QMAil: December 2008
In this ISSUE:
EXHIBITIONS: Reason's Clue | Stephen Talasnik – Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction | Pedro Meyer: Heresies | UPCOMING: Queens International 4 | Jane South: Deceptive Volume (QMA at the Bulova Corporate Center)
EVENTS: Screening: Tarjeta Roja / Red Card | Andrew Lamb's Morning of the Black Swan | MetLife presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: Celebration in Lights | UNA-Queens Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights | NY Book Fair Reception | Healthy Taste of Corona Cookbook Launch Event | Tradiciones Latinas en Navidad 2008 | CINEMAROSA - Queens Only Queer Film Series
QMA INFORMATION: Permanent Exhibitions | Special Announcements | LEARNING PROGRAMS: Tours & Workshops | Adult Programs | For Seniors | Credits | Subscribe to QMAil
December masthead: Tu Wei-Cheng, Installation view of The Bu Num Civilization at QMA, Queens Museum of Art, 2008, Courtesy Eileen Costa.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Reason's Clue
EXTENDED through January 4, 2009
The title, Reason's Clue, takes its inspiration from the Tao Te Ching, the Taoist classic by the 6th Century BC Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who said "...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." Featuring the work of eight artists from mainland China, Taiwan and the United States - Xu Bing, Michael Cherney, Cui Fei, Hong Hao, Zhang Hongtu, Lin Ju, Yang Mao-Lin and Tu Wei-Cheng - Reason's Clue fills the museum's entire first floor with contemporary Asian art that integrates past and present, as the artists meld traditional and contemporary artistic sensibilities to examine and depict their own understanding of the connection between Chinese and Western culture.
Image: Zhang Hongtu, Kekuo-Kele (Six Pack), 2002, porcelain, actual size, installation view at QMA, Queens Museum of Art, 2008, Courtesy of Eileen Costa.
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.
Now Available - Tours of Reason's Clue, Monday - Friday
Feel like you need further information about a particular artist or work of art? Request a 60-minute tour of Reason's Clue with a Museum Educator and have all your questions answered by our knowledgeable staff. Reduced Rate: $75 for groups of 30 or less
Additional exhibition information is available here.
Stephen Talasnik, Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction
EXTENDED through January 25, 2009
Stephen Talasnik, Panorama: The Mapping of Prediction, presents thirteen architecturally inspired drawings measuring up to twelve feet in length from Talasnik's Panorama series. The exhibition captures his trademark use of architectural forms, transforming the monolithic - urban landscapes, labyrinthine transportation systems and forms from the World's Fair - into the intimate, and the structurally complex into the fantastical and futuristic. In 1964, Talasnik, then a nine year old boy from Philadelphia, was among the millions of people who flocked to Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the World's Fair. There, Talasnik was exposed to a temporary city of pavilions with modern architecture, a futuristic monorail connecting them and a vision for what the coming decades would hold. It was this experience that sparked Talasnik's fascination with futuristic design and in turn has fueled his artistic career. Juxtaposed with the model that inspired him forty-years ago, Talasnik's own musings on architecture and design will be installed in the same space as the museum's Panorama of the City of New York.
Diagrams: Aerial Perspective, 2008, graphite on paper, Courtesy of Marlborough Gallery and artist.
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.
Pedro Meyer: Heresies
On view through January 4, 2009
Pedro Meyer's Heresies is a retrospective exhibition comprising four decades of work by one of the world's most inventive photographers in the realm of digital photography.
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. Meyer's photographs question the limits of truth, fiction and reality.
The exhibition Heresies is simultaneously hosted by 60 institutions worldwide. To celebrate the unique nature of Meyer's work and its exhibition format, the Queens Museum of Art invited eight local community partners initiated by QMA staff educators to make their selection for the QMA presentation.
These selections will be exhibited in multiple installments, each providing a different perspective on the work of this innovative photographer.
December 14 – January 4, 2009
Heart of Corona Initiative
QMA Queens Teens
IMAGE: Virgil on the Greased Pole, Asunción Nochixtlán, Oaxaca, Mexico, 35mm color transparencies digitally modified image, 1991-92, Courtesy the artist. © 1991/92 Pedro Meyer.
