Michael McConnell, Slings 1, courtesy of the artist.

Tonight: Group opening at Jancar Jones Gallery in SF- Justin Beal, Lena Daly & Kate Owens. 6-9pm.

Artist Mark Dion presents a lecture about his work around scientific presentation and methodologies. Timken Hall at CCA, SF campus. 7-9pm. Free.

Friday, October 16th: Michael McConnell’s Slings and Arrows opens at Gallery BellJar in SF. 6-9pm. 

HYPERSPACES group opening at Park Life in SF: new works by Sean Mcfarland, Paul Wackers, David Kasprzak, Orion Shepherd, and James Sterling Pitt. 7-10pm

Cutters, an exhibition of international collage curated by James Gallagher, opens at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn. 7-10pm

Saturday October 17th: The newly renovated El Museo del Barrio celebrates its grand reopening with free admission and a day of music and activities. 11am-9pm.

The grand opening of SF’s contemporary art space Southern Exposure in its new location, with an inaugural exhibition, Bellwether. 4-10pm

Sunday, October 18th: artist Tamar Hirschl will hold an open studio event as part of Chelsea’s High Line Open Studios event, featuring tours of more than 100 artists’ workspaces in the center of New York’s gallery district.

Monday, October 19th: The Berkeley Center for New Media and SFMOMA  presents From A to B and Back Again, a photo and video presentation by artist Candice Breitz. 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley, 7:30-9pm. Free.

Wednesday, October 21st: International curators Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Jens Hoffmann, Hou Hanru, and Dominic Willsdon participate in a panel discussion at the SF Art Institute on Global Art in the Downturn. 7:30pm. Free.

Tags: BellJar, Bellwether, Candice Breitz, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, CCA, Cinders, Cutters, David Kasprzak, Dominic Willsdon, El Museo del Barrio, From A to B and Back Again, Gallery, Global Art in the Downturn, grand opening, High Line, Hou Hanru, James Gallagher, James Sterling Pitt, Jancar Jones, Jens Hoffmann, Justin Beal, Kate Owens, lecture, Lena Daly, Mark Dion, Michael McConnell, open studios, Orion Shepherd, Park Life, Paul Wackers, Sean Mcfarland, SF MoMA, SFAI, Southern Exposure, Tamar Hirschl, UC Berkeley.

Daniel Salemi, Ikea vs. Beuer, 2009, c-print. Courtesy of Kris Graves Projects.

Not able to see Swoon’s Swimming Cities, or Bruce Nauman’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale in person this year? Well, you could opt to visit what is being touted as the Biennale’s “largest pavilion” here, or just take advantage of an abundance of homegrown activities this weekend and beyond:

TONIGHT: Honey Space hosts a benefit and celebration for Swoon’s Swimming Cities of Serenissima, with a silent auction that includes works by many of the artists on the boats’ crew, and a raffle for original artwork by Swoon and Thomas Beale. 7-9pm, $10 admission.

Artists Daniel Salemi and Austin Thomas have concurrent openings of their work tonight in the main and project spaces of Kris Graves Projects. Salemi’s photographs and Thomas’ drawings and collages share an affinity for architectural forms. 6-9pm

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in SF presents Big Idea Night, featuring the delicious stylings of Mission Street Food. 9pm-3am. FREE, RSVP recommended.

Friday June 5th: Varnish Gallery hosts a party to raise awareness about eminent domain issues with guests Jello Biafra, Matt Gonzalez, etc. The gallery is one of over 30 local businesses and residences being evicted by a San Francisco city agency under the property law. 7-Midnight, 21+. Free.

Saturday June 6th: As part of Michael Cataldi and Nils Norman’s The University of Trash at Sculpture Center in Long Island City, guest artists McKendree Key and the neuroTransmitter collective have been invited to give public courses at the museum. Key will teach a family workshop on making recycled paper and paper-pulp sculptures, and neuroTransmitter will lead a radio transmitter building workshop. 1pm. Courses available with $5 admission to museum. ($25 materials fee and a reservation for the transmitter class is recommended.)

