health and the two winners of the “Art for your Heart” contest will be announced. The event will be followed by a complimentary Heart Healthy Buffet reception.

Presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: The Texaco Road Map of New York State

Sunday, February 3, 1 - 4:30 pm

Please join us for the next installation of the MetLife Foundation Presents First Sundays for Families at QMA. The Museum will host a dynamic family workshop inspired by the Back on the Map exhibition. Families of all ages can join an interactive tour of the Museum's galleries and a demonstration with on-site conservation experts. Participants will then map their own neighborhoods in mosaic as part of an artist-led workshop. A dance workshop, led by dancer Susan Thomasson of City Center, will encourage families to participate in an interactive movement program based on the spaces and rhythms of New York City.

Touchdown Productions presents Bridging the Gap-A Black Tie Poetry Slam

Thursday, February 7, 7 - 9 pm

Bridging the Gap presents poetry by incarcerated felons whose work conveys their feelings of remorse and hope upon returning to society. The poetry will be presented by their family members and friends. This black tie event will be hosted by Power 105.1 radio personality Curt Flirt as well as Columbia recording artist Saigon. It is being sponsored by Power 105, ASIS magazine, and other supporters.

Black History Month & Dominican Heritage Month Screening: Dominican Identity & Migrations to Hispaniola

Friday, February 8, 6 - 8 pm

The Dominco-American Society of Queens presents a film that traces the roots of international migrations to Hispaniola, and reveals how these groups have contributed to the multicultural richness of the Dominican Republic. The film was produced by Hostos Community College Director of Public Relations, Nestor Montilla, commissioned by Ana I. Garcia Reyes, Director of International Programs and Special Assistant to the President for Community Relations, and narrated by Dr. Irma Nicasio, Sociologist and Professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo.
A networking reception will be held from 6 - 7 pm followed by the screening. The director will be present for Q&A. Seating is limited. Please RSVP to the Dominico-American Society of Queens by February 5 at: 718-457-5395, x 5303.

Independence Community Foundation Presents a Chinese New Year Celebration for the Year of the Rat.

Sunday, February 17, 2 - 4 pm

Blue Pipa, Inc. has organized an exciting concert /lecture at the Queens Museum of Art on February 17th at 2 pm featuring three internationally recognized Asian composers and performers: Min Xiao-Fen, Chinese pipa; Ishigure Masayo, Japanese koto; and Yoon Jeong Heo, Korean geomungo. Each of these masters are well known exponents of traditional and modern music. They are brought together for an unforgettable performance that explores the similarities and differences among the music of different Asian cultures.
This project is made possible in part with funds from the Decentralization Program, a grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by the Queens Council on the Arts and Blue Pipa, Inc.Plus enjoy free Chinese arts & crafts workshops and traditional snacks.

NY States of Mind Film Program

Sunday, February 17, 2 - 4 pm

NY States of Mind Film Program: Absolut Warhola (Stanislaw Mucha, Germany 2001, 80 min., German subtitles.)
A docu-comedy traces the roots of Pop Art icon Andy Warhol by taking the viewer through his homeland: the "Ruthenian Bermuda Triangle" where Slovakia, Poland and the Ukraine meet. Winner of the German Film Critics' Association best documentary film of 2001.

The New York States of Mind Film Program was curated by Shaheen Merali and is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.

CINEMAROSA - queens only queer film series presents AfroLens – Celebration of Black History Month: Queer Black Cinema Now

Sunday, February 17, 3 - 6 pm

A lesbian and her grandmother forge a story in Forgiven by Kenya Briggs and a young lawyer discovers a cruel lynching and himself in Strange Fruit by Kyle Schickner. Panel discussion with local Afro-American LGBT group will follow.
For more information, visit CINEMAROSA.

Public Events at the Queens Museum of Art are supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Ford Foundation Partners for Livable Communities, J. M. Kaplan Fund, and Independence Community Foundation.

Back to the top...