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THIS WEEKEND: Films At 3rd Ward
One of the things I cannot wrap my head around is the fact so many people are under the (greatly mistaken) that razing great swathes of (formerly industrial) land and erecting condominiums on them somehow creates jobs. Just take the area around Union Avenue and Roebling Street, for example. There used to be a number of businesses there (including a chocolate factory!). Now there is area is little more than a bunch of vacant lots interspersed with luxury residential properties. Somehow I do not see much job creation coming out of this.
Unless of course one includes baristas who whip up the tenants’ double mocha lattes, bartenders sating the younger set’s thirst for intoxicating beverages or nannies tending after their rapidly increasingly brood of young ‘uns. While the previous are all indeed forms of employment I doubt they and their many service-related brethren have done much to make up for the jobs they have supplanted in terms of sheer numbers or wages. This is a travesty.
There are a great many factors which have led to the situation our fair city finds itself in now. I am currently reading a book entitled “Working Class New York” and it explains a fair number of them. Very well, I will add. Those of you who are interested in learning more about the white collarification of New York should give it a read. For the rest of you who lack the patience to read such a tome 3rd Ward will be screening a short film this weekend that might be of interest.
Per 3rd Ward’s press release:
…Daniel Ross and Tom Vigliotta examine the decline of NYC’s manufacturing industry in Uncertain Industry. Over the last 50 years manufacturing jobs in NYC have shrunk from 1 million to 100,000. The filmmakers explore what losing losing this vital source of jobs meant for New York City’s economy.
You can read more about this film (Uncertain Industry) by clicking here. Preceding it is an equally interesting feature which explores the so-called “swing states” and the people who live in them. This event is absolutely FREE and a discussion with the filmmakers will follow. Check it out!
3rd Ward Moviehouse
November 9, 2008, 8:00 p.m.
195 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11237
Be advised that you have to RSVP for this event. You can do so via email at:
nbagli (at) 3rdward (dot) com
Miss Heather
Nydia Velazquez Rocks!
This video (which I learned about via Queens Crap) does not pertain to Brooklyn per se, but it all too eloquently explains how eminent domain abuse and excessive (and contextually inappropriate) development harms working class neighborhoods and small business owners.
The building boom is over. How can this city’s officials honestly purport that ousting businesses at Willet’s Point and razing it to the ground (in the hopes that someone develops it) is progress? Really? What’s happening in my neighborhood and in Williamsburg* should be a sobering testament to the contrary.
Miss Heather
*Both of which are located in her district. See for yourself!
Great Moments in Real Estate Advertising: East Williamsburg
This makes me wonder exactly who— or I suppose I should say WHAT— has been looking for a room to rent on Stagg Street recently. Extraterrestrials? Cyborgs? Cats and dogs who have tossed convention by the wayside and want to live together?
Miss Heather
Dung Of The Day: Alternative Energy
You can always leave it to East Williamsburg to keep things real. Especially when it comes to fighting dog crap— and believe you me Scholes Street has A LOT of doggie dumplings for the delectation. So much so they’re fighting back!
These people mean business, folks. As do their neighbors down the street, albeit they have taken a slightly different (and highly creative) approach to the dog shit problem.
I knew as soon as I laid my eyes upon this rather unusual electrical set up it merited investigation.
Where does that cable go?
I asked myself.
Where else? I dessicated pile of dog shit. Canine torture device or a ground-breaking experiment in alternative energy? I’ll let you make the call.
Miss Heather
Williamspoint Photos du Jour: Civil Unrest
From Scholes Street, East Williamsburg.
From the Smith & 9th bound platform of the Crosstown Local at Nassau Avenue.
