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abc no rio

This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Have Your Cake & Smash It Too

by Michael Anthony Farley on February 6, 2017

Welcome to the new normal. We at AFC have noticed a decline in artistic output from Brooklyn’s DIY scene as of late, while commercial galleries and institutions in Manhattan (and a few in Queens) have been gearing-up for battle mode with politically-charged programming. We’re hoping this is because everyone in Brooklyn is too busy thinking about resistance, and not because they’ve fled the country.

Tuesday night, The New School is hosting a talk about female bodies online, and Wednesday, the New Museum is opening a massive Raymond Pettibon show. After checking it out, head down the block to ICP, where curators will be discussing the loaded Perpetual Revolution: The Image and Social Change. More talks will come Thursday, such as the Brooklyn Museum’s call to defend immigrants and the Flux Factory/ABC No Rio potluck/opening/discussion about artists’ mutual aid in times like these. Friday night, take a break from political angst to get lost in the dreamy paintings of Jordan Kasey at Nicelle Beauchene, or the likely dreamier office set E.S.P. TV has staged at Pioneer Works. The weekend brings more great art and opportunities for creative resistance: be sure to check out the Queens Museum’s event to build climate change resistance coalitions between artists and activists.

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Tuesday Links: News for End Times

by Paddy Johnson on January 10, 2017

That bird in the background looks ominous.

Is it time to start worrying that Donald Trump will actually place an overall cap on deductions? The Art Newspaper has a piece on how this change could effect museum income. (Long story short it would be a catastrophe.) But this is one thing I’m not worried about. Donald Trump will want better ways of sheltering his money from the IRS than continually bankrupting himself. This is a very easy means to that end. [The Art Newspaper]
A bi-partisan group of women have decided it would be a great idea to have a women’s history museum in the national mall in DC and are asking for Donald Trump’s support. My first impulse was to wonder why anyone would want the support of a self professed pussy-grabber but than I remembered that America elected this man, so they now need his support to get this done. *Wipes tears.* [The New York Times]
Activist artist Dread Scott gets a profile. I expect we’ll be hearing a lot from this artist over the next four years. [ARTnews]
Artists and activists look back on the three month long residency “Decolonize This Space” at Artist’s Space. Artist Betty Yu talked about the need to be more creative with protests because people don’t want to out to the same old ones. Is this really true? I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a protest because I thought it was clever or was doing something different. I go because I want to express my support in the cause. [Hyperallergic]
ABC No Rio’s total rebuild of their space has hit a snag. Higher than anticipated building costs. [Curbed]
The end times are near. A Williamsburg cafe is now selling $9 unicorn lattes. [Gothamist]

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Goodbye To All That: “InFinite Futures” and “The Past Will Be Present” at ABC No Rio

by Emily Colucci on June 23, 2016

In the contemporary Lower East Side–a neighborhood of unlimited brunch spots, luxury condos and pristine white-walled galleries, artist-run punk haven ABC No Rio stands defiant as a welcome anachronism. Whether interpreted as a graffiti-covered blight or a monument to the heavily romanticized culture spawned downtown in the late 20th century, ABC No Rio has acted as a hub for a community of artists for over three decades. The space remains inexorably tied to the last gasps of the neighborhood’s gritty essence, which is why the plans for its sleek renovation seem almost shocking.

With the demolition and reconstruction finally on the horizon after years of delays due to bureaucratic red tape (AFC even published a series of interviews on ABC No Rio in 2012 in anticipation of its forthcoming closure), the nagging question remains: will the experience of ABC No Rio be the same without the fear of falling through their stairs or tumbling into some industrial waste in the backyard?

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Thursday Links: It Sucks to Be Pyotr Pavlensky

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on May 19, 2016

If you’ve ever wanted to get up close to “The Port of Rotterdam” by Paul Signac without visiting the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, now’s your chance.

