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of note celebrates the arts of our diasporas. It is a space where art meets activism, empowerment, and social responsibility.
Founder Editorial Director Grace Aneiza Ali
Executive Editor Art & Film Editor Sandrine Colard
Photography Editor Julien De Bock
Film Contributor Shahnaz Habib
Book & Music Editor Clarence Haynes
Dance Editor M. Soledad Sklate
Theater Editor Stella Vincenot-Dash
www.ofnotemagazine.org
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of note Archives
June 2, 2008
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Art and Satire in IranArdeshir Mohassess' drawings express the ironic and absurd in the human condition as witnessed both before and after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Join Iranian American artist Shirin Neshat and noted Iranian poet Esmail Kho'i for a panel discussion on his work. |
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"Two worlds just across the street."
Somini Gupta, who writes about India for the New York Times, recently published an article, "Inside Gate, India's Good Life; Outside, the Servants' Slums," on the diminishing geographic divide between India's rich and the poor who serve them. Gupta touches on the very thing I wrestled with immensely while I lived there: the seemingly perfect marriage between wealth and poverty. India is always toiling in contradictions. In the Begumpet neighborhood in the city of Hyderabad where I lived, I bore witness to these two worlds. Surrounded by towering high-rise apartment buildings and the luxurious Kakatiya Hotel, was one of these small "slum" communities. As Gupta's article explains, the juxtaposition of poverty with luxury is remarkably present and increasingly normalized in many places in India.
But despite the heartbreaking markers of destitution, what I found most notable was the importance of community within the borders of these "slums." Families went about the hustle and bustle of their daily rituals. And on Sundays, mothers sat outside the doors of their patchwork homes to wash, oil, and comb their daughters' hair. While "community" was kept neatly tucked away inside the gates of the high-walled apartment complexes, it was visibly beautiful outside those walls.
After being away from Hyderabad on a month long trip, I came home to find this site of comfort and familiarity completely leveled. My first conclusion was that these families had been displaced or rendered homeless. Nothing lay behind but rubble and ashes-remnants of lives lived on borrowed space.
Later I would find out they had been relocated to Jubilee Hills-a small affluent enclave in the north of the city. They had been transferred from one borrowed space to another. Grace Aneiza Ali [email protected]
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Cameron Hayes: On view through Saturday, June 28
Cameron Hayes, an Australian artist, will exhibit several large-scale narrative paintings and a soft sculpture installation, which are based on allegorical stories. The wildly inventive stories relate to White European and indigenous histories and describe a world that is both comic and bleak. The exhibition features a series titled The Incomplete History of the Millikapiti, which recounts the disastrous effect of the white culture upon the Aboriginal community, even when well-meaning. Disturbing and often violent scenes document the community's loss of innocence related to the irrelevance of their former life in modern times and to the introduction of alcohol and sugar. Ronald Feldman Fine Arts 31 Mercer Street Manhattan, NY 10013
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Charles Ethan Porter: African-American Master of Still Life Stories On view through Sunday, June 29Charles Ethan Porter (c. 1847-1923) was celebrated in his day as a skillful colorist and was one of the first black artists to exhibit at New York's National Academy of Design. The Studio Museum features dozens of Porter's still lifes, landscapes and portraits, and introduces audiences to this shadowy painter who deftly combined the American luminist tradition with that of the French Barbizon school. The exhibition will elucidate Porter's skill and the unsettled biography of an artist whose brilliance is only now being inscribed into the annals of American art history. The Studio Museum
144 West 125th Street Harlem Manhattan, New York 10027 |
Kerry James Marshall: Black Romantic On view through Thursday, July 3
Kerry Marshall sums up this exhibition by stating "It's all about love!" Embracing sentimentality and notions of romance and love in black popular art, he gives in to representational impulses that rarely satisfy perceived critical weaknesses in the genre. Taking his show title from Thelma Golden's 2002 exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in which Golden explored populist notions of "Black Art" and the uncritical realm of image making, Marshall uses Black Romantic as a point of departure to continue his exploration of representation of the black figure in pictorial space. Jack Shainman Gallery 513 West 20th Street Chelsea Manhattan, NY 10011 |
The Real Pepsi Challenge: Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business On view through Sunday, July 27, 2008
Years before the Civil Rights Movement, the Pepsi Corporation boldly took steps to integrate corporate America from as early as 1940. Based on Stephanie Capparell's groundbreaking book, The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business, the exhibit showcases the plight of the first African-Americans to hold professional corporate jobs in this country. Pepsi's black sales team were traveling salesmen in the time of Jim Crow segregation laws, which forced them to sit at the back of buses, travel in separate train cabins, eat behind screens on trains, and find hotels and restaurants that would serve them. In its effort to exploit the untapped special market, the team hired professional black models and designed advertisements to portray blacks as middle-class citizens enjoying the American Dream. Queens Museum of Art New York City Building Flushing Meadows Carona Park Queens, NY 11368 |
