Kurt Cobain Watches “Smells Like Teen Spirit” For 1st Time @RSHotel
A Spectrum of Jewels: An installation by Kaz Maslanka
Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by DanielKalmar in Arts, LAB Gallery
March 5-26th, 2010, New York City– The Lab (for Installation and Performance Art) is pleased to announce the upcoming installation “A Spectrum of Jewels” by San Diego based artist/poet/mathematician Kaz Maslanka.
“A Spectrum Of Jewels” will feature what Maslanka calls a ‘Dodecaorthogonal Space Poem’. This type of ‘mathematical poem’ is constructed with twelve ‘orthogonal space poems’ arranged contiguously within a Cartesian coordinate system. Orthogonal space poems are always in the form of ‘A’ equals ‘B’ multiplied by ‘C’. What is different in this new work is that one of the variables in each poem is a fabricated word whose meaning comes from the mathematical operation applied to the other two variables (words). The words were carefully chosen to point to a spectrum inspired by Zen teachings. Thus, the aesthetic value of the piece is derived from visualizing the meaning of all the concepts spread throughout the entire three dimensional space.
The following statements are to help navigate the installation:
The yellow ball is the point of origin for the entire system. The green balls are points in space which represent the meaning of a concept which lies on one of the ‘word axes’. A word axis is a one dimensional line drawn between two concepts in space. In a three dimensional space you may have three ‘word axes’. The three word axes in this installation are “Emptiness/Thinking”, “Existence/Non-existence” and “Monasticism/Urbanity”. The red balls are points in space to delineate the coordinate pairs for which the orthogonal space poem starts. The poem lies on the planer space that lies between the red ball, the two adjacent green balls and the yellow ball. For a better understanding of visualizing these poems you may want to Google “verbogeometry” and “Orthogonal Space Poem”.
The twelve orthogonal space poems are:
Emptiness times Urbanity = Socrastival
Emptiness times Monasticism = Apecksuval
Emptiness times Existence = Doalldoxuval
Emptiness times Non-existence = Nonalldoxuval
Thinking times Urbanity = Selcrasaval
Thinking times Monasticism = Taoodoxuval
Thinking times Existence = Wastconditival
Thinking times Non-existence = Dreemholeval
Existence times Urbanity = Natucrasaval
Existence times Monasticism = Onkeval
Non-existence times Urbanity = Boidasval
Non-existence times Monasticism = Onkeval
For more information, or to schedule an interview with the artist, please contact Danika Druttman 212.339.2092
La Incubadora at the LAB Gallery 1.14.10 – 2.10.10
Posted on 12. Jan, 2010 by AdamWallace in Arts, LAB Gallery
January 14 – February 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009-The LAB (for installation + performance art), in association with SLAG Gallery, has been converted by Grimanesa Amorós into ”LA INCUBADORA”, which will be featuring “You Cannot Feel It…I Wish You Could” a sculpture installation arising out of her personal experiences during and immediately following her pregnancy with her daughter Shammiel. The installation explores the interplay between biology and society and particularly the concept of male pregnancy.
“During my pregnancy with my daughter, and afterwards when I was nursing her, I noticed how curious her father was about my experiences,” recalls Amorós. “I wanted to create a piece around motherhood, and the unbridgeable gulf between the male and female bodies, specifically in the area of reproduction. Then I began to imagine ways in which that gulf might be bridged. I am re-envisioning The Lab Gallery as a warm human incubator, in contrast to the cold exterior of Manhattan, yet concurrently reflecting its sterility. This is a new way to present “You Cannot Feel It…I Wish You Could” that works with my current sensibilities while still staying true to the original sculptures.”
The installation is comprised of eleven “clones” of a new kind of human body: a pregnant female torso with the same male head attached to each of them. The casts were taken from a mold made from the artist’s body one week before she gave birth to her daughter. The floor beneath and around the body-casts is covered with soft, pale sand referencing the earth as a foundation for biological manipulation.
