QMAil: August 2008

In this ISSUE:

EXHIBITIONS: The Gift 2008 | A Watershed Moment: Celebrating the Homecoming of The New York City Water Supply Model | The Real Pepsi Challenge: Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business | Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere v.2: Four Site-Specific Projects | Jane South: Deceptive Volume (QMA at the Bulova Corporate Center)

EVENTS: Passport Fridays 2008 [China, Ecuador, India & Mexico!] | Opening Reception for Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2: Four Site-Specific Projects and The Gift 2008 | MetLife presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: QMA Out and About: An Exploration of Site-Specific Art | Festival Diversidad Boliviana | Music Without Borders Festival / Festival "Música Sin Fronteras" | CINEMAROSA - Queens Only Queer Film Series | Corona Plaza Street Festival (offsite)

QMA INFORMATION: Permanent Exhibitions | Special Announcements | Learning Programs & Workshops | Credits | Subscribe to QMAil

August masthead: Miguel Luciano, Pimp My Piragua, 2008, pushcart prototype (Puerto Rico Schwinn Club at left), Mixed-media installation with color video with sound.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

The Gift 2008

On view through September 7, 2008

Traditionally museums have been defined by what they collect. The generosity of collectors, artists, and friends through the years has endowed the Queens Museum of Art with art work of both contemporary and historical significance that have reshaped our collection. What was once a collection known primarily for the ever-popular Panorama of the City of New York and artifacts from the two New York World’s Fairs is now, thanks to recent acquisitions, a vibrant body of work that corresponds to the Museum’s focus on our community, the borough of Queens, and the world beyond.

The fresh additions to the QMA vary in medium, style, and the artists’ biographies. Collectively, however, the works delineate a series of terrains with specific references to states of cultural fusion, legacies of city planning, and stories of immigration. What emerges is a portrait of people, communities, and cultures defined by the spaces and places they engage.

Participating Artists – The Gift 2008
Mark Dion
Jean Barberis and Alexis Lautier (Flux Factory)
Albert Bierstadt
Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao
Andrew Moore
Dulce Pinzón
Seher Shah
and
Ernest Concepcion

The Gift 2008 is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.
Photo: Andrew Moore, Pool, 2005; Crotona Pool, East Tremont, Bronx; from the Robert Moses series; inkjet print; gift of the artist.

A Watershed Moment: Celebrating the Homecoming of The New York City Water Supply Model

On long term view

In 1937, New York City was in preparation for the 1939's World's Fair, the first of two in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. To celebrate the immense and intricate inner-workings of the City, various agencies were invited to produce exhibitions for the New York City Pavilion (now the Queens Museum of Art). The Board of Water Supply (today's Department of Environmental Protection) commissioned the Cartographic Survey Force of the Works Progress Administration to create a magnificent scale model of the New York City watershed, a relief map measuring almost 700 square feet and weighing 10,000 pounds. Tracing the City's water supply system from the outermost, upstream tributaries of the Delaware River to sea level at the Nassau County line, the watershed model identified the various aqueducts, water shafts and drainage basins that feed the City's water supply.

Due to space limitations within the New York City Pavilion, the model was never exhibited in its entirety. After nearly 70 years in storage, the 27 completed panels were in desperate need of conservation. Through a collaboration between The Queens Museum of Art and the Department of Environmental Protection, the plaster and wood relief map was sent to McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Lab in Oberlin, Ohio for one year of treatment. In time for its 70th anniversary, the model has been restored to its original brilliance and returns to its intended home in the New York City Building where it will remain on long-term loan. In celebration, the QMA and DEP will commemorate this momentous homecoming with an exhibition featuring the model, historic documentation, and contemporary photographs of the New York City watershed.

Conservation of the New York City Watershed Model was executed by MaKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory, Inc. (Oberlin, OH).
Funding for the conservation was provided by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Real Pepsi Challenge: Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business

On view through September 7, 2008

Years before the official Civil Rights Movement galvanized countless Americans, the Pepsi Corporation boldly took steps to integrate corporate America from as early as 1940. Based on Stephanie Capparell's groundbreaking book, THE REAL PEPSI CHALLENGE: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business, (Wall Street Journal Books/Free Press) this exhibit showcases the plight of some of the first African-Americans to hold professional corporate jobs in this country. Pepsi-Cola CEO Walter S. Mack headed the call of the black leadership of the day and hired an all-black sales team to sell his cola to American blacks. To pull the first sales team together-two men and a woman-for his then-fledgling business, he hired a black sales manager and invented the concept of the business internship as we know it today.

