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Arts
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Harold Varmus, the National Institute of Health's director under Bill Clinton, was quite the late bloomer. He didn't decide to study science until his first year in a Ph.D. program in English lit. Tonight, at the Free Library, he'll discuss how he was so self-unaware for so long (and how he got the balls to change course so late in the game), as well as the inner workings of big-budget science, his research on cancer-causing genes and stem cell research. Which, unsurprisingly, he digs.
Tue., July 14, 7:30 p.m., free, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, library.phila.gov.
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Itching for Philly Fringe already? There's a preview tonight of the festival's FATEBOOK, which Obie winner Whit MacLaughlin will be directing, and it looks, uh, interesting. And very apropos:
FATEBOOK explores what happens when our online relationships collide with our physical ones. A massive undertaking with 13 central characters and 100 secondary characters, audiences attend FATEBOOK in person at the Festival and online (go to www.fatebooktheshow.com and learn how you can "friend" the characters). In the online world, the actors communicate in character with each other and with you, building an ever-expanding network of relationships and memories that are both real and imagined.
Take a look at one of the weirdo auditions above (and see more here). Oh, and if you plan on attending tonight, be sure to RSVP to robin@livearts-fringe.org right quick.
Wed., July 8, 7 p.m., free, Philadelphia Arts Bank, 601 S. Broad St., 215-4139-006, fatebooktheshow.com.
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
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| Trek Project |
The folks over at the A-Space are leading a discussion on how Americans see themselves in the world and there's actually an occasion, other than it being a regular old Wednesday, for it. It's a fundraiser for the Trek Project, a documentary that'll be following around kids from Philly and New York City this summer as they build a school in a Nigerian village. They're planning to address all sorts of questions that should be addressed but very rarely are like, do these visits do more good than bad? It's free, but donations will be happily accepted.
Also, as a side note: We're psyched about Pterodactyl's screen printing class tonight. If you need a refresher on why, check out Sherri Hospedales' article about the new snobbery-free art space here.
Wed., June 24, 8:30-10:30 p.m., free, A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave., 215-727-0882, the-aspace.org.
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| the artblog |
Earlier this month, Molly Eichel clued you in on the North Philadelphia Puberty Survivors Support Forum a weirdo art event wherein people discussed their funniest, worst, most life-ruining puberty stories. It complimented John O'Donnell's exhibit "Salad Days," a multimedia installation at FLUXspace that explored that horrible time in everyone's life. In case you were wondering how it went, the ladies over at the artblog have a great summary:
The group was predominately female, however the Moderator did a bang-up job eliciting juicy prepubescent recollections from the males in the group. One topic where the females were unanimously clueless, and the males in absolute secret agreement was The best way to hide a spontaneous erection that popped-up at the wrong time Tuck it under the belt.
Other topics during the nearly three-hour long meeting ranged from periods to first ejaculations, from training bras to first encounters with pornography, and everything in between. Irony and utter-relief ruled the tone of the room, and everyone seemed to feel lighter as they related to their peers recollections of that trying period of young-adult life.
Sounds, um, uncomfortable. But funny. Check out O'Donnell's great works here.
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
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| PBQ |
This improvisational story slam, hosted by the folks from Painted Bride Quarterly, isn't for the weak at heart you have to write your work there, in a matter of minutes, and then bet on how well you're going to do. While you're at it, be sure to check out the PBQ, which has featured such artists as Amy Touchette, whose photograph of the Manhattan stripper BOB is pictured above. More of her great B&W pieces here.
Tue., June 9, 7:30 p.m., free, Bubble House, 3404 Sansom St., 215-243-0804, pbq.drexel.edu.
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| PMA |
| The True Artists Helps the World By Revealing Mystic Truths |
So, this is a wee late but it's a big frickin' deal so we're Clogging it anyway: This weekend, the Philadelphia Museum of Art landed the Venice Bienalle's "Golden Lion" award for Bruce Nauman's exhibit "Topological Gardens." This is basically the equivalent of winning a gold medal in the Olympics, as far as the art world goes. From the Washington Post:
Now, in the ultimate art-world accolade, Nauman is the subject of this year's American pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale, which opened here yesterday, bigger than it's ever been and often better as well, and closes on Nov. 22. Nauman's mini-retrospective in the U.S. pavilion, titled "Topological Gardens," has spread to two other Venetian venues, the first time such a thing has happened to any nation's artist at the Biennale. To top everything off, on Saturday the Biennale announced that Nauman's show had won its Golden Lion prize for best national pavilion.
