Karen Finley performed at the Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, 172 Norfolk St., Thursday night at the launching of the Friends of The Angel Orensanz Foundation. Entertainment also featured robotic music programmed specially for the space, a former German Jewish Reform synagogue. Two brothers from Spain, Angel and Al Orensanz, bought the boarded-up building in 1986 and turned it into a thriving arts and events space. Local art critics Thomas McEvilley and Carlo McCormick provided a historical overview of the Lower East Side and spoke on gentrification’s effects. Councilmember Alan Gerson and Borough President C. Virginia Fields presented proclamations to the Orensanzes.
