QMAil: October 2008

In this ISSUE:

EXHIBITIONS: Reason's Clue | Stephen Talasnik – Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction | OPENING: Erasing Borders 2008: An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora | OPENING: Pedro Meyer: Heresies | CLOSING: Corona Plaza, Center of Everywhere v.2: Four Site-Specific Projects | Jane South: Deceptive Volume (QMA at the Bulova Corporate Center)

EVENTS: MetLife presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: An Eye for Architecture | World's Fair Architecture Walking Tour | Closing Celebration of Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2 | Chasqui Walkathon Event | Opening Reception, Erasing Borders 2008: Passport to Contemporary Indian Art | CINEMAROSA - Queens Only Queer Film Series | UN Day Celebration – Environmental Sustainability

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

October masthead: Hong Hao, Selected Scriptures, page 3085, The New World Political Map (detail), 2000. Silkscreen print, 54 x 78 cm.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Reason's Clue

On view through December 7, 2008

By holding fast to the Reason of the ancients, the present is mastered, and the origin of the past understood. This is called Reason's Clue.
– Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Inspired by the Tao Te Ching, the 6th Century BC text by Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, Reason's Clue focuses on contemporary art that engages the diverse ideas and attitudes about the history and culture of China. Eight artists working in China, Taiwan, and the United States examine the ways in which history reflects on and influences the present. Moving away from the simplistic binaries of past and future, East and West, and negative and positive forces, the works in the exhibition explore fluid interactions and integral structures between the opposites. The artists meld traditional and contemporary sensibilities to render their own understanding of the various subject matter including language, art history, popular culture, archeology, and global politics.

Reason's Clue is curated by Luchia Meihua Lee.

Participating Artists: Cui Fei, Hong Hao, Zhang Hongtu, Michael Cherney, Xu Bing, Tu Wei-Cheng, Lin Ju, and Yang Mao-Lin

Reason's Clue has been made possible through grants from the Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan, R.O.C. in collaboration with Taipei Cultural Center, TECO in New York; Queens Museum of Art Taiwanese Endowment Fund; and Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan.
Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York State Council on the Arts.

Additional exhibition information is available here.

Stephen Talasnik – Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction

On view through November 30, 2008

The Queens Museum of Art proudly presents Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction, an exhibition of Stephen Talasnik's architecturally inspired drawings, on view September 28 through November 30. Including thirteen pieces from Talasnik's Panorama series, measuring up to twelve feet in length, the exhibition captures his trademark use of architectural forms, transforming the monolithic into the intimate, and the structurally complex into the fantastical and futuristic. Installed in the same space as the Museum's Panorama of the City of New York, built as the world's largest architectural scale model for the 1964 World's Fair, the exhibition presents Talasnik's own musings on architecture and design juxtaposed with the model that inspired his artistic career.

Prophecy (detail), 2005-2006. Graphite on paper, 18 x 117 in.

Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction captures Talasnik's affinity for architecture and the future, and also presents the artist's use of the panoramic format. The panorama, whether utilized by painters in the 15th or 16th centuries or more contemporarily by photographers, allows large spaces to be depicted on a more intimate scale. While Talasnik's early panoramic work drew inspiration from the predella panels he encountered while living in Rome, it also grew out of a desire to encapsulate the largest possible space and represent it to the viewer in the smallest possible arena. Where Renaissance painters immortalized massive battle scenes, and 19th and 20th century photographers examined themes such as urban development, Talasnik has used the format to capture the monolithic – urban landscapes, labyrinthine transportation systems and forms from the World's Fair – and present it to viewers as “an exaggerated letterbox in which to envision the spirit of the future and to harness the majestic components of the Utopian landscape.”

Stephen Talasnik, PANORAMA: The Mapping of Prediction is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The exhibition is organized by the Queens Museum of Art. Special thanks to Marlborough Gallery.

Additional exhibition information is available here.

OPENING: Erasing Borders 2008: An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora

Sunday, October 19 – November 19, 2008

Erasing Borders 2008: An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora, a traveling exhibition organized by the Indo-American Arts Council is opening at the Queens Museum of Art after successful showings in California, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Now in its fifth year, this exhibition, curated by Vijay Kumar, presents the work of forty artists who utilize a myriad of styles, mediums and ideologies to express a shared, yet diverse Indian heritage that has been cultivated within the United States. The artists articulate their ideas and visions through conceptual artwork, sculpture, mixed media, abstract and figurative paintings, photo installations, printmaking, photography, drawing and ‘nakhachitra' - the rare art of fingernail relief drawing, representing the breadth and depth of artistic techniques and expressions as a means of erasing borders.

Erasing Borders is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, India Abroad, Rediff, and Nationwide.

OPENING: Pedro Meyer: Heresies

Sunday, October 12 - January 4, 2008

Pedro Meyer's Heresies is a retrospective comprising four decades of work by one of the world's most inventive photographers in the realm of digital photography. The exhibition will open worldwide in 60 museums simultaneously in October 2008. Meyer began his career in the early 1960's, taking pictures on the streets of Mexico City. Since then, he has traveled extensively throughout the world, becoming one of Mexico's premier documentary photographers. In the early 1990's he began experimenting with digital photography and developed the website ZoneZero to host interactive exhibitions that incorporate photographs, sound, video and text. To celebrate the collaborative nature of Meyer's work, the Queens Museum of Art will work with local organizations to produce an exhibition in four installments, each providing a different perspective on the work of this innovative photographer.