Barkley L. Hendricks: Thank You Mr. John On view through Friday, June 13
The Project presents Barkley L. Hendricks' second solo exhibiton at the gallery, a series of photographs dating from the late 1970's to 1996. Though he has always worked across mediums and styles, this is Hendricks' first exhibition dedicated to his photographs. Born in Philadelphia in 1945, Hendricks enrolled at the renowned Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before attending Yale in 1970. During these formative years, Hendricks began his admired portrait paintings of African-American individuals. The Project37 West 57th Street, 3rd Floor btw 5th & 6th Avenues Midtown Manhattan, NY 10019
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Julio Bittencourt: In A Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building On view through Sunday, June 15
"In A Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building" is a new photographic series from Brazilian photographer, Julio Bittencourt. This project is based on a series of windows and the people who live through them. Bittencourt grew up in S�o Paulo where he got used to people communicating across windows as family and friends lived on top of and next to each other. As such, windows were always a significant part of Bittencourt's life and this is what drew him to create this project. He says, "My intention was to show a symbolic and a physical 'barrier,' the decay of the materials, the dignity of the people who survive behind them and the decay of a system that doesn't integrate its inhabitants into society but moves away from them making these 'barriers' each time bigger." Point of View Gallery638 West 28th Street Chelsea Manhattan, New York 10001
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Jose Picayo: Mug Shots On view through Sunday, June 22
Naturally expressionless and glowing with life, Jose Picayo's photographs catch his subjects in a fleeting moment, exposing an unprepared, almost vulnerable honesty that we are unaccustomed to witnessing. In this spontaneity, an authentic interpretation of beauty and a deep sentiment is conveyed. "Despite the physical diversity of features and race, they are united by this common perception," says the Cuban-born photographer, "we are all human, we are all the same and we are all beautiful." Thousands of faces will encircle viewers as they enter Picayo's installation, which features unframed, brown mug shots, hung edge-to-edge in the Robin Rice Gallery. Using the mug shot format - a split screen image that shows both full face and profile - Picayo is papering the walls with humanity. Moved by a makeshift war memorial, which featured the faces of American soldiers lost in Iraq, Picayo was impressed by how much of their "soul" the simple mug shots revealed. Robin Rice Gallery325 West 11th Street West Village Manhattan, NY 10014 |
Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan On view through September 7
"Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan" will present the exciting and highly individualistic work of a new generation of Japanese artists who have come of age following the Asian economic crash of 1990. For the last several years, China has been the focus of attention for contemporary Asian art, while the remarkable and distinctive younger generation of Japanese artists who are working today has been largely ignored. Image: � Hiroh KikaiInternational Center Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas @ 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 |
center stage
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet On stage through Monday, June 15
What makes New York City a vibrant art scene is its capacity to attract the best international works. A fitting example is last April's presentation of the brilliant and tragic Irish comedy "The Walworth Farce" at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn. Similarly, the current 2008 Spring season of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet showcases Lasting Imprint by Nicolo Fonte and the breath taking Annonciation by Angelin Preljocaj, the French choreographer of Albanian descent. In the latter's case, the desire to bridge the gap between American audiences and the global art scene is the vision of Cedar Lake's Artistic Director, Benoit Swan Pouffer. A former dancer for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1997 to 2004, French choreographer Pouffer has kept the mission of giving dance back to the people. Annonciation (Bessie Award, 1997) stages the ambiguous intrusion of an angel in the space and body of a young virgin- accepting as she is rebellious- in a disruptive fertilizing moment. Scored by the powerful electronic music of Stephane Roy and Vivaldi, Annonciation is as much dance-theater as it is disturbingly suggestive modern dance. Stella Vincenot-Dash [email protected]
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The Urban Mbongi Saturday, June 14 @ 7 pm
The Urban Mbongi, Ifetayo's 19th Annual Cultural Arts Showcase, is a prodcution of performing arts and culture. Mbongi is a community structure committed to validating each and every member's voice. Through this creative journey presented by our community's youth, Mbongi creatively proposes how we have brought and can continue to bring this transformative method into the 21st century.