Your last chance to see Sophie Calle (and 107 other women)’s collaborative breakdown of a breakup, Take Care of Yourself at Paula Cooper Gallery.

Saturday & Sunday, June 6th & 7th: Oakland’s Pro Arts Gallery presents the 2009 East Bay Open Studios. Over 400 artists exhibit their work this weekend and the weekend of June 14th-15th. Visit site for more info.

Sunday June 7: The Exploratorium hosts a talk, reception and book signing by scholar Edward Shanken, author of the new book Art and Electronic Media, interviewed by arts commentator Dorka Keehn. Innovative Bay Area electronics artists Lynn Hershman Leeson, Paul DeMarinis, Ken Goldberg, Jim Campbell, Survival Research Labs, and Alan Rath are among the over 200 artists featured in Shanken’s book. 3pm. Free with Exploratorium admission.

Monday June 8th: David Byrne will perform a selection of music created with Brian Eno at the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of BRIC Art’s Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. Other performers this summer include Femi Kuti, Blonde Redhead, Big Daddy Kane and They Might Be Giants. 8pm, gates open at 6:30pm. FREE, first come first served.

Tags: Alan Rath, artists, auction, Austin Thomas, benefit, Big Idea Night, Brian Eno, BRIC Arts, Bruce Nauman, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Daniel Salemi, David Byrne, Dorka Keehn, East Bay Open Studios, Edward Shanken, eminent domain, Exploratorium, festival, Honey Space, Internet Pavilion, Jello Biafra, Jim Campbell, Ken Goldberg, Kris Graves Projects, Matt Gonzalez, McKendree Key, Michael Cataldi, Miltos Manetas, Mission Street Food, Nils Norman, Oakland, paper, Paul DeMarinis, Paula Cooper Gallery, Prospect Park Bandshell, radio transmitter, Rafael Rozendaal, recycled, Sculpture Center, Sophie Calle, Survival Research Labs, Swimming Cities of Serenissima, Swoon, Take Care of Yourself, University of Trash, Varnish Gallery, Venice Biennale, workshop, Yerba Buena Center,  Art and Electronic Media,  Lynn Hershman Leeson,  neuroTransmitter.

In celebration of the extraordinary range of artistic expression in the Muslim world, Asia Society, BAM, and New York University Center for Dialogues proudly present Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas. Muslim artists and speakers from as far away as Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and as near as Brooklyn will gather for an unprecedented ten-day festival and conference, offering New York audiences the opportunity to experience the cultural diversity and multiple perspectives that represent the Muslim world.

Official festival events will take place at the Asia Society, BAM, and the American Museum of Natural History, with a 2-day, 150-vendor outdoor souk at BAM during the opening weekend. There will be related events and programming around the city and on public television at WNET Channel THIRTEEN, and in celebration, the Empire State Building and Brooklyn Borough Hall will be lit green from June 5—7.  

Our top picks include:

Thursday, May 21st (Festival Partner Event): The Seen and the Hidden: (Dis)covering the Veil- 14 contemporary artists from the Middle East, Europe, and New York, including celebrated graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, present approaches to the ideas that surround both the literal and metaphorical meaning of the veil. Opening reception from 6-8pm at the Austrian Cultural Forum. Free, through August 29th.

Friday, June 5th: Opening reception for New York Masjid: The Mosques of New York City. Photographer Edward Grazda and CUNY Professor of Architecture Jerrilynn R. Dodds not only documented the mosques and analyzed their architectural forms, but conducted interviews with community members, revealing an alternative image of American Islam in the process. Natman Room at BAM’s Peter Jay Sharp Building, though June 28th.

Monday, June 8th: Shirin Neshat presents a rare screening of Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad’s landmark short film The House Is Black (1962), which has had a profound influence on the New Wave in Iranian cinema as well as Neshat’s work. Neshat will also screen excerpts of her own films. At BAMcafé. 7pm, $10 ($5 for members), reception follows. 