This exhibition is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
UPCOMING: Queens International 4
On view January 24 - April 26, 2009
José Ruiz and Erin Sickler, co-curators
QUEENS INTERNATIONAL 4 addresses concepts of internationalism, multiculturalism, and migration from a local standpoint. These global issues provide an impulse for artists to transform rhetoric and theory into earnest gestures that refract social situations through aesthetic means.
In 2002, the Queens Museum of Art inaugurated QUEENS INTERNATIONAL, a biennial exhibition of artists from around the world who live and/or work in Queens. QUEENS INTERNATIONAL addresses concepts of internationalism, multiculturalism, and migration from a local, homespun standpoint. These global issues provide an impulse for artists to transform debate, rhetoric, and theories into earnest forms and gestures that refract and morph this ever-changing phenomenon.
IMAGE: The Anti-Fascist Culture Club, The Undiscovered Atoll of Flushtopia, 2009, actual and virtual interactive installation in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Courtesy of artists.
QUEENS INTERNATIONAL 4, like its predecessors, pays special attention to the borough's emerging artists, and presents viewers with a group of artists who have found alternative methods to work inside and outside of their studios, identities, cultures, and nationalities.
Jane South: Deceptive Volume
On view through February 15, 2009
QMA at the Bulova Corporate Center
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. 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 and what will stand the test of time. Once again confusing the signifiers of strength and frailty, South fools our expectations of what is fleeting and what is real.
IMAGE: Jane South, Untitled (Long Brown/Red), 2007. Hand-cut and folded paper, mixed media. Courtesy of the artist and Spencer Brownstone Gallery.
This program is sponsored by the Blumenfeld Development Group, Ltd. and the Queens Museum of Art.
Additional exhibition information is available here.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Screening: Tarjeta Roja / Red Card
Wednesday, December 3, 7 - 10 pm
Director: Rodolfo Muñoz, Ecuador, 2008, in Spanish with English ST.
This documentary tackles the issues surrounding black football players in Ecuador, and the discrimination and racism they suffer. It features Agustín Delgado Chalá, one of the country's most famous strikers, and his reflections on sport, culture and power. Filmmaker and journalist, Rodolfo Muñoz is currently a reporter for CNN Ecuador.
Andrew Lamb's Morning of the Black Swan concert/multimedia performance
Saturday, December 6, 3 - 5 pm
The critically-acclaimed composer/saxophonist Andrew Lamb, winner of the Queens Council for the Arts Individual Artist Award, will be both performing and conducting a continuous suite consisting of composition, spoken word, spontaneous visual art, movement interpretations, illusion, and the instrumentation of woodwinds, strings, and percussion from indigenous societies, in a multicultural embrace. The piece is laced with the art of freedom and improvisation in a storied framework of unconditional love, trial, tribulation and the blissfulness of peace.
Presents First Sundays for Families at QMA: Celebration in Lights
Saturday, December 7, 1 - 4:30 pm
As we usher in the holiday season, please join us for Celebration in Lights, as we explore how light is used to celebrate the holidays in different cultures. Create light installations, listen to music from around the world, and share delicious international holiday treats. Children 5 and up with their adult companions, Free.
UNA-Queens Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Wednesday, December 10, 6 - 8 pm
Screening of the documentary For Everyone, Everywhere: The Making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which outlines the historical events that led up to the development of the UDHR such as the failure of the League of Nations, the holocaust, the collapse of the Third Reich, and FDR's Four Freedoms. The video also explores some early instances where the Declaration was violated such as the Khmer Rouge killings in Cambodia, as well as is success in ending apartheid in South Africa. The screening will be followed by remarks by Tarique Farooqui who has had a distinguished career at the UN holding posts such as Unique Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, and later in Vietnam, and most recently in Sudan. Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to MShan4037@aol.com
NY Book Fair Reception (Spanish Language Program)
Thursday, December 11, 5 - 8 pm
Join the cocktail reception for NY Book Fair presenting new books by five Latin American authors: Marilla Waite Freeman's The Theory of Play / La teoría del juego, Jacqueline Donado's Willets Point – El Jardín de las Cenizas / Willets Point – The Garden of Ashes, Alex Lima's Poemario / Poetry, Jorge Ivan Mora's Viajeros del Olvido /Travelers of Forgiveness, and Dora Przybylek's Luna Llena / Full Moon. For More information email: newyorkbookfairexpo@gmail.com or visit newyorkbookfairexpo.com
Healthy Taste of Corona Cookbook Launch Event
Sunday, December 14, 3 - 6 pm
The Healthy Taste of Corona Cookbook includes over 30 recipes collected from restaurants, elected officials, and community-based organizations in the Heart of Corona Initiative. It showcases traditional foods from a variety of countries reflecting the diversity of cultures in the neighborhood, while at the same time updating the recipes to make them healthier. Join us for food tastings and cultural performances to celebrate the publication of the book and the cultural vibrancy of Corona.