Pepsi's black sales team members were traveling salesmen in the time of Jim Crow segregation laws, which forced them to sit at the back of buses, travel in separate train cabins, eat behind screens on trains, and find hotels and restaurants that would serve them. In its effort to exploit the untapped special market (some 30 years before niche marketing became a business staple), the team hired some of the first professional black models and designed some of the first advertisements to portray blacks as middle-class citizens enjoying the American Dream. In 1992, team member, Harvey C. Russell, became the first African-American promoted to vice-president in a major corporation. Today, in the new millennium, PepsiCo's female CEO is India-born Indra Nooyi.

The exhibit includes a variety of photographs from the private collections of special-markets team members; dozens of Pepsi black-media advertisements from the era; interview transcripts taken from close to 100 hours of voice interviews with seven surviving team members; pages from black weekly newspapers, photocopied from microfilm; and an array of color and black-and-white prints depicting corporate events, meetings and team members then and now.

The exhibition is based on the book, The Real Pepsi Challenge (Wall Street Journal Books/Free Press) by Stephanie Capparell.
THE REAL PEPSI CHALLENGE is funded by PepsiCo Inc., and The Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. Additional support provided by NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere v.2: Four Site-Specific Projects

On view through October 12, 2008

Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere v.2: Four Site-Specific Projects is a group of four public, site-specific and temporary artworks commissioned by the Queens Museum of Art as part of "The Heart of Corona," a larger initiative conceived to assist members of the Corona community by offering health resources and beautification projects, and activating the area's public spaces. Together, these four artworks recognize the beauty and possibilities that can be found daily life, while highlighting the importance of the Museum's relationship to the broader community.

Installed in various locations around the neighborhood and expanded upon here in the Museum, Center of Everywhere hones in on visual and experiential subjectivities of community life. Personal narratives are the starting point of both Lin+Lam's Unisex and Mike Estabrook's The Adventures of La Coronita. While both begin with a survey format, Lin+Lam focus on local artists, specifically hair dressers, barbers, and stylists, and Estabrook's series of videos and comics is scripted by individuals from a range of community organizations. Miguel Luciano's Pimp my Piragua captures the fantastic story of a day in the life of a pushcart vendor who sells shaved ice, a metaphor for bling culture and the accumulation of wealth. Working with an entirely different transparent material is vydavy sindikat whose Spectacle Path distorts visual information through the use of Fresnel lenses arranged on storefronts and other architectural details of the neighborhood.

Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2 is made possible with funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and Ford Foundation. Additional support provided by community partners in the Heart of Corona Initiative, participating businesses hosting artist projects, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

Corona Plaza Center of Everywhere is curated by Sara Reisman. Photo: Mike Estabrook, The Adventures of La Coronita, 2008, video still.

On view at the QMA at the Bulova Corporate Center: Jane South: Deceptive Volume

Sunday, August 10 - November 2, 2008

Informed by a Do-It-Yourself spirit, Jane South’s structures come from a combination of ample patience and basic engineering know-how. When her early use of industrial materials gave way to the more modest mediums of tape, balsa wood, and paper, South created a new language for exploring urban forms. Neither simply drawing nor sculpture, her constructions play on our sense of depth and perspective, their spindly shadows revealing an underlying fragility. Using the delicate flatness of paper to mimic the apparent solidity of architectural, technological, and industrial forms, they question things we take for granted–what is tenuous and what is substantial, what will perish in and what will stand the test of time.

Evoking pylons, cranes, satellite dishes, and subway platforms, South’s structures suggest the industrial landscapes of both her birthplace of Manchester, England and of DUMBO, Brooklyn, where she currently resides. Her overlaid lattices, convex and concave basins, and cross-hatched shapes mimic the manufactured world. Like quotations of the city, they reflect more closely the way we actually experience our environment, in sections and snippets rather than as an overall whole.

From a distance, thousands of hand-painted lines give South’s relief sculptures the impression of solidity. On closer inspection, however, their resemblance to industrial devices falls away. Clinging to the wall by paper hooks and straight pins, these machines are incapable of producing anything. Like the fantastical devices invented by cartoonists Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson–incredibly complex contraptions designed to produce almost nothing–their output is questionable at best. Complicating the distinction between handmade and industrial, South’s apparatuses subtly examine our relentless desire to produce.

South’s freestanding sculptures reveal an opposite aspiration–to cage and contain. Whether they call to mind a cash register, slot machine or prison, these exploded forms appear to have tremendous weight. Like the overgrown versions of her smaller grids and radiuses, they push South’s folded-and-cut-paper technique to its physical limits. But their substance–or menace–is an illusion, contradicted by tenuous materials and indefinite meanings. Once again confusing the signifiers of strength and frailty, South fools our expectations of what is fleeting and what is real.