Friday, June 12th & Saturday, June 13th: BAMcafé Live presents contemporary Muslim musicians in concert- Brahim Fribgane and zerobridge perform on Friday night, and Saturday night features global hip-hop by Muslim-American artists such as Dr. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Kenny Muhammad The Human Orchestra, and Nihan Devecioglu, selected by the fantastic beatboxer and composer Adam Matta. 9:30pm both nights, FREE.

Tags: Adam Matta, American Museum of Natural History, artists, Asia Society, Austrian Cultural Forum, BAM, BAMcafe, beatbox, Brahim Fribgane, Brooklyn, concert, Dr. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Edward Grazda, Forough Farrokhzad, Iran, Islam, Kenny Muhammad The Human Orchestra, Marjane Satrapi, mosques, Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas, New York Masjid, Nihan Devecioglu, Shirin Neshat, souk, The House Is Black, The Seen and the Hidden: (Dis)covering the Veil, zerobridge.

Emma Wilcox, Eminent Domain No. 5, 2006, silver gelatin print, 20x24". Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Aferro

TONIGHT Friday, April 24th: The Secret of the Ninth Planet opens concurrently at at Queens Nails Projects and Photo Epicenter in San Francisco. The group exhibit of sixteen artists whose works deal with space, time or travel is presented by graduate students in the Curatorial Practice program at California College of the Arts. 7-11pm, thru May 24, 2009

Saturday, April 25th: Symposium on the Super-8 films of Derek Jarman at the new nonprofit X Initiative (the former Dia space) in Chelsea, with Ed Halter, Chrissie Iles, Gerald Incandela and James Mackay. Moderated by Stuart Comer. 5pm, free, RSVP required.

Wednesday, April 29th: The Guggenheim presents a reception with artist Julieta Aranda in conjunction with her new camera obscura installation, part of the museum’s new Intervals emerging artists series. 6:30-8pm, $5 tickets or free for students/members with RSVP. 

Thursday, April 30th: DON’T MISS: Artist talk with Emma Wilcox as part of her solo exhibition Salvage Rights at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT. Long shadows in Wilcox’s carefully considered, desolate aerial photographs of rooftops and vacant lots seem a literal manifestation of the dark, gray area surrounding land rights issues. Mysterious text-marks upon her landscapes add to a general feeling that the artist is an archaeologist who has discovered evidence of the death-rite of a fallen civilization. Catalog available. 6pm, $3 suggested donation.

Tags: California College of the Arts, Chrissie Iles, curatorial studies, Derek Jarman, Ed Halter, emerging artists, Emma Wilcox, Gerald Incandela, graduate, Guggenheim, Intervals, James Mackay, Julieta Aranda, Photo Epicenter, photographs, Queens Nails Projects, Real Art Ways, Salvage Rights, Stuart Comer, symposium, The Secret of the Ninth Planet, X Initiative.

QUEENS MUSEUM OF ART
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: IMMIGRATION JOURNEYS JUKEBOX PROJECT
DEADLINE: RECEIVE BY April 15, 2009

From April 17th - 23rd the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs presents Immigrant Heritage Week, a series of events throughout the five boroughs that celebrates the history and contributions of immigrants to New York City’s cultural and economic life. As part of its participation in the week, The Queens Museum of Art is sending out an open call for anyone to submit a mix CD that somehow tells your or your family’s immigration story. The mix CD can include songs, media clips, natural sounds, poems, and narration. It can be as straightforward or experimental as you like! 

The submitted CDs will be placed in a jukebox in the Queens Museum of Art Café during Immigrant Heritage Week, and will become part of the playlist we will use in our events for the week.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Create a mix CD at least 10 minutes long on the theme of immigration journeys (in cd audio format, not MP3) 

2. Label the CD with your name and title of the mix CD if any (no stickers please)

3. Include a playlist and/or short paragraph describing your mix CD, or if you prefer, original cover art. This will be displayed in the jukebox and must be no larger than typical CD jewelcase cover.

