Art Talk
Robin Schwartz, “Amelia and Ricky” (2002) from ‘Amelia’s World’ (Tiny Vices series, Aperture, 2008)
WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY
This panel discussion on what it means to be a woman working in photography today includes artists Robin Schwartz and Elinor Carucci, as well as Cara Philips and Amy Elkins, co-founders of the website Women in Photography (wipnyc.org), which serves both as a platform for emerging and noted female artists and a resource for photographers, curators, gallery owners, and viewers. Schwartz is renowned for her disquieting portraits of her daughter, Amelia, interacting with exotic animals, and Carucci creates startlingly intimate portraits of herself and her subjects. Sept. 30 at 6:30 p.m. Free. Aperture. 547 W. 27th St., 4th floor (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.) 212-205-5555, aperture.org.
Art
Guru Dragpo Marchen
The Dragon’s Gift
Among its Himalayan neighbors, Bhutan is unique for never having been invaded or colonized. “As a result,” says Martin Brauen, curator of RMA, “its treasures have resided, largely intact, in the monastic settings for which they were created.” This– the first comprehensive exhibition of Bhutanese sacred art in the U.S. – showcases 87 works including paintings, embroideries framed in brocade (called thangkas), bronze and wooden sculptures, and ritual objects ranging in date from the 8th to the 20th centuries. Also documented (and performed!) are ritual dance forms of Bhutan (cham), which are both spiritual practices and a means of relaying Buddhist teachings. Sept. 19-Jan. 5. $10 adults. $7 students, seniors, neighbors & artists. Free on Fri. from 7-10 p.m. Rubin Museum. 150 W. 17th St. (at 5th Ave.) 212-620-5000, rmanyc.org
Reading
The new book by Ted Hamm, editor of the “Brooklyn Rail”
Public City, Private Eyes
“Public City, Private Eyes” is the theme of Rant Rhapsody’s evening of literary nonfiction, the first in a fall series presented by the monthly “Brooklyn Rail” newspaper about local arts, politics and culture. Featured authors include Alex Goldmark (NPR, “Good” magazine), Jason Wachtelhausen, (“Brooklyn Rail”), Tim Doody (“Best Gay Erotica”), and Kurt Opprecht (“How to Rule the World for Fun and Profit”). Hosted by Mark Read, creator of Rant Rhapsody. Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Free. ThinkCoffeeNYC. 1 Bleecker St. (at Bowery). 212-533-3366, rantrhapsody.blogspot.com. brooklynrail.org.
Symposium
Lebbeus Woods
Imagining the Korean DMZ
FORM AND FUNCTION
The Intersection of Poetry & Architecture is an all-day symposium that explores how poetry and architecture shape social and literary spaces and other shared concerns. Topics include “Latin American Confluences,” an exchange about the parallel emergence of concrete poetry and idealized civic and socio-economic designs in mid-century South America; “Architexts;” and a conversation with poet and National Book Critics Circle award winner Susan Stewart and architect Lebbeus Woods, whose work is currently on view at MoMA. The day closes with a poetry reading featuring A. S. Bessa, Gregg Biglieri, Brenda Coultas, Patricia Spears Jones, Susan Mitchell, Frances Richard, Susan Stewart, Mónica de la Torre, and Marjorie Welish. Sept. 27. Center for Architecture. 536 LaGuardia Pl. $10 per event, $15 for entire day, free to Poets House and AIA members. 212-431-7920, poetshouse.org.
Benefit
Peter Searle
Kiran Desai, author of “The Inheritance of Loss”
READING BURMA
Featuring suppressed and silenced voices from Burma/Myanmar, PEN members will read in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the 1988 popular uprising demanding democracy in Burma, as well as the first anniversary of last year’s monks’ protests. This benefit for Cyclone Relief and Freedom of Expression in Burma/Myanmar features authors Kiran Desai, Siri Hustvedt, Joseph Lelyveld, Orhan Pamuk, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Salman Rushdie, and a conversation with George Packer and the Venerable Ashin Gawsita, leader of the 2007 Monks’ Uprising. Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. $20, $15 PEN members. Cooper Union’s Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St. (at 3rd Ave.). 212-868-4444, smarttix.com. pen.org.