The lighting in the space and the music, a collaboration with composer Meshell Ndegeocello, who created a piece of music made specifically for the installation, reinforces the magical quality that many of us feel when confronting the wonders (or monsters?) of modern science.
Grimanesa Amorós is an interdisciplinary artist with diverse interests in the fields of social history, scientific research and critical theory, which have greatly influenced her work. She often makes use of sculpture, video, and lighting to create works that illuminate our notions of personal identity and community. Amorós utilizes her art as an agent for empowerment to involve viewers from all different backgrounds and communities. She was born in Lima. Lives and works in New York City and Peru.
For more information or to schedule an interview with the artist or for an invitation to the opening night dinner please contact Danika Druttman at ddruttman@rogersmith.com or call (212) 339-2092.
THE LAB (for installation + performance art) is a New York based, converted storefront turned fishbowl producing 20+ fast paced performance art and installation exhibitions annually. Aimed at the furious midtown foot traffic, THE LAB’s programming is designed to confront modern relationships between art and audience and seeks to force interaction between high energy, “outrospective” exhibitions and nearly 25,000 daily passersby. For more information, call 212-339-2092, or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com. www.thelabgallery.com
Many Faces of Roger Smith: Matt Semler, Director of the LAB Gallery
Posted on 28. Dec, 2009 by AdamWallace in Arts, LAB Gallery
The Many Faces of Roger Smith introduces the world to the personalities of the staff at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York. This interview is with Matt Semler, founder of Roger Smith Arts and creative director of the Lab Gallery. Matt discusses all of the various aspects of the Roger Smith Arts programing and shares personal stories from his first memories of New York City to his time as a professional sailor.
Forty Weeks: A performance-installation By Kata Mejía (Videos)
Posted on 28. Dec, 2009 by AdamWallace in Art at Roger Smith, Arts, LAB Gallery
Forty Weeks: A performance-installation
By Kata Mejía November 9-13th, 2009
At the LAB Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel
“Forty Weeks” is a performance-installation that celebrates the miracle of life and the act of giving birth. It represents the time a mother carries her child during pregnancy and explores various aspects of motherhood including nurturing, the relationship between mother and child, and the intimacy of breast feeding. The artist uses repetition to present the first stages of life as an accumulation of time and a period of growth.
Forty Weeks, Part I
Forty Weeks, Part II
KATA MEJIA is a performance artist with a background in painting and dance who lives and works in Philadelphia, USA. She graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Masters degree in Performance in 2004. She received her BFA from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellin. She has been awarded several grants and scholarships, including the James Nelson Raymond Fellowship in 2004, the Trustee Scholarship from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, a Colombian Government Scholarship for Graduate Studies abroad, and a Graduate Studies Scholarship from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 2002. Kata Mejía received a 2009 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
www.katamejia.com
THE LAB (for installation + performance art) is a New York based, converted storefront turned fishbowl producing 20+ fast paced performance art and installation exhibitions annually. Aimed at the furious midtown foot traffic, THE LAB’s programming is designed to confront modern relationships between art and audience and seeks to force interaction between high energy, “outrospective” exhibitions and nearly 25,000 daily passersbys. For more information, call 212-339-2092, or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com.
www.thelabgallery.com
Trailer Video: San Antonio Casts a Spell
Posted on 28. Nov, 2009 by DanielKalmar in Arts, LAB Gallery
Potter-Belmar Labs set up a temporary studio in a little shed in New York/San Antonio-based artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz’s backyard during one of his infamous parties, and asked San Antonians to cast spells for the world at-large. “San Antonio Casts a Spell” is a video installation that presents these incantations, delivering a little South Texan hoodoo to the masses.
“San Antonio Casts a Spell” will include eight videos presented in the windows of The LAB (for installation + performance art). Visitors will be able to call a special toll-free number 866.820.5327 and hear specific instructions for each spell, while watching videos of the spells being cast, including Finding Lost Things, Sleep Deserved and Deep, Clear Transmissions, and more.