For communities and families in need of healing, Mbongi may appear as innovative and seem newly invented, but it is actually an ancient treasure. Celebrate an artistic journey dedicated to the traditional system of building and healing community.
The Walt Whitman Theater @Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts Brooklyn College 2900 Campus Road and Hillel Place Brooklyn, NY
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Souls of Our Feet People of Color Dance Festival Monday, June 16 - Tuesday, June 24
This season Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) shines its spotlight on eight newer dance companies on the scene, in all their varied creative visions, debuting entirely new works alongside two companies THPAC has helped nurture during its formative years. Scheduled performances are: Monday, June 16, 7:30 p.m. - Urban Bush Women and Ase Dance Theater (debut) Tuesday, June 17, 7:30 p.m. - Ron K. Brown's Evidence, A Dance Company: Edgeworks Dance Theater (debut) Sunday, June 22, 7:00 p.m. - HUNTERDance Theater and The Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative (both debuting) Monday, June 23, 7:30 p.m. - abraham.in.motion, T. Lang (both debuting) Tuesday, June 24, 7:30 p.m. - Purelements: Asase Yaa Photo: The Smoke Lilies, Gabriel BienczyckiKumble Theater for the Performing Arts 1 University Plaza Flatbush & DeKalb Brooklyn, NY 11217 |
Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan Tuesday, June 10 @ 7 pm
The acclaimed Nigerian short-story writer discusses his life and reads from his debut collection, Say You're One of Them, which captures in a straightforward and deeply empathetic voice the diverse hardships and horrors faced by some contemporary Africans. Housing Works Bookstore Caf�126 Crosby Street SoHo Manhattan, NY |
Poets in the Galleries: Tina Chang Sunday, June 15 @ 5 pm
This spring, the Queens Museum of Art announces its second season of Poets in the Galleries, the interdisciplinary poetry series that utilizes the Museum's exhibition space as an invigorating site of exploration, interactive readings and discussion. On Sunday, June 15, poet Tina Chang will conduct a lively presentation in response to the Museum's current exhibition. This Case of Conscience: Spiritual Flushing and the Remonstrance lends itself especially well to the series by creating an open-ended forum in which all participants can explore the links between art and poetry, as well as related themes of religious freedom, mutual respect, diversity and spirituality. Queens Museum of ArtNew York City Building Flushing Meadows Corona Park Queens, NY 11368 |
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival Thursday, June 12 - Thursday, June 26
In recognition of the power of film to educate and galvanize a broad constituency of concerned citizens,the Human Rights Watch's International Film Festival has become a leading venue for distinguished fiction, documentary and animated films and videos with a distinctive human rights theme. Through the eyes of committed and courageous filmmakers, the heroic stories of activists and survivors from all over the world are showcased. The works put a human face on threats to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of the human spirit and intellect to prevail. The Film Society of Lincoln CenterWalter Reade Theater 70 Lincoln Center Plaza Manhattan, NY 10023 |
Mongol Now playing
"Mongol follows " a young warrior named Temudgin (played by the Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano), from boyhood to the eve of world conquest in 1206, when he would become the Genghis Khan known and feared by millions. The portrait that emerges is of a reformer and a unifier, a leader who consolidates rival tribes and factions and who modernizes some of the traditional Mongol ways. "Mongol" moves solemnly across the decades, accumulating rich ethnographic detail and enough dramatic intrigue to sustain a viewer's interest through the slower stretches. While it takes a sympathetic view of young Genghis Khan - whose name, in the West, is a synonym for rapacity - it does not force him into conformity with modern sensibilities. His world feels authentically raw and refreshingly archaic, and also strangely beautiful." A.O. Scott, New York TimesImage: Tadanobu Asano, right, as Genghis Khan in "Mongol." (NYT)