Tradiciones Latinas en Navidad 2008 (Spanish Language Holiday Program)
Thursday - Tuesday, December 18 - 23
Join the Latino Tourism Chamber of Commerce in a week-long celebration of the different Christmas traditions throughout Latin America featuring music, dance, and food.
Schedule of Events:
Thursday, December 18, 5 - 9 pm:
Peru, Guatemala, and Chile sponsored by Latin American Immigrant Alliance
Friday, December 19, 5 - 9 pm:
Cuba and Puerto Rico sponsored by American Heart Association
Saturday, December 20, 5 - 9 pm:
España and Ecuador sponsored by Casa Ecuatoriana
Sunday, December 21, 5 - 9 pm:
Republica Dominicana
Monday, December 22, 5:30 – 9:30 pm:
México sponsored by Parents in Action
Tuesday, December 23, 12 - 6 pm:
Colombia and Latinos in the United States followed by gifts for children
CINEMAROSA - Queens Only Queer Film Series: Responding to AIDS
Sunday, December 21, 3 - 6 pm
Out In India: A Family's Journey (Tom Keegan, 2008, 71 min.)
When UCLA arts professor David Gere gets a Fulbright Fellowship to live in India for six months to organize a conference of Indian artists doing AIDS-related work, he accepts. So with his partner Peter Carley and their two small children, he travels halfway around the globe to Bangalore. Far from the manicured lawns of Los Angeles, they find themselves immersed in a culture where sex and homosexuality are not openly discussed, same-sex parents are unheard of, and people with HIV suffer from prejudice and stigma.
The Test/La Prueba (Diego Torres, Spain, 2007, 9 min.)
While living in Spain, Bolivian documentary filmmaker Torres, recounts the life of a 34 year old man, Alex, who after being diagnosed HIV+ must adapt to the medical treatments and his new life regime.
Join us for a Q&A session with filmmakers Diego Torres, artists and representatives of AIDS Center of Queens County. Everyone is also invited to visit the exhibition FRAMING AIDS 2008 and its closing reception. 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.
QMA INFORMATION
Location
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens NY 11368
TEL: 718 592 9700
WINTER Hours
Wednesday – Friday: 10 - 5 pm
Saturday – Sunday: noon – 5 pm
Closed Monday & Tuesday
With the exception of Learning Programs & Workshops
Admission
Admission is by suggested donation. Adults: $5
Senior and Children: $2.50
Members and Children
under five: Free
Unisphere Café
Open every weekend — featuring small plates, sushi, desserts and beverages. Lunch with a view of the Unisphere.
PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS
The Panorama of the City of New York
A perennial favorite of all who have visited the museum, the Panorama of the City of New York originally commissioned by Robert Moses for the 1964 World's Fair, is the largest architectural scale model in the world. At 9,335 square feet, it includes the 320 square miles and 895,000 buildings that comprise the city. With a scale of 1 inch:1200 feet, the Panorama offers a truly unique view of the five boroughs, one that has left the six million people who have seen it in awe. As the lights fade and night falls on New York, viewers can experience the unique view of the city at night, with the city's streets glowing with activity.
Aerial view of the Panorama of the City of New York at QMA, Queens Museum of Art, 2008, Courtesy of Nicholas Biondo.
A Watershed Moment: Celebrating the Homecoming of The New York City Water Supply Model
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 QMA). After nearly 70 years in storage, 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.
Installation shot of A Watershed Moment: Celebrating the Homecoming of the Relief Map of the New York City Water Supply System at QMA, Queens Museum of Art, 2008, Courtesy of Eileen Costa.
