Congratulations to former Ballroom intern Matt Panuska for his inclusion in the School of Visual Arts group show, “The Pond, the Mirror, the Kaleidoscope,” described by SVA as “an exhibition of emerging and established painters who graduated from SVA and are working in the Symbolist tradition.”

August 20–September 14, 2013
Reception: Wednesday, September 11, 6–8pm

School of Visual Arts
601 West 26th Street, 15th floor
New York City
Hours: Monday–Saturday 10am–6pm,
closed on Sundays and public holidays

Full details on the show at the SVA website.

More of Panuska’s work can be found on his website.

We’re just getting around to Debbie Nathan‘s excellent essay for n+1 on the evolution of El Paso, Ballroom’s Far West Texas neighbor — and at 200 miles away, still the nearest source for bahn mi sandwiches if Fat Lyle’s is closed. She discusses development in the city from the ’70s to the present, considering the toll of cartel violence, constrictions in cross-border exchange and shifting political allegiances, and then adds deep context with personal stories of trips to Juárez, neighborhood skateboarders and door-to-door fruit vendors. It’s essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the unique landscape of this often overlooked corner of the Southwest. An excerpt:

“Of course, there was already entertainment and shopping in downtown El Paso—the mom-and-pops with their steady customers, the embattled and often comical Border Patrol and ATF agents. But this was not what the pols had in mind. The businesspeople hired a focus group firm to go around asking people: If you could retool the city of El Paso into a person or persons, who would those people be? The answer, according to the firm’s report: Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz. And who, the focus group interviewers also asked, did the current, unrehabbed El Paso seem like? The report visually depicted the response as an anonymous Mexican geezer, a dead ringer for the elderly men in Stetsons over at the placita. The report labeled him “The Old Cowboy,” describing him as “dirty,” “lazy,” “uneducated,” and Spanish speaking.

The Old Cowboy could not have been more downscale and contemptible. The problem, however, was that he looked just like many El Pasoans’ beloved papás y abuelitos. Indignant, many people began organizing against the downtown renewal plan. It eventually died, after courts outlawed use of eminent domain to tear down private buildings in the Old Cowboy’s stomping grounds.”

Keep reading at n+1.

(via RAM)

The Brother from Another Planet screens at 8pm on 5 June 2013 at the Crowley Theater in Marfa, Texas as part of Ballroom’s New Growth Film Program, co-curated by Rashid Johnson and Josh Siegel, MoMA. Admission is free and open to the public.

An Introduction to John Sayles’ The Brother from Another Planet

Last week’s film, Space Is the Place, extolled the virtues of a transcendent science fiction aimed at elevating the black population beyond its earthbound social state to the forgotten and immortal path beyond the stars through music. This week’s film, The Brother from Another Planet, inverts Sun Ra’s Afro-futurist and escapist rhetoric, offering a parabolic albeit comedic exploration of life in Harlem in 1984.

Written, directed and edited by independent filmmaker John Sayles, The Brother from Another Planet stars Joe Morton as an escaped slave from outer space, who resembles a black human being everywhere except in his feet. He lands in the ocean off of Ellis Island and blankly makes his way to Harlem where he must quickly learn about an abstract monetary system, class struggle and racial divide without using language, as he cannot speak. Sayles’ choice to make him mute turns the brother into a sort of mirror for society and leads to nuanced satire on immigration and assimilation.

“It’s Never Too Late To Say Sorry” Elmgreen & Dragset Performance on Odeonsplatz, Munich // Photo: Felix Hoerhager

Prada Marfa honchos Elmgreen & Dragset are busy in Germany. From the A Space Called Public website:

“At the invitation of the City of Munich, Elmgreen & Dragset have curated the ongoing exhibition A Space Called Public / Hoffentlich Öffentlich, which began in January and presents a series of art projects in Munich’s public spaces until the end of September.

The project aims to inspire a renewed debate about the concept of public space today. Like many other major European cities, Munich is confronted with the need to address the significance and value of public space as the relevance of the public sphere undergoes a potentially fundamental shift. Public space has traditionally functioned as a place of assembly, for exchanging ideas, and a forum for urban society. However, due to the impact of digital and social media, these activities are now increasingly moving into the virtual realm. Taking this technological and, by extension, social, shift as a starting-point, A Space Called Public / Hoffentlich Öffentlich poses questions concerning the redefinition of public space. How does a city constitute its own identity in 2013?