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On the Rumba River Now Playing
On the Rumba River
is a musical tribute to the Congolese people, who despite desperate
poverty, a history of oppression and an ongoing civil war that has
killed nearly 4 million people, continue to be sustained by music. In the 60s, Wendo - the first superstar of Congolese Rumba, expressed the hopes of a newly independent nation, when all dreams seemed like they could become reality. As the Congo suffered for nearly three decades under the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, his music remained as a manifestation of the joyous spirit of the Congolese people that could not be taken away. Rediscovered several years ago after having been reduced to beggarhood, Wendo made a comeback under the new regime in 1997. Village East Cinemas181 2nd Avenue @ 12th Street Manhattan, NY 10003 |
Derek: A Film by Isaac Julien Playing Monday, June 9 - Monday, June 16
British filmmaker and media artist Isaac Julien collaborated with the award winning actress Tilda Swinton to create this collage-like biography of the late Derek Jarman, a maverick film artist whose short films were among the first to be shown in London art galleries. Jarman's wholly original feature films (often starring Swinton) reimagined narrative while helping to establish a canon for Queer Cinema. Using rare interviews with the artist, archival films and photographs, excerpts from Jarman's films (many of which are rarely seen), and new footage scripted by Swinton, Julien provides a spirited view into the mind of an ever-surprising and adventurous artist. Photo: Derek JarmanThe Museum of Modern Art11 West 53 Street btw Fifth and Sixth Avenues Manhattan, NY 10019 |
Ornette: Made In America Monday, June 9 - Tuesday, June 10
"Ornette: Made In America" captures the epic film of composer Ornette Coleman and his evolution over three decades. The film chronicles his boyhood in segregated Texas and his subsequent emergence as an American cultural pioneer and world-class icon. A portrayal of the inner life of an artist-innovator, the documentary focuses on the struggles and triumphs of Coleman's
life as well as on the inspired intelligence that spawned his
creativity and ensured his success. It's commentary illuminates the history of jazz and the fertile creative exchange that highlighted the 60's and 70's in America. BAMPeter Jay Sharp Building 30 Lafayette Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11217 |
Take Out Now playing @ Quad Cinema Take Out is a day-in-the-life of an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Ming is behind with payments on his huge debt to the smugglers who brought him to the United States. The collectors have given him until the end of the day to deliver the money that is due. After borrowing most of the money from friends and relatives, Ming realizes that the remainder must come from the day's delivery tips. In order to do so, he must make more than double his average daily income. In a social-realist style, the camera follows Ming on his deliveries throughout the upper Manhattan neighborhood where social and economic extremes exist side by side. Intercutting between Ming's deliveries and the daily routine of the restaurant, Take Out presents a harshly real look at the daily lives of illegal Chinese immigrants in New York City. Quad Cinema34 West 13th Street btw 5th and 6th Avenues Manhattan, NY 10011 |
music matters
A Tribute to Bo Diddley: "the rock that the roll was built on"
I'm one of those music aficionados who doesn't need an obituary to appreciate the legacy of our Black American rock and roll pioneers.
Yet, upon reading a New York Times article on Bo Diddley (born Ellas Otha Bates McDaniel), who passed away last Monday, I found myself embarrassed at how much I did not know about this revered rocker. As his former bassist Debby Hastings said at his memorial service, "He was the rock that the roll is built on."
