I captured these images from OLAFUR ELIASSON's "I only see things when they move" which is part of an exhibit at the MOMA called "Take Your Time". The exhibit runs from April 20 through June 30.
From MOMA website: "Bright light shines through rotating color-effect filter glass panels, creating shifting prismatic bands of colours on the surrounding walls."
TAKE YOUR TIME: Olafur Eliasson is the first comprehensive survey in the United States of works by Olafur Eliasson, whose immersive environments, sculptures, and photographs elegantly recreate the extremes of landscape and atmosphere in his native Scandinavia, while foregrounding the sensory experience of the work itself. Drawn from collections worldwide, the presentation spans over fifteen years of Eliasson's career. His constructions, at once eccentric and highly geometric, use multicolored washes, focused projections of light, mirrors, and elements such as water, stone, and moss to shift the viewer's perception of place and self. By transforming the gallery into a hybrid space of nature and culture, Eliasson prompts an intensive engagement with the world and offers a fresh consideration of everyday life.
It was a perfect evening when I made these images of the BROOKLYN BRIDGE last night. To celebrate the 125th anniversary of Brooklyn Bridge, a free Brooklyn Philharmonic concert, fireworks show, and illumination of the bridge with festive lights were among the activities last Memorial weekend. The festive lights were turned on every evening from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m from May 22 through Memorial Day.
"A monument to big dreams forged in steel and stone, the Brooklyn Bridge’s completion marked the beginning of a modern New York. Today, locals and visitors alike continue to celebrate this landmark for its critical role as an East River crossing, its magnificent architecture and its history. The resurgence and growth of Lower Manhattan, along with the ongoing Brooklyn renaissance, guarantee the Bridge will carry on Roebling’s vision for a structure that is both emblematic of and essential to the thriving New York City community."
The Marines were in Times Square last Saturday with an exhibit of machine guns, ammunition, and vehicles near the Armed Forces Recruiting Station. The event is part of Fleet Week New York.
On display in front of Christie's Rockefeller Center is Fernando Botero's "Donna In Piedi." This piece is stamped with foundry mark, signed and numbered 'Botero 1/3' (on the base on the back) bronze with brown patina 141¾ x 60 x 60 in. (360 x 150 x 150 cm.) Botero was born in Colombia in 1932. This sculpture was executed in 2007 and is edition one of three. The piece is one of the many valuable Latin American artwork featured in an auction next week at Christie's. The lots include 320 paintings and sculptures by major artists including Mexico’s Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo and Colombia’s Fernando Botero. According to Christie's this is their most comprehensive and valuable Latin American sale to date, and expect the sale to bring in more than $30 million.
The 27th Annual Turkish Day Parade organized by the Federation of Turkish American Associations took take place in New York's Madison Avenue earlier this afternoon. I captured the festive spirit of the celebration on what turned out to be a gorgeous spring day.
From May 21 through 28, thousands of sailors, marines and coast guardsmen from U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard ships are in the the city for Fleet Week New York. Since 1984, New York has been hosting Fleet Week to provide an opportunity for the citizens of New York City and the surrounding Tri-State area to meet sailors, marines and coast guardsmen, as well as witness first hand the latest capabilities of today's Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Team. Some of these men appeared on WEEKEND TODAY where a group from the Navy and another from the Marines participated in a TUG-OF-WAR challenge. The NORTHEAST NAVY SHOWBAND also performed. I took some photos of the tug-of-war earlier this morning at the Rockefeller Plaza outside the NBC's WEEKEND TODAY studio. This morning, the show was hosted by AMY ROEBACH and PETER ALEXANDER.
In 1884 the city of New York parted 2 acres of land to establish a bustling outdoor market called the Gansevoort Market, named after General Peter Gansevoort. In 1949 the Gansevoort Meat Center opened. Today, the Meatpacking District is a 20 square block, 24-hour neighborhood on the Westside of Manhattan, located between 15th and Horatio Streets, West of and including Hudson Street. Alongside the meatpacking plants, fashion designers, graphic designers, writers, architects, artists and photographers have created a destination for design, architecture, fashion, salons, fitness centers and luxury boutiques. Over 50 restaurants and nightlife clubs create that "up-all-night" vibe about the neighborhood.
