WPKN Archives Archive Feed: realartways

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis: Episode 37: Structive (De, Con & In)

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 11:00:00 GMT

On this month's show the first guests are Artist/Curator David Borawski and Artist Liz Sweibel to talk about their exhibit Abductions and Reconstructions up now at Real Art Ways in Hartford. Featuring the artists Meg Hitchcock, Ryan Sarah Murphy, Liz Sweibel, Abductions and Reconstructions offers fresh takes on abstraction, collage, and sculpture with works that are at once intricate and tough. The three artists present a diverse range of aesthetic considerations: Meg Hitchcock often uses letters from one text, such as the Bible, to craft passages in another text, like the Quran. Regarding this process, Hitchcock says:

“…by deconstructing and recombining the holy books of diverse religions, I undermine their authority and animate the common thread that weaves through all scripture.”

Ryan Sarah Murphy’s cardboard reliefs could be aerial views of farmland, architecture plans, or political maps of imaginary nations. She crafts these objects with a sense of seriousness and play befitting the found, casual nature of her materials. Liz Sweibel uses both found and acquired materials in her precarious sculptures and assemblages. Sweibel says

“The process is low-tech, immediate, and improvisational, and primarily takes form as spare, abstract sculpture, installation, and drawing.”

Abductions and Reconstructions is at RealArtWays, 56 Arbor St, Hartford and runs from Feb 15- April 8.

More about Real Art Ways here

During the second half we talk on the phone with artist Aliza Shvarts whose forthcoming exhibit at Artspace New Haven, Aliza Shvarts: Off Scene runs from May 11 - Jun 30. . Aliza recently ran a workshop based on her Banners Project as a part of the current Code Breakers Exhibit at The Ely Center for Contemporary Art, which invited women and gender variant people to exchange of stories in which the internet left them vulnerable to public shaming, and how these individual experiences of shame can be transformed to galvanize a collective demand. The title Aliza Shvarts: Off Scene, references the artists’ investment in performance, one that shifts our attention from the center to the social, historical, and material surround. At once linguistic and bodily, “off scene” refers to the circulation of gossip, rumor, viral text, and other forms of knowing. Using text, video,and audio she explores issues of how the body means and matters, how the subject consents and dissents.

The opening reception is Friday, May 18, 5-8pm. On Friday, May 18 from 6-8pm, Shvarts will host a roundtable discussion with Robert Post (Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School), Reva Siegel (Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Professor of Law, Yale Law School), which will consider the aesthetic, legal, and ideological frameworks that choreograph the body’s capacity to produce meaning within the fictive or the real. This event is free and open to the public. Artspace is located at 50 Orange Street in New Haven, CT.

more about Artspace here

This episode of Live Culture also features a new song performed by Jody Stecher in protest of the gun violence t in this Country. Cousins Jay Feldman and Jody Stecher found they each were hit hard by the Florida school shootings. Jay began writing a song expressing his feelings about it. Jody helped him finish the song. Also on the show will be an excerpt of music from the soundtrack to the film Ladybird by Jon Brion, and a song from The Mammals.

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis --episode 24 february 2017

Sat, 25 Feb 2017 10:59:35 GMT

History Lessons-- WPKN is celebrating this Black History Month with a rich variety of special programming. With that in mind, February's Live Culture focuses on powerful images relating to politics, past protest, and the traces of History surrounding us.

During the first half of the show I am in conversation with curator La Tanya S. Autry, the Marcia Brady Tucker Senior Fellow, in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Yale University Art Gallery, about her latest exhibition Let Us March On: Lee Friedlander and the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. This major show focuses on early civil rights images being exhibited for the first time, in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the march. Lee Friedlander’s photographs offer a rare glimpse of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, a critical moment in American civil rights history.

On May 17, 1957 thousands of people united in front of the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C. At this first large-scale gathering of African Americans on the National Mall, elegantly clad protesters called on federal authorities to enforce desegregation, support voting rights, and combat racial violence. Friedlander documented the crowds as well as the illustrious figures who attended or spoke at the march, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Ella Baker, Mahalia Jackson, and Harry Belafonte. Dr King gave his iconic "Give Us The Ballot" address at this gathering. La Tanya has organized an exciting roster of events in tandem with the exhibition and we will talk about the work, it's relationship to events and protests today, and the on-going battle for justice in the United States.