4. On the case/sleeve of the CD, include your name, last name, telephone and email address, so we can send you a thank you for your participation.

5. Mail your masterpiece to:

Att: Gabriel Roldós
Queens Museum of Art
NYC Bldg, Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens, NY 11368

Please Note: CD’s will not be returned and will become the property of the Queens Museum of Art.
For more information contact groldos@queensmuseum.org or 718-592-9700 x140

We look forward to hearing your sonic creations and will invite you to a following event where we will showacase the Immigration Journeys Jukebox Project.

Tags: CD, Gabriel Roldos, Immigrant Heritage Week, Immigration Journeys Jukebox Project, open call, Queens Museum.

Following the opening of two installations at Location One this week, Laurie Anderson’s new solo performance, Transitory Life—a collection of adventure stories, poems, and music drawn from her life’s work, has been created specifically in response to the themes of the Guggenheim’s The Third Mind exhibition. These pieces reflect a sensibility she attributes to her “practice of attention” and interest in Buddhism. Set within the intimate space of the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed theater,Transitory Life promises to be a uniquely personal and compelling opportunity to experience Anderson’s world-renowned performance work.

(If you have time to visit the Guggenheim before the performance, don’t miss experiencing the theatrically spare, meditative work of James Lee Byars as part of The Third Mind exhibit, as well as 2008 Hugo Boss Prize recipient Emily Jacir’s solo exhibition in the upstairs gallery.)

Guggenheim Museum

Thursday, March 12, & Friday, March 13, 8pm. $30; $25 for members; $10 for students under 25. Tickets

Tags: Emily Jacir, Guggenheim, Hugo Boss Prize, James Lee Byars, Laurie Anderson, Location One, Third Mind, Transitory Life.

Trevor Paglen, Four Geostationary Satellites Above the Sierra Nevada, C-Print, 48 x 60 inches. Courtesy Bellwether.

Though the focus is on the art fairs this week, The Totam has still found plenty of concurrent happenings to provide balance to the collector frenzy that usually descends upon the west side of Manhattan:

TODAY, March 4th: The New Museum and Creative Time present It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq, a new commission by British artist Jeremy Deller. A revolving cast of participants including veterans, journalists, scholars and Iraqi nationals have been invited to take up residence in the New Museum’s gallery space with the express purpose of encouraging discussion with visitors to the Museum. Through March 22nd.

Thursday, March 5th: Armory Arts Week opens to the public at Pier 94 in New York. In addition to special projects like Kenny Scharf’s customized, donut-delivering golf-cart being mounted onsite, sister fair VOLTA NY will present curated invitational projects and a launch event for Humble Arts Foundation’s Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography. Public events include tours of arts districts in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Contemporary art fairs exhibiting during the same week include Pulse, SCOPE, Fountain, Bridge, and PooL. Through March 8th.

The discards of industry and technology found in Sergio A. Fernandez‘ photos form a unique counterpoint to Dana Gentile’s collages, which focus on modern agriculture. Opening at Kris Graves Projects, 6-9pm.

Friday, March 6th: Bay Area artist Trevor Paglen’s spacescapes and other astronomy-themed works open in New York at Bellwether Gallery, in conjunction with his SECA Award exhibit at the SF MoMA.

Saturday, March 7th: Past, Present, Future of Food at the Bushwick Library. As part of the Arts in Bushwick Festival, librarian Nate Hill and cook Gabe McMackin will engage in an open public discussion exploring how Brooklyn and Bushwick in particular went from being a rich agricultural community to the desert it is today, and talk about what people can and ARE doing to grow food locally. 1-4pm. Free.

The Yerba Buena Center for Contemporary Art’s Screening Room in San Francisco presents a double bill of films by Chinese directors, distributed by Strand Releasing: Wayward Cloud by Tsai Ming-Liang, and Help Me Eros, by Lee Kang-Sheng. 7pm. Advance tickets available, or with gallery admission.