Making his recording debut in 1954 with Chess Records, Mr. Diddley had hits like "I'm a Man," "Road Runner," and "Mona." Yet it is his syncopation that might be his most popular legacy. As Allmusic.com points out in their biography, "the Bo Diddley beat - bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp" is a trademark rock rhythm. We hear his sound in tons and tons of tunes from White rockers, including the Stones, U2, Springsteen, the Beatles, and George Michael. (Yes I said George Michael - the song "Faith" is all Diddley.)
Didley was known for being an electrifying, energetic performer, and his
innovations included his handmade square shaped guitar and his fluid
tremolo guitar distortion effects. He also had female guitarists in his
band in an era where women in rock were few and far between. I'm encouraged to continue to explore the origins of popular music, to give props where props is due, and to not forget our roots.
Image:Mr. Diddley, far left, and Chuck Berry perform at Madison Square Garden in the concert movie "Let the Good Times Roll" on May 6, 1972 in New York City. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images )
Clarence A. Haynes [email protected]
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Vision Festival XIII Tuesday, June 10 - Sunday, June 15
Arts For Art, the host of the annual Vision Festival, builds awareness and understanding of avantjazz and related expressive movements while encouraging a sense of community amongst artists and their audiences. Through the presentation of innovative, creative music, dance, multi-media performances, spoken word, and the exhibition of visual arts, Arts for Art is dedicated to the presentation of experimental american music from an afro-american perspective and traditions. From the beginning Arts for Art and the Vision Festival have carried a message of clear social awareness. We hold to the belief that art really moves people and that to move people is a powerful political act. Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center 107 Suffolk St. @ Rivington St. Manhattan, NY 10002 |
Omar Sosa Sextet Tuesday, June 10 - Sunday, June 15
Omar Sosa fuses a wide range of world music and electronic elements with his native Afro-Cuban roots to create a fresh and original urban sound - all with a Latin jazz heart. Sosa's latest CD "Mulatos" is an adventurous, finely wrought, and wholly delightful m�lange of Cuban jazz, Latin dance grooves, French chanson, North African trance music, and European folk. It dances with rhythmic inspirations of Indian tabla, jazz drums, and studio mixing. Also featured is the delicate voice of the Arabic lute, the oud, and the composer himself on marimba. "Mulatos" was recently nominated for Latin Jazz Album of the Year by the NYC-based Jazz Journalists Association. Blue Note Jazz Club 131 W. 3rd St Manhattan, NY 10012
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Mavis Staples and Stephanie McKay Friday, June 13 @ 7 pm
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Single Black Female Tuesday, June 10 - Sunday, June 29
Lisa B. Thompson's Single Black Female takes a comic look at the pleasures and perils of being a single middle class black woman. The play mines topics such as dating, family gatherings, shopping, racial bias, white folks and, poignantly, the odd sense of loss a black woman feels when she does find a mate and leaves her single sisters behind.
The Duke on 42nd Street 229 West 42nd Street btw 7th and 8th Avenues Manhattan, NY 10036
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About Us
For
many of us, the arts are central and inspirational to our life, work,
and activism. As people of color, we are making great strides in terms
of our representation on the stage, yet we are not equally represented
in the audience. Even when it is work celebrating our histories,
experiences, and cultures - we are often scantily present in the
theaters, auditoriums, galleries, etc.
Out of that absence, of note was
created. Its mission is to increase our access
to and participation in the arts that celebrate people of color. The artistic works presented by of note demonstrate a commitment to global citizenship and social change.
Grace Aneiza ali grace.ali@ofnotemagazine.org
Sandrine Colard sandrine.colard@ofnotemagazine.org
Julien De Bock julien.debock@ofnotemagazine.org
Shahnaz Habib shahnaz.habib@ofnotemagazine.org
Clarence Haynes clarence.haynes@ofnotemagazine.org
M. Soledad Sklate soledad.sklate@ofnotemagazine.org
Stella Vincenot-Dash
[email protected]
www.ofnotemagazine.org
� of note 2008. All Rights Reserved.
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