The Google Cultural Institute has begun archiving famous artworks with gigapixel images, which contain over one billion pixels. You can now zoom in on images of paintings by Van Gogh, Pissarro, and more down to the brushstrokes. Google sees these documents as a tool for conservators, and also a chance to replicate the experience of seeing an artwork “in person”. Walter Benjamin is rolling in his grave. [Google]

Art activist group “BP or Not BP” has staged an intervention at the British Museum, protesting BP’s sponsorship of the show “Sunken Cities”. Activists say that the sponsorship legitimizes the oil company as a leader of climate change. [Hyperallergic]

We haven’t listened to this podcast yet, but it sounds interesting. Museums are increasingly buying contemporary art, which some consider a gamble, as what does well on the art market might not have much cultural weight in a permanent collection in a decade or two. [Quartz]

Legendary LES squat/art space ABC No Rio will be demolished soon. The current historic building is structurally deficient, but the collective has raised funds to replace it with a new, hyper-energy-efficient structure, so all is not lost. [Curbed]

“The fragility of freedom is the simplest and deepest lesson of my life and work,” wrote Fritz Stern, a leading German Historian who died in his home in Manhattan at the age of 90. He spent a lifetime trying to understand the circumstances that lead to Nazi Germany. [The New York Times]

Arthur Fellig, A.K.A. “Weegee” was a crime reporter who captured a lot of New York’s colorful streetlife and nightlife in the twentieth century. An exhibition focused on his photos of the Bowery of yesteryear will be opening soon at Mana Contemporary, and it looks like it’s going to be a fun show. [ArtAsiaPacific]

Pyotr Pavlensky, the Russian protest artist who famously nailed his balls to the Red Square, has had a rough year. He’s in prison, where he alleges he was beaten by guards so severely they broke several ribs. [Artforum]

And today, Russian courts convicted Pavlensky for his involvement in protests agains the Putin regime’s invasion of the Ukraine. [ARTnews]

Cara Ober intervies Hans Haacke about art schools, the Cooper Union debacle, and institutional critique. It’s a good read. [BmoreArt]

To counter a $3 million budget deficit, director Anne Pasternak is offering Brooklyn Museum staff buyouts. The museum employs over 300 people, and is facing rises in operating expenses. [artnet News]

And in other Brooklyn controversies, social media is super pissed about news that Williamsburg’s Hasidim are receiving a disproportionate share of New York City’s Section 8 housing vouchers. This anger is largely attributed to the fact that the insular religious sect owns so much property in the city, and as landlords, are blamed for escalating rents and gentrification—particularly against people of color—all while providing low-income housing for members of their own religion who opt not to work. Here’s the exposé that started it all. [New York Daily News]

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“The Real Estate Show” Slideshow and Commentary

by Whitney Kimball on April 8, 2014

Thirty years later, the site of the “Real Estate Show” is finally getting developed. Original “Real Estate Show” members have mixed feelings.

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Fiery Paintings and an Opera Called “Crash”

by Paddy Johnson Whitney Kimball and Corinna Kirsch on April 7, 2014

So, so much to do.

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The Historic “Real Estate Show” Returns

by Whitney Kimball on April 3, 2014

The 1980 “Real Estate Show,” the seed which became ABC No Rio, is back.

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A Look at The Creative Time Summit: Gentrification, Gentrification, and Gentrification

by John Powers on November 5, 2013

Generalizing about gentrification.

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Memorial to an Art Scene: The Gordon Kurtti Project at Participant Inc.

by Whitney Kimball on July 11, 2013

In the scope of New York City history, seven years isn’t much time. For the East Village art scene, though, it was a lifetime, and for artist Gordon Kurtti, it was an entire career. After a brief but bright formation in the East Village performance scene, Kurtti passed away in 1987, at age 26, of AIDS-related complications; twenty-six years later, a mini-retrospective at Participant Inc. acquaints us with his life and work. It’s an intimate memorial for Kurtti, but it’s also a story of community, and the meaning of comings and goings.

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Back to Brooklyn. And Chim↑Pom!

by Whitney Kimball on March 11, 2013

What’s Chim↑Pom, you ask? See for yourself in this week’s art events.

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abc no rio

This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Back to Brooklyn. And Chim↑Pom!

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