Sunday, March 8th: The last day to catch the adaptation of Adam Mansbach’s novel Angry Black White Boy at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, a satire about race, Hip-Hop pop culture, identity and violence in the 21st century. 8pm, $15-25.

Monday, March 9th: As part of its recent project/exhibition, Branding Democracy, The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School presents The Rogue State- a panel lecture on fundamental (in)divisibility of sovereignty using philosophy, history, and art as a framework. 6:30-8:30pm. $8

still from The Wayward Cloud, 2005

Tags: Angry Black White Boy, Armory Show, Art Fairs, Arts Week, Bellwether, Branding Democracy, Bridge, Collectors, conversations, Creative Time, Dana Gentile, fairs, Fountain, Gallery, Guide to Emerging Art Photography, Help Me Eros, Humble Arts Foundation, Intersection for the Arts, Iraq, Jeremy Deller, Kris Graves Projects, lecture, Lee Kang-Sheng, New Museum, novel, play, Pool, Pulse, SCOPE, screening, SECA Award, Sergio A. Fernandez, SF MoMA, Strand relasing, The Rogue State, Trevor Paglen, Tsai Ming-Liang, Vera List Center, VOLTA, Wayward Cloud, Yerba Buena Center.

Martin Kippenberger, detail from The Happy End of Franz Kafka's "Amerika," 1994/1999, installation of tables and chairs and mixed media on Astroturf

This week’s Totam choices are all about fun; fun with monsters, technology and science. Possibly even more fun than finding a rare Francis Bacon rug in your storage closet, but I doubt it. (C-Monster)

Thursday, February 26th: Shepard Fairey, Lawrence Lessig, and Steven Johnson discuss “remixed” culture at the New York Public Library’s LIVE series. This event is sold out but there may be standby tickets at the door. 7pm

Friday, February 27th: During Southern Exposure’s 9th Annual Monster Drawing Rally at the Verdi Club in San Francisco, a rotating cast of thirty from over 100 of the Bay Area’s most prominent emerging artists, including Paul Madonna, Amy Franceschini and Andrew Schoultz, will be making $60 original monster drawings for purchase before your very eyes. Proceeds from the event provide direct support for Southern Exposure’s exhibitions and Artists in Education Programs. 6-11pm, $5.

Saturday, February 28th: The Future Is Not What It Used To Be opens at Postmasters Gallery. Ten artists making work that addresses internet culture, including Marc Horowitz‘ Twitter drawings. 11am-6pm

On a related note, catch the last day of Ben Jones‘ psychedelic new-media installation The New Dark Age at Deitch Projects‘ Grand Street location. 12-6pm

Sunday, March 1st: Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective opens at the MoMA. A must-see for anyone who still believes in iconoclasts. And brilliant minds full of humor. Is there anyone out there who wants to buy me the catalogue? 10:30am-5:30pm

Tuesday, March 3rd: The Rock-It Science Festival at the Highline Ballroom. Billed as an event “celebrating the interface between music and science”; where else are you going to mingle with esteemed neuroscientists, musicians, and Dee Snider at the SAME TIME? 6:30pm, $25

Tags: Bay Area, Ben Jones, C-Monster, Dee Snider, Deitch Projects, emerging artists, Francis Bacon, fun, group, Highline Ballroom, internet culture, Lawrence Lessig, live, Marc Horowitz, Martin Kippenberger, MoMA, Monster Drawing Rally, neuroscience, New York Public Library, Postmasters, remix, Rock-It Science Festival, rug, Shepard Fairey, Southern Exposure, Steven Johnson, technology, Verdi Club.