Congrats to the U.S., Nauman and, of course, the PMA!
Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Just in case you haven't seen this fabulous man in drag, singing beautiful songs and wearing beautiful dresses yet see him tonight.
Thu., June 4, 8 p.m., $10, L'Etage, Sixth & Bainbridge streets, 215-592-0656, creperie-beaumonde.com.
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Don't know what to do tonight? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Admit it: You've wanted to prove a vegetarian wrong before. Shit, I was a vegetarian for five years and I still want to prove 'em wrong but we rarely do, because they're often better versed about their diet than the average omnivore is.
In The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability, Lierre Keith argues that, despite their good intentions, plant eaters are just as guilty of devastating forests, killing entire species and changing the climate as their meaty counterparts. Our reliance on grain is the chief reason for this, Keith says, and to make a true difference, we must upend the agricultural industry all together. Or, in her own words:
We are urban industrialists, and we dont know the origins of our food. This includes vegetarians, despite their claims to the truth. It included me, too, for twenty years. Anyone who ate meat was in denial; only I had faced the facts. Certainly, most people who consume factory-farmed meat have never asked what died and how it died. But frankly, neither have most vegetarians.
See! Vegetarians are just as bad as meat eaters! Told ya told ya told ya! I can finally prove them wrong!
Oh, wait. I suppose that means I'm guilty too, huh? Thankfully, Keith also outlines how exactly we're supposed to crawl out of this agricultural mess a mighty task that will require both in-denial omnivores and in-denial vegetarians to finally face the truth.
Mon., June 1, 7 p.m., free, Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane, 215-844-1870, bigbluemarblebooks.com.
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In this week's paper, I wrote about tapestry artist Susan M. Hess. (And, for the record I did not know this before tapestry does not refer to the poor décor that college students rely on, but to woven pieces of art that incorporate illustrated poetry.) Here's what I said about her upcoming exhibit:
It's no wonder artist Susan M. Hess used Emily Dickinson's poetry as therapy. The famous recluse had a way of making ennui feel fun, or at least funny in the poem "I'm Nobody" (which inspired Hess' exhibit), she jokes, "How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog." Hess' needlework, precious and proper, depicts Dickinson's words. Next to the stitched-out poem "A Great Hope Fell," which explores how despair sucks you in like a rip current, Hess sewed a rosy pink blind, shut tight without a speck of sunlight coming in. And there's nothing funny about that.
Here's more from my talk with her:
City Paper: Have you loved Emily Dickinson since being forced to read her in middle school? Or was it something you've come to enjoy recently?
Susan M. Hess: I actually hadn't read any of her work until just a few years ago. I was teaching piano to children, and kept an Advent calendar around to read off to them, which one day said that it was the anniversary of her birthday. So on a whim I bought a book of her's and felt very connected to it right away.
CP: You say in your artist's statement that you use her work as therapy, which is interesting because she's pretty dark at times.
SH: Oh yeah, she was a recluse most of her life. But that made her able to describe pain, depression, death and psychology in a way that few people can, which is why I was drawn to her.
CP: Do you see your work as an homage to her then?
SH: Not really. Freud says the subconscious thinks in images, and I think that that's what I was doing here. Prior to this, I didn't think I was an artist, but I knew I could sew things so I made art in the way that I knew how, in response to someone who inspired me to.
To read more on Hess' exhibit, which begins June 3, click here.
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| NKCDC |
An art installation, duh. I happenstanced upon it while biking on Frankford Avenue the other day (it's around the Rocket Cafe/Circle Thrift area). I immediately thought it looked an awful lot like an installation, but kids were playing throughout it and adults were drinking nearby. As I got closer, I realized it was a full-on birthday party, complete with balloons and everything, so I figured I was wrong.
NKCDC's Web site confirms that some kid, in fact, had a pretty bougie b-day this "Caterpillar Theater" piece was donated to the corporation, and it was originally part of Design Philadelphia's A Clean Break exhibit last October. The NKCDC is smartly booking performances at it throughout the summer. I think it would make for a pretty cool alternative to the standing-near-pretty-but-boring-trees photo everyone takes for their prom/wedding/graduation.
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