Above is a photo that I took of JULIA MANDLE's chalk shoes on exhibit at the LEO KESTING GALLERY (May 15-21) when I visited the Meat Packing District last Sunday. Below is Mandle's photo used to promote the exhibit. Julia Mandle is a Brooklyn-based, multi-disciplinary artist. Last April 30, Mandle led 30 students from the NYC Lab School wearing her signature "chalk shoes" in a performance of large-scale, public street drawing by scuffing the chalk shoes along the paths they will take to the High Line. The High Line is New York's elevated park built on a former freight rail viaduct, set to open later this year. Mandle's project is commissioned by Friends of the High Line, highlighting the future public access points of the High Line, and drew connections between the neighborhood and the new park.
Leo Kesting Gallery is located at 812 Washington Street in the Meatpacking District. Shoes used in the performance and a video documenting the project are on view. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. The exhibition coincides with the Meatpacking District Design Week.
As part of the 2008 New York Dance Parade last May 17, a dance group performed at the Tompkins Square Park's Temperance Fountain. I made these images of beautiful Asian dancers as they performed what they call "kinetic movement art."
On exhibit at the ESTABLISHMENT at 30 Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District are intricate bamboo sculptures of Thai artist KORAKOT AROMDEE. Aromdee employs the "tie and knot" technique, which he learned from his grandfather. He uses bamboo exclusively in his large scale sculptures. To ensure strength and pliability, the artist utilizes only bamboo that is more than 3 years of age, and is properly smoked.
It's the Second Annual New York Dance Parade celebrating diversity of dance forms. I took photos of a few of the participants as they danced their way through St. Mark's Place.
From danceparade.org:
On May 17th, thousands of us will dance in the streets of New York City, moving to every kind of dance music under the sun. Why?
To celebrate diversity as "One Parade with Many Cultures" 31 genres are represented:
African, Algerian, Ballet/Ethnic, Ballroom, Ballroom, Swing, Latin & Tango, Belly Dance, Break Dance, Cumbia, Disco, Ecstatic, Folkloric, Greek, Hip-Hop, Hooper, House, Hustle and Salsa, Jazz, Mambo, Modern, Roller Dance, Roller Disco, Sacred, Salsa, Samba, Swing, Tap Dance, Techno, Tinku, Tribal, West Coast Swing, Zydeco, just to start!
To honor Dance’s historical roots:
New York has never celebrated the forms of dance that it has birthed until now: Voguing, Jazz, the Jitterbug, Punk, Gothic--even Salsa was birthed in the Cuban Communities in this great city. And it is now time for Dance. New York has enjoyed the last three years of a September Art Parade and since May 2007, we are finally honoring Dance in a similar fashion.
To unite in respecting Dance’s diversity:
Dance is vital in healthy societies, helping people to communicate and affirm individual and collective identity. Dance Parade is a multi-cultural, multi-generational expression of the joy and value of these various forms of expression. It will foster cross-pollination of dance forms as it introduces audiences to novel styles and beats: teenagers to tango, clubbers to square-dancing, and seniors to hip-hop.
To support grass-roots organizations:
As an umbrella organization, Dance Parade empowers and supports dance communities that do not have access to public funding yet have a communicative art form they wish to practice and promote. We help them build websites, get access to materials, fundraise, and reach broader audiences.
To legitimize Dance as a communicative, social form of expression:
In the 19th century, ballroom dancing was deemed devil’s work. In the 1920’s, New York City enacted the Cabaret Law to stem interracial dancing from Harlem Jazz Clubs. The 1930’s had Nazi Germany quashing Swing Dancing because it was considered anarchistic. And in 2006, a New York State Supreme Court ruled that, unlike music, theater and painting, dance is not a constitutionally protected form of expression. In contrast, Dance Parade will highlight the diversity found in its many forms and showcase dance’s immense cultural and communicative importance.
To invoke joy and brotherhood:
New York’s annual dance parade will reinstate New York City as the dance performance and nightlife capital of the world. We quote Dr. Motte, the founder of Berlin’s Love parade: “Dance is spreading rapidly and is unstoppable around the world. It is about LOVE and it is about FREEDOM. This represents a much wider personal, social and spiritual transformation-revolution which will utterly change our world over the coming decades.
I captured these images from OLAFUR ELIASSON's "I only see things when they move" which is part of an exhibit at the MOMA called "Take Your Time". The exhibit runs from April 20 through June 30.