PURGATION OF NIKE a performance installation by ROBERT C. MORGAN
Posted on 22. Oct, 2009 by AdamWallace in Arts, LAB Gallery
The Lab (for Installation and Performance Art) was pleased to present the performance installation by Robert C. Morgan titled “The Purgation of Nike (1974-1984/2009)”. The piece is based on a 1984 professional studio recording of Morgan’s voice slowed down while reading excerpts from an old swim manual published in the late 1930s. The sound resembles a Tantric Buddhist chant and is the source that inspired the work.
PURGATION OF NIKE
by Robert C. Morgan
photographs by Adam Wallace
The space of the gallery was painted black, with a red glow in one corner and a large sand circle in the center. There was a steaming pot of water to one side, placed on an electric coil, lit with a halogen light. A rotating sequence of 20 digital images of the artists hands (photographed in 1974) were looped on two small monitors in the corner, and a large painting (1984) of a colossal leg rested against the adjacent wall, also lit by halogen.
The 30-minute performance took place Tuesday October 20, 2009 and involved the sound of the tape as Morgan marked the sand through a series of circular movements that constitute ideographic signs.
A collection of videos from the show:
For more information, or to schedule an interview with the artist, please contact Danika Druttman 212.339.2092
http://www.thelabgallery.com
http://www.rogersmithlife.com
http://www.rogersmith.com
CORSETLESS
Posted on 10. Oct, 2009 by DanielKalmar in LAB Gallery
The LAB (for installation and performance art) and Stir – A Production House present the New York Premiere of Catherine Eaton’s powerful one woman show CORSETLESS. In this innovative drama, Ms. Eaton weaves together Shakespearean text from across the entire canon to create a new contemporary narrative. She tells the story of Olivia, a brilliant young woman struggling for her freedom in a mental hospital who communicates exclusively through the words of William Shakespeare. The action of the play takes place in the observation room of the sanitarium where Olivia is held in isolation. In a perfect marriage of subject matter and venue, this production takes full advantage of the unique character of the LAB Gallery space, raising the concept of ‘street theatre’ to a whole new level.
A glassed-in observation gallery visible to the street on the corner of 48th Street and Lexington Avenue, the LAB is the ideal site-specific setting in which to watch Olivia, stripped of her privacy, savagely defend her sanity using only the torn text of perhaps the greatest playwright of all time. Audiences will view Olivia as her doctors would, through the glass from a safe vantage point outside, privy to her private thoughts and behaviors through a state-of-the-art sound system. There is no charge for this event and “admission” is as unlimited as the sidewalks, though reserved spaces window-side are few.
Featuring an original score composed by award-winning concert pianist Elaine Kwon, CORSETLESS had a successful staged reading at New York’s Lincoln Center with the help of Tony-nominated director Ethan McSweeny and celebrated actor Austin Pendleton. It enjoyed a development run at Irish Classical Theatre in Buffalo directed by Derek Campbell and was described by critics as “a most rare vision, full of raw passion, tragic humor and unfiltered humanity” (Buffalo News), which “ekes delightful, unexpected moments of humor from Shakespeare’s most famous lines.” (Artvoice). Excerpts from the play were presented to a sold out crowd at Carnegie Hall as part of a benefit for Best Buddies, and Eaton toured Ireland with the show earlier this year.
This production is directed by Derek Campbell with the Voice of the Doctor recorded by Tom MacVittie, Set Design by Lynne Koscielniak, Original Sound Design by Tom Makar, and Original Costume Design by Susan Drozd. Performances will take place October 12th – 16th at 6pm at The LAB Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel (48th Street and Lexington). The running time is one hour fifteen minutes. For more information and ring-side reservations please email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com or call 212.339.2092.