This program is sponsored by the Blumenfeld Development Group, Ltd. and the Queens Museum of Art.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Opening Reception for Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2: Four Site-Specific Projects and The Gift 2008

Sunday, August 3, 3 - 8 pm

OPENING FESTIVITIES

The Gift 2008: Building a Collection for the Queens Museum of Art
3 pm: Gallery tour with Director of Exhibitions, Hitomi Iwasaki, followed by refreshments

Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2: Four Site-Specific Projects
5 pm: Meet in the Project Space at the Queens Museum of Art for gallery chat with curator Sara Reisman and participating artists and hop on shuttle bus to Corona Plaza for walking tours.
5:30 – 6 pm: Walking tours of projects in the community with curator and artists, starting at Corona Plaza, National St. & Roosevelt Ave.
6 – 8 pm: Opening Reception at Corona National Community Center at 40-10 National St., 2nd Floor (Near Roosevelt Ave.) Catering provided by Paradise Distributors.

Presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: QMA Out and About: An Exploration of Site-Specific Art

Sunday, August 3, 1 - 4:30 pm

Sponsored by MetLife Foundation, First Sundays for Families at the QMA are designed to engage participants of all ages in a fun and unique array of free, family-friendly activities on the first Sunday of every month. In conjunction with the opening of Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2 family activities will focus on public and site-specific art. Learn about works of art that are made to respond to particular places and spaces through an illustrated talk. Each family then receives materials and a specific location in the museum to make their own site-specific artwork, culminating in an "opening reception" to share the work with museum visitors. Then hop on a shuttle bus to explore newly commissioned public art works in the exhibition Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2.

Festival Diversidad Boliviana - Segunda Celebración Cultural por la Independencia Boliviana (Spanish Language Program)

Sunday, August 3, 3 - 7 pm

Segunda celebración anual cultural en conmemoración de la Independencia de Bolivia se llevará a cabo en El Museo de Arte de Queens, incluye la proyección de la galardonada película dirigida por el cineasta Fernando Vargas Villazón 'DI BUEN DÍA A PAPÁ', (Sin subtítulos en Inglés) la presentación del grupo folklórico KHANA con una muestra viva de la música andina, propiamente aymara, la interpretación del cuerpo de baile del Centro Cultural Khana, y exposición de textiles realizados en lana de alpaca y llama creados por mujeres indígenas aymaras.

Este evento a sido organizado por la promotora cultural boliviana Zoraya Asturizaga. El programa cuenta con el apoyo incondicional de Nación Cine, desde Bolivia, Comite Civico Cultural Boliviano y a Frankier de la Organizacion Condor -Llama. Agradecimientos especiales al Museo de Arte de Queens, QMA, Metro Plus, productos Goya y a Hector Canonge, artista de nuevos medios.

Music Without Borders Festival / Festival "Música Sin Fronteras"

Saturday, August 16, 1 – 4 pm

An outdoor showcase for the true diversity of Latin American music, beyond salsa and merengue. The participating bands, including R-Tronika, Sweet Electra, Heladeras de Frape, and Nutria, embrace alternative genres such as rock and electronic music. Join us in creating an inclusive space for cultural and musical exchange for the entire family. Also, as part of this event we have invited community organizations such as New Immigrant Community Empowerment, Restaurant Opportunities Center of NY, The Door, In Our Hearts, and Food Not Bombs to share information about their services.

CINEMAROSA - Queens Only Queer Film Series

Sunday, August 17, 3 - 5 pm

Key West, City of Colors (Talmadge Heyward, USA, 2005, 64 min)
On this amazing island only 90 miles from Cuba, this very diverse community celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Rainbow Flag by stretching the longest Rainbow Flag in history -- 8000 feet in all —from one end of the island to the other. This film is as unique as the city of Key West. In what is a recurring theme in Key West, a group of local citizens saw a vision and came together to finance this project. Not with an eye towards profit, but because they felt Key West had a story to tell. All proceeds from this film go towards the building of a gay and lesbian community center and visitor center.

For more information, visit CINEMAROSA.

Corona Plaza Street Festival (offsite)

Saturday, August 23, 12 - 6 pm

Celebration in Corona Plaza (event location: 103rd St. 7 Train Station), featuring live music, dances, art-making workshops, and giveaways. Plus free health evaluations, health insurance sign-ups, and immigrant services.

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...