Week 05: ATSNYC 2020
alright- week five down still going fairly close on track for 4 museum/cultural institutions a week.
The Center for Jewish History
the center for jewish history is a “collaborative home” for five partner organizations and a smithsonian affiliate.
Yeshiva University Museum (more on them below)
the exhibitions i saw were Russ & Daughters: an Appetizing Story- as a life long new yorker, Russ and Daughters is a lower east side classic. the display case exhibition looked at the 105 year history up to present complete with long time employee profiles, a focus on the role of the women of the family and a recreated deli counter.
another notable exhibition was All in the Family- Photographs from Across the Jewish World, a glimpse into personal family photographs from all five partner organizations.
the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the exhibition was the Rise of the Yiddish Machines: The Typewriter and Yiddish Literature. at the turn of the 20th century, when typewriters were becoming the way for writers to write (move over pen and ink) and this was the case for those writing in yiddish as well (not to be confused with hebrew- they had side by side typewriters to show the nuance). they also had a typewriter visitors could try out for themselves which is a nice touch as 20thC typewriters is definitely touch sensory experience.
noteworthy visitor info:
closed: saturdays and closes at 3:00pm on friday
late nights: open ‘til 8pm mondays and wednesdays
restroom: yes
cafe: no (BUT currently selling select russ and daughters items at the front desk)
bookstore: yes - two small gift shop carousels on the way out.
recommended reading/listening:
The Yeshiva University Museum
so, for the sake of the spreadsheet, i kept the yeshiva university museum separate from the center for jewish history. for all practical purposes, they don’t need to be listed twice on the list of museums and cultural institutions - OR- alternatively the other four organizations should be listed- either one. since the other four orgs.
never the less there were two exhibitions in two galleries. one exhibition was From A(gam) to Z(aritsky): Highlights of Israeli art from YU Museum’s Collection and Hey, Wow! The Art of Oded Halahmy.
noteworthy visitor info:
closed: saturdays and closes at 3:00pm on friday
late nights: open ‘til 8pm mondays and wednesdays
restroom: yes
cafe: no
bookstore: no specifically - center for jewish heritage gift shop carousels on the way out.
Printed Matter
printed matter is an addition to the traditional Wikipedia list (which i will be tinkering with in January 2021-once my museum goal is complete). print matter is one of my favorite institutions in new york city. i look forward to the NY Art Book Fair every year, like it is my own personal christmas- 2020 will be my 10th year going.
the official narrative of the founding of Printed Matter (PM) is on PM’s website- in a 2015 panel discussion the founding was discussed. the start, like many things in new york city in the 70’s, was collaborative and there are many ways the remaining founders recall. which is to say, some details are still disputed but all in warm regards. key founders include Sol LeWitt, Lucy Lippard, Carol Androcchio, Amy Baker (Sandback), Edit DeAk, Mike Glier, Nancy Linn, Walter Robinson, Ingrid Sischy, Pat Steir, Mimi Wheeler, Robin White and Irena von Zahn. PM is a leader world-wide dedicated to “the dissemination, understanding, and appreciation of artists’ books.”
the current exhibition is Kandis Williams/the work of Cassandra Press. CASSANDRA Press is a publish project by Kandis Williams, Taylor Doran and Jordan Nassar. they publish lo-fi scanned/xeroxed “readers” around specific themes be it literary, historical or theoretical. for the exhibition a bound edition was produced along with posters and re-reprinted readers available to purchase.
the night i went to printed matter was 1. go see the exhibition and space 2. see a conversation between artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed and critic Jessica Lynne, 3. pick up my purchased copy of No New Theories.
noteworthy visitor info:
there are now two locations: Printed Matter Main and Printed Matter St. Marks
late nights: open til 7pm MTWS open til 8 Thus&F
restroom: yes
cafe: no
bookstore: the whole space is a bookstore plus exhibition space
Gallery Korea
getting to Gallery Korea at the Korean Cultural Center is a bit difficult. their hours are 9am-5pm and extended hours are hard to come by (they did have one late night on Jan 29th but i missed even tho i had checked their website fairly regularly and even called to find out if they happened to be open on MLK day). thankfully, my day job is not far and i could stop by on my lunch break. i really wanted to see the exhibition Nam June Paik: The Maestro of Time. the paik exhibition was put on to celebrate the korean cultural center’s 40th birthday. paik nam june paik is known as the grandfather of video art and prominent korean fluxus artist.
the gallery show was of three major pieces. a massive video piece: M200, a smaller work: Video Chandelier No.4, and photo documentation of Nam June Paik Gut Series performed in 1990 by photographer Jae Young Choi.
the wall text was in both english and korean, and had sweet little illustrations in two corners. a fun fact about paik that i didn’t know was that he and joseph beuys were best friends- i knew they hung out in the same fluxus circles and that beuys appears in paik’s video collages but its always nice to know when artists are friends :)
museum goal completed: 17/240