Artist Interview: Carrie Ahern and Olek talk about “Covers”
Posted on 16. Sep, 2009 by AdamWallace in Art at Roger Smith, Arts, LAB Gallery
The LAB (for Installation + Performance Art) is pleased to announce a new collaboration between visual artist Olek and choreographer Carrie Ahern. “Covers, a morphing crochet installation presented to the Midtown-Manhattan passersby from within the fishbowl confines of The LAB Gallery will occur every Monday, Wednesday and Friday September 9th through September 25th during the evening rush hours (5:30-6:30pm).
Oleks three wearable sculptures, handmade of mostly recycled synthetic materials using classic crochet techniques and connected into one large crocheted sculpture, will be entered, separated and transformed into evolving images by performers Carrie Ahern, Jillian Hollis and Agata Oleksiak. The performance installation will raise questions of how ones own desires are projected onto the static objects one sees in store windows, and investigate how our desires shift when the objects become live women, both moving and changing the shape of the objects, and vulnerable to the audiences gaze. What is the residual relationship to the objects once disinhabited by the performers and left as a new static installation?
The live performance transformations will occur September 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, and 25th, 2009 from 5:30-6:30pm. The installation will be on view 24/7 September 9th 25th, 2009.
For more info on the artists visit www.carrieahern.com and www.agataolek.com.
SHIFTwork
Posted on 26. Apr, 2009 by DanielKalmar in LAB Gallery
SHIFTwork was a collaborative installation/performance investigating the perceptions of the artist’s method of production as “work” and the artist as a cultural worker. The space became a public studio for the exploration of the artist as “common worker” and an artistic activity that exposes the performance of painting as labor and cultural practice. This activity took the form of a series of work “shifts” that reflected labor patterns and “shiftwork” activity throughout the city.
From April 9th to 16th the public was able to view the artists on the job working/painting on a series of “live” in-situ works through the large windows of the corner street level gallery during their assigned shifts. During rush hour (5:30 – 6:30pm) on April 16th, Stitt and Welch alos had a live akshun performance within the space where they dismantled, cut-up, and constructed new works from the debris of the paintings they had been working on for distribution to the public, at no cost to them, before becoming marketable products available through curcioprojects. The residual installation and products/art remained on view through April 24th.
SHIFTwork was the first collaborative piece by Stitt and Welch. Internationally renowned cult performance artist, Andre Stitt first met a teenaged Fritz Welch, during a performance at the Commerce Street Artist’s Warehouse in Houston, Texas in 1989. They kept in communication with each other over the years and when Welch, now a sonic/visual artist, was curating Acute Zonal Occult Outer, a series of performances at The Drawing Center, NYC in 2006 he invited Stitt to create a piece.
SHIFTwork is supported by the Arts Council of Wales and Creative Wales Award.
Urban Way
Posted on 07. Mar, 2008 by DanielKalmar in LAB Gallery
I have developed this unique concept, Urban Way, to share the deversity of my culture with the rest of the World. During my performances, accompanied by live music, I paint some part of my body, face and hands as expression of Tolerance.
I came into contact with the subject at a very early age, and the artistic process gives me this force of conviction, this feeling of invincibility and the inner peace I seek. I’m like the pages of an open book blown by the winds of liberty. But I do not seek to make sense of my art because, to me, art is like life: if we look closely there is no sense, just emotion. That is what I wish to convey. Being a person who has suffered intolerance and persecution, I would have liked to stop being a victim and live like anyone else. But the past reminds me of who I am: an outsider. That is why my philosophy of including certain parts of my body in my art – namely my hands and face – to convey my emotions is for me therapeutic.
On one hand I draw a series of points, where each point symbolizes subjects, people in society. On the second hand I paint perpendicular and the circular lines, which symbolize the magnetism, vibrations, and energies of the world. It is also an act of protest, the rebellion of a man who cannot return home. This endeavour helps me cope with my current status as a man and a citizen of urban worlds, wandering around the globe. Music plays an important role in this work, especially when I’m performing. Because music in my work reflects the universal language of all cultures.
Welcome to the Urban Way
Issa Nyaphaga