During the second half we catch up with artist and curator David Borawski, about his plethora of projects including showing his work in the forthcoming exhibitions: Present Danger at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, Equators, a collaborative art project at the Housatonic Museum in Bridgeport, and the forthcoming Mincing Words: The Tactile Language of Unrest, at The Institute Library, New Haven.

David's conceptually driven installations reflect upon iconic cultural and societal events that have influenced major shifts in our collective consciousness, but which now we may be near the point of forgetting. His immersive works use text, video and mixed media - including found objects - to invoke such charged historic moments as the Black Panther trials in New Haven. He has spoken of past events as being "uncanny precursors to present-day realities", a sentiment which permeates his work. David is also busy organizing exhibitions of other artist's work including Any World That I'm Welcome To, up now at Dehn Gallery at MCC on Main in Manchester, Ct., and Lost and Found, which just closed at Real Art Ways in Hartford, Ct.

Live Culture- Episode 13

Sat, 26 Mar 2016 11:00:23 GMT

This month’s guests are artist Mohamad Hafez who has an exhibit at Real Art Ways, Hartford, and Robyn Shapiro, deputy director of the Lowline, a project taking place in Manhattan to create the world’s first underground park.

We begin in conversation with Mohamad Hafez, whose exhibit Desperate Cargo opened at Real Art Ways in Hartford on March 17th. Syrians worldwide continue to struggle to comprehend the recent aftermath of the Arab spring and its impact on their home country. What initially began as a Syrian uprising against injustice, tyranny, and marginalization of the country’s populace is now resulting in the largest humanitarian crisis of the 21st Century.

An artist and architect, Hafez was born in Damascus, raised in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and educated in the United States. Hafez’s art reflects the political turmoil in the Middle East through the compilation of found objects, paint and scrap metal. Using his architectural skills, Hafez creates political microcosms of life in this fraught environment. Desperate Cargo is a multimedia installation that incorporates a life raft, miniature elements, and photography, focussing on the war and the current refugee crisis facing us all now.

Desperate Cargo is on view until April 24th at Real Art Ways Hartford,to find out more:
http://www.realartways.org/event/mohamad-hafez/2016-03-12/

visit Mohamad's website here: http://www.mohamadhafez.com/

The charity organization Aid All Syrians here: http://www.aidallsyrians.org/

During the second half of the show, Martha will be in discussion with Robyn Shapiro, deputy director of The Lowline - the world’s first underground park, slated to open in 2020, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We will discuss the technology, artistry, and challenges that are involved in such a massive undertaking and why this could be a model for other such projects globally. Robyn oversees many of The Lowline’s core activities, from community engagement to strategic projects, including The Young Designers Program, which focuses on solar power projects with students.

The Lowline proposes innovative solar technology to illuminate the historic Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal, just below Delancey Street. The site was opened in 1908 but has been unused since 1948 when trolley service was discontinued. Despite six decades of neglect, the space still retains remnant cobblestones, crisscrossing rail tracks and vaulted ceilings. It is also directly adjacent to the existing JMZ subway track at the Essex Street subway stop– so park visitors and subway riders would interact daily. This hidden historic site is located in one of the least green areas of New York City— presenting a unique opportunity to reclaim unused space for public good.

Designed by James Ramsey of Raad Studio, the proposed solar technology involves the creation of a “remote skylight.” In this approach, sunlight passes through a glass shield above the parabolic collector, and is reflected and gathered at one focal point, and directed underground. Sunlight is transmitted onto a reflective surface on the distributor dish underground, transmitting that sunlight into the space. This technology would transmit the necessary wavelengths of light to support photosynthesis, enabling plants and trees to grow. During periods of sunlight, electricity would not be necessary to light the space.

Currently The Lowline Lab is open -- a free community gathering space that displays cutting-edge solar technology and serves as a laboratory for lighting and horticulture experiments. The Lab also features cultural and community events. By 2020, The Lowline aims to have completed negotiations with the MTA and the City to build and operate the underground park.

Visitors may visit The Lowline Lab during the weekends, until 2017: http://www.thelowline.org/get-involved/lowline-lab/