This exhibition is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Image: Pedro Meyer, Heresies series, ink-jet print. Collection of Queens Museum of Art.

CLOSING: 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 is curated by Sara Reisman.

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.

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.

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.

Additional exhibition information is available here.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: An Eye for Architecture

Sunday, October 5, 1 - 4:30 pm

This First Sunday, QMA participates in Open House NY, a city-wide celebration of architecture. Play a trivia game in the Panorama of the City of New York, the museum's scale model of NYC where families will test their knowledge of city buildings. In our studios, design a bridge that will take you across the waterways of NYC, and catch a screening of Relive the Wonder a documentary film on the 1964 World's Fair.

World's Fair Architecture Walking Tour

Sunday, October 5, 1 - 3 & 4 - 6 pm

QMA participates in Open House NY, a city-wide celebration of architecture. Join architectural historian John Kriskiewicz on a walking tour of architecture from the 1939 and 1964/ 1965 World's Fairs, including the Panorama of the City of New York, Unisphere, Hall of Science, New York State Pavilion and Terrace on the Park. Meet in front of the gift show. Free.

Closing Celebration of Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere v.2 at Corona Plaza

Sunday, October 12, 3 - 5 pm

(OFFSITE: 103rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue)

The Queens Museum of Art has commissioned four temporary, site-specific artworks in Corona Plaza, just a few blocks away from the Museum's home in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. For this second volume of commissioned projects, QMA has invited Sara Reisman to act as curator. These artworks are part of a larger Heart of Corona Initiative in which the Museum and community partners work together to improve the health of community residents, beautify the neighborhood, and activate the public spaces in the area. Documentation of Artists' projects by Miguel Luciano, Lin+Lam, Mike Estabrook, and vydavy sindikat are featured inside a temporary gallery located inside a Mundanzas (Moving) truck along with slideshows of summer events and performances and screenings of artists' videos. Light refreshments and live mariachi band enliven the experience.

Chasqui Walkathon Event

Sunday, October 19, 7 am - 2 pm

Alianza Ecuatoriana, Inc. plays tribute to Ecuadorian Olympic gold medalist, Jefferson Perez Quezada, Join us for a walkathon around Meadows Lake and enjoy a closing celebration at the Queens Museum of Art with folk music and dance from Ecuador. The route is 6 miles jogging or 3 miles walking. Registration starts at 7:30 am at Ederly Terrace at Meadows Lake at Meadows Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and the race starts at 9 am. For more information about the race, call 347.684.7340.

Opening Reception, Erasing Borders 2008: Passport to Contemporary Indian Art

Sunday, October 19, 3 - 6 pm

Join the Indo-American Arts Council in celebrating the 5th annualErasing Borders exhibition. The touring exhibition curated by Vijay Kumar explores the contributions of artists whose origins can be traced to the Indian Subcontinent. The artists in this exhibition meld Indian and Western colors and forms in many media, namely painting, sculpture, and photography. They will also grapple with diverse subject matter, including: AIDS, poverty, identity as a South Asian living in the post-9/11 world, in addition to their religious, sexual, and ethnic identities.

CINEMAROSA - Queens Only Queer Film Series: Coming Out in Asian Culture

Sunday, October 19, 3 - 6 pm

See Me (Steven Liang, USA, 2006, 8 min)
A coming out story of a Chinese American high school senior written for his traditional immigrant parents. Told by 17 year old Steven Liang, this piece depicts his life from middle school, struggling with his sexuality and identity, to his current life as a self-accepting LGBT activist. This film's presentation is made possible by REACHLA and qteam

Right By Me (Rak Nai Thi Plai Roong) (Thanyatorn Siwanukrow, Thailand, 2005, 100 min)
Three college students in Thailand navigate coming out and first love. In contrast to typical stereotypical depictions of gays in Thai films as clownish, and effeminate, this film features well-rounded, realistic portrayals of young Thai gay men. Screening of this film made possible by Water Bearer Films

Local Asian LGBT organizations will join us in a panel discussion with the audience and light reception to follow. For more information, visit CINEMAROSA.

UN Day Celebration – Environmental Sustainability

Friday, October 24, 6 - 8 pm

Join the United Nations Association - USA - Queens Chapter in celebrating the 63rd Anniversary of the Day that the UN Charter went into effect. An event dedicated to Millennium Development Goal 7: To ensure environmental sustainability. The hour-long documentary film "Global Warming" by Michael Taylor will be shown. Filmed in the U.S., Asia and South America, it focuses on the people who are living with the possibilities and grave consequences of a changing climate. Following the film, there will be a discussion about the obligation of the U.S. to meet the challenge of climate change. The U.S. did not sign the Kyoto Treaty. What can we as citizens do to encourage the U.S. to take the lead in the development of the treaty that will replace Kyoto? Followed by light refreshments.

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.

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