The latest offerings from local cultural institutions with The Totam’s picks for the week:

TONIGHT: Bob Colacello, legendary Interview editor and Andy Warhol’s go-to guy of the 1970’s speaks at the San Francisco DeYoung Museum’s Koret Auditorium as part of their Warhol Live exhibition programming. 6:30 PM - 7:15 PM

Also, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Observant Eye series offers participants the opportunity to study particular works of art selected from the Museum’s collection over informal discussions with distinguished educators and curators in the galleries of the Museum. 6:30 – 8:00 PM

Sunday, February 22nd: PS1’s spring cycle of exhibitions opens with shows by artists Kenneth Anger, Jonathan Horowitz, and Lutz Bacher. DJ Big Vern Burns on the 3rd Floor. 12-6pm

Why not continue your tour of Queens from PS1 in Long Island City to The Queens Museum in Corona Park, and start some spring cleaning to boot? Artist Derick Melander will be collecting secondhand clothing in the Museum’s parking lot every weekend until April 26th for his participatory project “Into the Fold” (2009), creating a site-specific work from folded and stacked second-hand clothing with the help of museum guests.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is offering a $5 recession special admission price through March 8, for those who join their email list- see here. A perfect opportunity to see the newly-opened Sites exhibit and catch up on Alex Bag’s video installation on the ground floor.

Better yet, see some free art presented by the MoMA during your commute: the museum takes over Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street subway station, filling it with reproductions of over 50 works of art from the MoMA’s collection as a gift to the city’s subway riders. Make your experience interactive via their mini-site by downloading a free audio tour and posting photos of your visit to share.

Tags: admission, artworks, Atlantic Avenue, audio tour, Big Vern Burns, Bob Colacello, Brooklyn, collection, commute, Derick Melander, DeYoung, interactive, Koret, Metropolitan, MoMA, Museum, Observant Eye, Pacific Street, PS1, Queens, Queens Museum, secondhand clothing, Sites, spring, subway station, Warhol Live, Whitney.

Don’t miss a final opportunity to see Third World Newsreel‘s New Filmmakers Series as part of MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight programming. The young filmmakers of color who have participated in TWN’s filmmaking workshops, or whose works are being distributed by TWN, are making socially relevant films that directly engage the communities they live in, providing a deeper understanding of the cultural and economic pressures faced by diverse populations in the greater New York area and beyond.

Tonight’s 6pm program presents the feature-length documentary, Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project, directed by Charles B. Brack. Fifteen-year-old Gunn was fatally stabbed at a Newark bus stop in 2003, after she rejected her killer’s advances. Gunn’s killer admitted calling the teenager a “dyke” and pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter with bias intimidation. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Poster for Hanna Rose Shell and Vanessa Bertozzi's Secondhand (Pepe), 2007. Image courtesy filmmakers.

The 8pm program is made up of a series of six short films that bring attention to a variety of individuals and communities in New York City. The films range from Vanara Taing and Lottie Porch’s uplifting look at the Inspirational Choir of Riverside Church, to ManSee Kong’s Here to Stay, about an elderly Chinatown neighbor in his SRO organizing against rising rents, to Jennifer Fasulo and Manauvaskar Kublall’s PRIMETIME: Fighting Back Against Foreclosure, an explanation of the complexities of subprime mortgages and their impact on two young families in Brooklyn. An additional film, Secondhand (Pepe), traces the historical path of the secondhand clothing industry between its roots in the Jewish tenements of New York to its present-day commodification in Haiti.

Organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art; William Sloan, independent curator; and Sara Rashkin, filmmaker and independent curator, including TWN in MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight series provides an all-too-rare opportunity for young filmmakers with important, engaging stories to tell about real community issues to have their voices heard in a broadly respected venue. In addition, these films form an important starting point for audiences who frequent venues like MoMA to hopefully enter into a dialogue with the under-represented neighbors around them.

Tags: Charles B. Brack, Chinatown, Documentary Fortnight, Foreclosure, Inspirational Choir, Jennifer Fasulo, Lottie Porch, Manauvaskar Kublall, ManSee Kong, MoMA, mortgages, new filmmakers, pepe, Primetime, Riverside Church, Sakia Gunn, secondhand, Shell and Bertozzi, social issues, Third World Newsreel, Vanara Taing.