The program consists of performative, interactive and idea-based projects as well as other non-monumental statements. Its open structure is designed to take place over many months, creating space for curiosity, discovery and a dialogue with the public as the individual artistic strands evolve together. The exhibition features works by Iván Argote & Pauline Bastard, Han Chong, Funda, Stephen Hall & Li Li Ren, Robert Keil & Helin Alas, Martin Kippenberger, Ragnar Kjartansson, Alexander Laner, Namill, Henrik Olesen, Kirsten Pieroth, Ed Ruscha, David Shrigley, Sissel Tolaas, Tatiana Trouvé, Peter Weibel and Elmgreen & Dragset. A special event will take place on June 6 to mark the occasion of all projects being on view.

A series of lectures and panel discussions will accompany the exhibition at the City Hall Gallery on June 7–8, June 15–16 and July 11–13. The City Hall Gallery will also serve as an exhibition space, information point, and the starting location for tours of the various outdoor venues.”

More info via the A Space Called Public website

But take into consideration the retirement benefits being paid to currently retired lifeguards and lifeguards who will retire at these pay levels in the future and the problem is further compounded

This is one of the core elements of the Dating, Mating and Relating program, which seeks to align couple in four key areas.
242 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs in 211 at bats.
Their eternal marriage was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.
Live bait like minnows and nightcrawlers seems to do the trick.
“Both teams have a chance of winning the match, so it will be very important for us to rest and recuperate before the game.

Wildcats forward Dominic Talbot Tassi added another with a Moncton man advantage, while Danny brother Conortipped in one last goal for the Mooseheads just 20 seconds later, making it 5 3 in the game final minutes.
And yet I have little memory of it.

Maximo Gonzalez’s new show, Magnificent Warning, is on view January 24 to March 15 at the Rubin Center in El Paso. The show primarily features large scale installations made from found objects, old currency, and hanging light objects. Maximo Gonzalez previously showed with us in our exhibition In Lieu of Unity in 2010. It should be awesome, check it out!
Here’s the link for more info

Simone Leigh, Untitled – Crystal Glazed Cowries, 2012. Crystal glazed porcelain and wire. Gavlak Gallery, 2013.

Lots to talk about for Ballroom Marfa artist and friend Simone Leigh! First, she’s got a show up at Gavlak Gallery in Palm Beach titled What’s Her Face. See pictures here. Second, she will be speaking at a conference hosted by the Performa Institute titled “GET READY FOR THE MARVELOUS: BLACK SURREALISM IN DAKAR, FORT-DE-FRANCE, HAVANA, JOHANNESBURG,
NEW YORK CITY, PARIS, PORT-AU-PRINCE, 1932-2013.” Other speakers include Wangechi Mutu, Adam Pendleton, and Paul D. Miller a.k.ak ‘DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid.’ Takes place February 8 and 9 at NYU. More on this here. And then, May 1, Leigh will speak at California College of the Arts as part of their 2013 Design and Craft Lecture Series — check it out here. All right Simone! We can barely keep up!

Kathryn Andrews’s new solo exhibition opened up at David Kordansky Gallery last December, and it is set to close shortly on February 2. She did an amazing performance for our 2012 benefit, and this show is set to be equally impressive. If you are in LA the next couple of weeks don’t miss it!
You can check out the gallery page here

Agnes Denes, Handled, 1971, ink on graph paper, 28 x 22 cm.

Ballroom artist Agnes Denes is currently in two exhibitions featuring her signature body prints. Agnes Denes: Body Prints, Philosophical Drawings, and Map Projections 1969-1978, a solo show, is at the Santa Monica Museum of Art until December 22nd. The Body Argument at Emanuel Layr (Vienna), curated by Florence Derieux, includes her prints alongside other pieces collected for their repetition of human body parts.

If you enjoyed our spring exhibition Data Deluge, and you happen to be in Bielefeld, Germany, you should check out Diagrams at Bielfelder Kunstverein, featuring the work of Ballroom artist Michael Najjar. The show collects works that use the language of infographics to explore “strategies of visualization in art” and the relationship between artistic processes of thinking and working and the formal structure of diagrams. If, however, you don’t happen to be in Bielefeld, Germany, but you do happen to read German, you should check out the press release here. If you don’t happen to read German, take a look at the images, and then read the press release here.

The visual artist Nicolas G. Miller presents Pastoral, a solo show at the Marfa Book Company. The exhibition, which pitches “human reason” against “a terrifying nature,” opens tomorrow at 6 pm. Read the killer Big Bend Sentinel spot here, and visit Miller’s website here.