Miss Heather
TOMORROW: J. Vandervoort Werkhaus
A chap named Richard was nice enough to tip me off to this one. A new art space is set to grace the Garden Spot (Or “Greenwick”, take your pick!) starting this Saturday, October 25! Here’s the 411 per their press release:
The J. Vandervoort Werkhaus Presents:
Inside the OutOctober 25th – November 23rd 2008
Opening Reception Saturday, October 25th, 6 – 9pm
By appointment until November 23rdSascha Braunig
Eisaku Dovoc
Ivy Haldeman
Andreas Laszlo Konrath
Kant Smith
Alexander V.The J. Vandervoort Werkhaus opens its doors to the public this October with Inside the Out, an exhibition highlighting six emerging artists. The work presented expresses a respect and nostalgia for the traditional forms of painting, photography and sculpture; yet, with calculated and irreverent gestures, these artists throw hierarchy to the wind. Sculpture is conflated with implements of personal vanity. Photography is assimilated into architecture. Painting, being so ubiquitous, contends with the art market as its progenitor, and searches for a valid posture.
Ivy Haldeman’s text paintings combine nostalgia for abstract expressionism with the self-reflexive doubt of the text painting. Her painting methods are laid bare as painter’s tape lays half peeled and curling enticingly from the canvas. Lyricizing the ambitions and failings of the individual artist, these paintings are laughingly pessimistic.
Alexander V. toys with painting’s ever-expanding toolbox. Neon chickens (!!! —Ed. Note), absurd quotes, spray painted stencils, and beams of light are all players in his graphic landscape of explosive, vividly colored paintings. With a swagger Alexander V. notes his own philosophy on life with the painted text, “If you’re gonna do it right, don’t do it at all.â€
Kant Smith’s lightbox constructions resurrect key American paintings of the 20th century. His pain-staking self-illuminating reproductions create an atmosphere of wonder, bringing traditional painting to face with today’s onslaught of mass visual information. Is painting desperately trying to catch up here?
Eisaku Dovoc, affecting trompe l’oeil, presents isometric plans of art shipping crates. These assemblages utilize a method of 3-d marquetry such that wood represents wood, and yet shipping labels are illusionistically painted, creating a synergetic clash of representation and literal construction.
Andreas Laszlo Konrath creates an icon of a somber teenage boy in a photographic meditation on adolescence. Utilizing the unique architecture of the gallery, Konrath collapses the viewer’s space into the diegetic space of the photograph. His work draws from the compression and visual overload of the urban landscape.
Pivoting on the intersection between the dusty curiosity, the homemade relic, and the beauty salon, Sascha Braunig’s work conjures the bizarre and disquieting that lurks within the banal. In this show, she presents the Portrait Head of a Real Woman, in vivacious three dimensions.
Gallery hours are noon to 6pm, Saturdays and Sundays, October 26th – November 23rd…
The J. Vandervoort Werkhaus is dedicated to promoting progressive and challenging work in the visual arts. The Werkhaus is located in the Williamsburg Industrial Park accessible by the L train, Graham Ave. stop.
The J. Vandervoort Werkhaus
413 Vandervoort Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11222
Neon chickens = check it out!
Miss Heather
Sign Of The Times: Hipsters, Hagglers & Shoplifters
Last night the Mister decided to see how badly our investments were doing. Apparently one of our CDs (or whatever they call them) has lost 50% of its value. Whoopie! I really wished he had not shared this information with me— but he did and we both proceeded to raid the liquor cabinet immediately afterward.
I have another, slightly less depressing, index by which to judge the health of the economy. I call it the Junk Shop Effect, e.g.; the healthier the economy, the less the haggling. And I have some very, very bad news: not only is haggling up sharply across the board, but I am seeing it increasingly amongst the least likely suspects: 20-somethings.
Before I proceed I’d like to state that I am not against the practice of haggling. Believe it or not, a number of my colleagues understand times are tough. A dollar here or there is no big deal. We understand. But shit like the following is kind of ridiculous.
Customer (walks up to counter with three photographs): How many can I get for 25 cents?
Co-worker: One photograph.
(Customer proceeds to purchase one photograph and the aforementioned co-worker goes back to work.) Now jump forward 2-3 minutes. Larry da Junkman enters the store.
Larry: Did you sell any photographs while I was out?
Co-worker: Yup, ONE.
Larry: Well, I just saw that woman walking down Manhattan Avenue sort through a stack of photographs from here. You wanna track her down?
Co-worker: Sure
Larry and aforementioned co-worker double-timed it down Manhattan Avenue to her chase down. But alas to no avail.