Tiffany: The Glass
This installation of Tiffany glass from the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass is the first to focus solely on the flat sheets of opalescent glass Louis C. Tiffany used to create the spectacular leaded windows and lamps for which he is best known. Tiffany: The Glass delves into some of his explorations into the replication of flower petals, autumn foliage, sunsets and even angels' wings.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
QMA Awarded...
We are thrilled to announce two of the Museum's education programs received prestigious awards this year:
At a White House ceremony this Fall, the Queens Teens Program was presented the Coming Up Taller Award by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. One of only 18 awardees from around the globe, the exemplary Queens Teens program was recognized for providing learning opportunities for young people outside of the regular school day. We are thrilled to celebrate the outstanding Teens for their creativity, commitment and contribution to their communities. Through a combination of structured after-school activities throughout the school year and weekend work assignments, students develop a comprehensive understanding of museum education, art interpretation, curatorial process and cultural administration. As ambassadors for the Museum's Educational and Public programs, their work is invaluable. Congratulations Queens Teens!
Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). The President's Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to administer the program.
This summer our ArtAccess program received the Mayor's Award to commemorate the 18-year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This prestigious award, bestowed on individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to increasing accessibility for people with disabilities. Launched in 1983 as Please Touch to provide art education for the visually impaired, ArtAccess has since grown into a nationally reproduced model program designed to allow audiences with diverse abilities to enjoy a personal connection to works of art. We are delighted that such a valued program has received deserved recognition acknowledging our ongoing commitment to working with children and adults with varying abilities.
Call for Artists
QMA at Bulova Corporate Center
The Queens Museum of Art seeks exhibition proposals both from New York artists for one-person exhibitions and from independent curators for either one-person or group exhibitions to be held at the Museum's satellite gallery at Bulova Corporate Center in Jackson Heights, Queens.
QMA at Bulova Corporate Center (75-20 Astoria Boulevard, Jackson Heights, NY 11370) presents three changing exhibitions each year.
More information is available here.
QMA to Expand
On October 4, 2006, the QMA released the highly anticipated architectural designs for the expansion project that will more than double the size of the museum and signal a new phase in the institution's history. The design, conceived by Grimshaw Architects with prime consultant Ammann & Whitney, allows the museum to occupy the whole of the New York City Building, thereby providing an additional 50,000 square feet of space for galleries, flexible public and special event venues, education studios, back-of-house facilities and visitor amenities. In addition, the design enhances the museum's visibility and its connection to the physical environment and community in which it is situated.
Click here to view additional information on the museum's expansion project.
Interested in volunteering at the museum?
The Museum Shop needs assistance Monday - Friday between 9 am - 5 pm. Please call Betty at 718.592.9700 x238 for more details.
LEARNING PROGRAMS
TOURS & WORKSHOPS
New!-Weekday Tours
Tours of QMA's Permanent and Changing Exhibitions in English and Spanish
Feel like you need further information about a particular artist or work of art? Request a 60-minute tour of any of our permanent and/or current exhibitions with a Museum Educator and have all your questions answered by our knowledgeable staff. Reduced Rate: $75 for groups of 30 or less.
Weekend Tours
Sundays, December 7 - 28, 2, 3 and 4 pm
Free, one-hour public tours in English and Spanish of the Panorama of the City of New York and changing exhibitions of art.
Drop-In Art Workshops for Families: French Impressionist Chinese Landscapes
Designed to develop creative art skills, these hands-on art workshops allow participants to explore materials and themes found in our current exhibitions. Don't miss out on the fun as we make images that explore the thoughts and ideas behind the great landscape painters of China's past, and examine the use of light and color from a French Impressionist perspective. Children with special needs are welcome, adaptations available. Spanish instruction is available. Seating is limited and available on a first come first serve basis.
Sunday, December 14, 2008, 1:30 - 4:30 pm
Children 5 and up with their adult companions, Free.
FOR ADULTS
Free Studio Workshops for Adults with Special Needs
ArtACCESS is a unique program offered by the QMA designed specifically for adult visitors with special needs. Visitors to the ArtACCESS Open Studio program will explore the museum's exhibitions through sculpture, printing, collage, painting, drawing and other appropriate media. Adults with special needs and their families can participate. Pre-registration required and each session is limited to 20 participants. Please call 718.592.9700 x138 to register.
