DO THE CRAB

Here are the cryptic instructions to view the prehistoric beasts getting it on - meet at the bus stop -

Sunday, May 18, 6 pm - 8 pm
Horseshoe Crab Mating at Dead Horse Bay
with Sharon Seitz

Join us for a twilight walk along the shores of Dead Horse Bay for this once-a-year occurrence. Along the Eastern seaboard in late May and early June, at the time of the full and new moons, throngs of horseshoe crabs descend on the shoreline to spawn. Come see this fascinating spectacle and learn about these creatures, which have not changed in over 300 million years.

*Meet at the bus stop across the street from the entrance to Floyd Bennett Field. 2/5 train to Flatbush Avenue (last stop) then Q35 bus on Flatbush Avenue. Get off at stop right before the Marine Parkway Bridge. By car: Belt Parkway to Exit 11S (Flatbush Avenue South). Take Flatbush Avenue for 1.3 miles. Entrance on (Flatbush Avenue South). Take Flatbush Avenue for 1.3 miles. Entrance on left side at traffic light just before the toll plaza. Park inside the park, on the right by a small building, cross Flatbush to meet at bus stop.

From www.bcue.org/

THE PLACE WHERE YOU GO TO LISTEN

Composer John Luther Adams has created a new light and sound installation at the University of Alaska's Museum of the North.

From the New Yorker article (which also features embedded musical compositions by Adams) - “The Place Where You Go to Listen”—a kind of infinite musical work that is controlled by natural events occurring in real time. The title refers to Naalagiagvik, a place on the coast of the Arctic Ocean where, according to legend, a spiritually attuned Inupiaq woman went to hear the voices of birds, whales, and unseen things around her. In keeping with that magical idea, the mechanism of “The Place” translates raw data into music: information from seismological, meteorological, and geomagnetic stations in various parts of Alaska is fed into a computer and transformed into an intricate, vibrantly colored field of electronic sound."

Read this piece by John Luther Adams from his website.

Listen to Public Radio International's Living on Earth segment about the piece.

DRAWING EVERYBODY

A fellow is attempting to draw every person in New York. Impossible or impossibly awesome?

HERE TO HEAR

Talking Heads - The Big Country



David Byrne and Creative Time present Playing The Building.

"Playing the Building, a 9,000-square-foot, interactive, site-specific installation by David Byrne, will transform the interior of the landmark Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan into a massive sound sculpture that all visitors are invited to sit and “play.” Byrne’s project will consist of a retrofitted antique organ placed in the center of the building’s cavernous second-floor gallery that will control a series of devices attached to its structural features—metal beams, plumbing, electrical conduits, and heating and water pipes. These machines will vibrate, strike, and blow across the building elements, triggering unique harmonics and producing finely tuned sounds. As Byrne explains, it is an elaborate system for “activating the sound-producing qualities that are inherent in all materials.”

Byrne's site.
Creative Time Press PDF.

The piece opens to the public May 31 and runs until August 10.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Tim Hawkinson's Uberorgan. I witnessed the enormous, industrial internal organ pipe organ while visiting the Getty Museum. Hawkinson's ridiculous huge and wonderful organ ran off a script like a player piano. Byrne's notion of visitors actually manipulating the monstrous, cavernous sounds is a fun twist on gigantic installation as participatory sound piece.
Read more about Uberorgan.


The giant noise bagpipe bladders fill the room.


Uberorgan's sheet music.

7000 OAKS

An idea grows roots. 7000 oaks by Joseph Beuys.

Read quotes and an essay on 7000 Oaks.
Watch Beuys explain in German.
Watch Beuys get photographed by Andy Warhol.

SPRING IN THE LAND OF ICE AND SNOW

Art opening this weekend at the Scandinavia House- From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art. I have a secret, harbored love for all things Iceland. The music, the landscape, the sagas. I've been planning my clandestine retreat to the country for sometime next summer. We come from the land of the ice and snow, From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow. The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, to fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming! I've previously written on the hidden folks, trolls and such, of Iceland in this post.

Regarding the art show, I'm particularly fond of Hrafnkell Sigurðsson's tent photographs. Olafur Eliasson has also managed to sneak a piece into this show. But I'll warrant him the current overexposure. The MoMA and PS1 exhibitions are truly something special.

SAKURA MATSURI

At least, it looks like it's not going to rain. A couple of things going on this weekend. Kentucky Derby today. Looks like the odds are good on Cool Coal Man, but don't count out the solid odds on Colonel John. View Updated Odds. I might harvest some of the mint we're growing in our backyard for a nice mint julep.

The weather isn't that hospitable, but the Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanical is always a welcome start to spring. A slew of Japan related activities and performances are on deck for this weekend, but I prefer to enjoy the cherry blossoms and some prime people watching.

PAINTING WILD

I've just discovered for myself the work of Olly and Suzi. They trek across the earth and make animal photographs and drawings/paintings that look like early Joseph Beuys. I think I'm in love.

"Our art-making process is concerned with our journey; a collaborative, mutual response to nature at its most primitive and wild. The majority of our art is conducted in diverse and remote environments both on land and in the sea. We paint on location and in close proximity to animals, which are often endangered, because they are still here. They are our primary subject matter. Where possible we use natural pigments and materials. In this way the wild is our studio."

Read more about the duo in this lengthy article from Men's Vogue.

ART RESEARCH

Conducting online art / design research at FFFFOUND! The site is recommended for the graphically compulsive. Today, I discovered this fellow, Christopher David Ryan. Smooth design skills.

ON BOOK OFF

In my last post I mentioned Kinokuniya which is a great place to find Japanese art books, magazines, and stationary. But right near-by is the holy grail of used Japanese books and manga - Book Off. Books can be found in English and Japanese for dirt cheap - about $1 to $5. There is apparently a strange shame in Japan for purchasing used or old books - as documented in this NY times article. However, there's no shame in the U.S. for folks who love to dig for the bizarre and fascinating. Like this reader, who discovered Osamu Tezuka's (best known for Astro Boy) comic version of Crime and Punishment.

NEW WAVES

No Age - Eraser



This spring weather in NYC has got me humming. The new soundtrack for the season is No Age's debut on Sub Pop. It's just what a great rock and roll album should be - 30 compact minutes of pop, noise, invention, and sonic sound-wave surfing. The waves found in this book - New Waves by photographer Takashi Homma - have also peeked my interest. These meditative variations on sun, sand, and surf are a welcome invitation to summer. You can find the book here at NYC's Japanese bookstore - Kinokuniya. Visit the store (right by Bryant Park) for more sources of inspiration from Japan.

RUSHUP | BANK 12

Is The Tuss really Richard D. James, the Aphex Twin?

TAKE YOUR TIME

An Olafur Eliasson retrospective is opening at both the MoMA and PS1 this Sunday, April 20. In my opinion, the exhibits are just in time. As the thoughtful recent NY times article states, Eliasson's work is refreshing in a market swamped with super-glue junk amalgamations. Eliasson produces real magic, real communal fascination and wonder. Like a modern day James Turrell, Eliasson plays with light and color, space and air, smoke and mirrors. He twists our perceptions and alters our assumptions about art by evoking the wide, mysterious atmosphere of his homelands - Denmark, Iceland and Berlin. View more photos here from the NY Times and some multimedia stuff from the exhibition's previous home at the San Francisco MoMA.

THE LIVES OF PERFECT CREATURES

Laika was the first Earth born creature to orbit the planet. She did so in Russia's Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. More than half a century ago. A new monument has been formed in Laika's memory in Moscow. Several other Soviet space dogs followed Laika's cosmic explorations in subsequent years. These dogs have been memorialized in paintings now on display at the Museum of Jurassic Technology.



You can read more about Soviet space dogs here and view a Flickr set of Laika images here. My first introduction to Laika was in the wonderful Swedish film My Life as a Dog. In the film, a boy gazes into the stars and imagines Laika's thoughts and emotions as she traveled into space, which becomes an apt metaphor for the feelings of loss, loneliness, and exploration of childhood.

PAINT IN JAPAN

Paintings from Yuko Murata.