Sundays, December 7 & 21:
noon - 12:45 pm: Session 1
1 - 1:45 pm: Session 2
FOR SENIORS
The Looking Series: Looking at the Purposes of Art
Why is art made? What impels an individual to create an image in stone, wood or on paper? At the heart of the art-making process are a number of incentives. Art can be spiritual, function as a document, present social or political commentary, serve as an outlet for expression, offer escapism (to both maker and viewer) or an opportunity for invention of some process or method. We examine a few of these motivations, in chronological order, and try to understand not just "what" we are seeing but "why" it was done in the first place.
The Looking Series is organized by Miriam Brumer, former Coordinator of Adult Programs at the Queens Museum of Art and a practicing artist.
Thursdays, QMA Theatre, 2 - 3 pm, $5 per session - free for members.
Thursday, December 4: Art as Escapism
Thursday, December 11: Art as Process
Thursday, December 18: Art as Popular Consumption
The Film Series: Behind the Mask
This film series, features ten memorable movies whose plots include characters that sustain elaborate deceptions. Viewers will explore with guest moderator, Mark Ethan, the collusion between the deceiver and a public ready to applaud skillful manipulation.
Mark Ethan, a member of the Actors Studio, has appeared in films including The Secret Lives of Dentists, The Confession and Lesser Prophets. He has presented numerous film series at the 92nd Street Y's Makor, and Flushing Town Hall. Films courtesy of Columbia University's Film Division.
QMA Theatre, 2 pm - free admission.
Monday, December 1
The Hoax (Lasse Hallstrom, 2006, 116 min.)
Richard Gere shines in the entertaining and true story of forger Clifford Irving, who claimed to be the official biographer of Howard Hughes.
Monday, December 8
Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990, 138 min.)
Gerard Depardieu brings a flamboyant poignancy to the title role of Edmond Rostand's classic play.
Monday, December 15
The Return of Martin Guerre (Daniel Vigne, 1982, 111 min.)
Gerard Depardieu stars in the true story of a l6th-century peasant returning from war after many years: is he an impostor?
Monday, December 22
The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940, 97 min.)
In this classic comedy, James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play bickering co-workers who don't realize they are lonely pen pals.
Senior Programs at the QMA are supported in part by The City of New York Department for the Aging, NYC Councilmembers Melinda Katz and David Weprin, and Lehman Brothers.
Educational Programs at the Queens Museum of Art are supported in part by Altman Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, The City of New York Department for the Aging, New York City Councilmembers Eric Gioia, Melinda Katz, and David Weprin, John H. and Ethel G. Noble Charitable Trust, MetLife Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Citi Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Consolidated Edison, Walter Kaner Children's Foundation, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Michael Tuch Foundation, Lehman Brothers, Astoria Federal Savings.
CREDITS
The Queens Museum is housed in the New York City Building, which is owned by the City of New York. With the assistance of the Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and the New York City Council, the Museum is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Institute of Museum and Library Services, City of New York Department for the Aging, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, New York State Legislature, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Major
funding is also provided by the Altman Foundation, Ford Foundation
Partners for Livable Communities, Carnegie Corporation of New York,
Deutsche Bank Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, John H. and Ethel G.
Noble Charitable Trust, J. M. Kaplan Fund, PepsiCo Inc., MetLife
Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Silvercup Studios,
Independence
Community Foundation, Citi Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, The
Greenwall Foundation, The Scherman Foundation, Inc., Madison National
Bank, Werwaiss Properties Company, American Express, Dominick and Rose
Ciampa Foundation, Commerce Bank, Roslyn Savings Foundation, The Barker
Welfare Foundation, Crystal Foundation, Goldman Sachs & Co., Hughes
Hubbard & Reed LLP, Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, Pfizer Inc.,
Mathis-Pfohl Foundation, The New York Times Company Foundation,
Consolidated Edison, Goode Realty Co., The Shops at Atlas Park, Altria
Group, Inc., Blumenfeld Development Group, Ltd., Walter Kaner
Children's
Foundation, UBS, Cowles Charitable Trust, Merill Lynch, Milton and
Sally
Avery Arts Foundation, Consolidated Edison, Colgate-Palmolive Company,
Lehman Brothers, Michael Tuch Foundation, Astoria Federal Savings,
QMA's
Board of Directors and our members.
The QMA is proud to be a Cultural Arts Partner of WNYC Radio.
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