Where do I start with this? Is it the fact this woman (described as being a “hipster) had the temerity to ask what should could get for a quarter? Not even the dudes from the Greenpoint Hotel do that— and god only knows they’re probably in more dire financial straights than the likes of her.
Or was it the fact that after shoplifting she was stupid enough to check out her haul of pilfered photographic goodness just down the street. I’m no expert on criminal behavior but this strikes me as being astonishly stupid —because it’s possible that someone will notice. And in this case someone did: the manager of the store. Things ought to get mighty interesting if she returns —but I digress.
After this whole incident came to pass I spied something our sticky fingered friend missed.
Woman stealing $5.00 worth of photographs = pathetic.
A photograph of the Lexus dude in a state of mild intoxication wearing Statue of Liberty headgear and brandishing a bottle of Dom Perignon = PRYCELESS!
This one goes out to you Jonathan! For better or worse you will always be known as that “Lexus guy*” to pretty much anyone under 30 years of age. I liked you much better in Brazil —which just happens to be the movie we watched at the junk shop today.
Toodles!
Miss Heather
*Do read this. It is a forum discussion about Lexus’s spokes people. Bizarre.
THIS WEEKEND: Animated Shorts
This weekend 3rd Ward is serving up some animated short films that simply sound too good to pass up. Here’s the scoop per their press release:
This Sunday, October 12th, Moviehouse at 3rd Ward presents four brand new animators with fresh films featuring revenge, epic battle, sex, violence and…vegetables. This FREE screening series, which debuted in September, brings the very best in local filmmaking to 3rd Ward Every 2nd Sunday. Join us for drinks, tasty treats, lively discussion with the filmmakers and the cool beats and visuals of VJ Clay Franklin who lays his favorite songs over spliced together found footage and old movie clips.
Awphul Alfie by Maz Salazar
Little Alfie destroys everything in his path as he seeks revenge on the young lady who made him drop his candy bar.
Obsesion by Joshua Weisbrod
News reporter Basher Rockaround suffers the consequences when his biggest fan enters an epic battle with a tiny bald man.
Adventures in Broccoli by Dan Mountain
Sex, violence and vegetables. Is it a dream or just what happens when you wake up?
Cat Food by Christopher Ko
A young girl and her cat battle as the world falls apart around them.
Doors open at 7:00 and the screening begins at 8:00 p.m. For more information about this event check out 3rd Ward’s web site.
Moviehouse: Animation Versus
Third Ward
195 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11237
Interested attendees can RSVP for this event via email at moviehouse (at) thirdward (dot) com.
Miss Heather
Newtown Creek Mapping Workshop
A reader named Amanda passed this along to me and I, in turn am going to pass it along to you as it sounds very interesting
In partnership with the Newtown Creek Alliance, HabitatMap invites you to participate in a community mapping workshop at LaGuardia Community College on the evening of Monday, October 20th from 6:30-8:30… At the Newtown Creek Neighborhoods Community Mapping Workshop participants will:
- discover how web-based tools can magnify the impact of community organizing campaigns;
- hear from experienced organizers who have been active in the Newtown Creek Neighborhoods for decades; and
- learn how to navigate and mine city, state, and federal databases for information relevant to their own personal health and the health of their families and communities.
Participants should come prepared to begin mapping their neighborhoods so bring any relevant documents and photos but most importantly, bring your ideas.
Location:
The Newtown Creek Neighborhoods Community Mapping Workshop will be held at LaGuardia Community College, building E, room 228… The entrance to building E is located at 31-10 Thomson Ave. between 31st St. and Van Dam St.
Those of you who are interested in checking this workshop out should be advised that there is limited space so be sure to RSVP at your earliest convenience by clicking here.
Miss Heather
THIS FRIDAY: Quality Of Life
I am so psyched to see this show I simply had to kick off the week by passing it along. Per Factory Fresh’s web site:
Quality of Life, a survey of urban landscape photography. The show examines marginalized, forgotten, and neglected spaces in the city, as well as the graffiti, garbage, decay and people found within these spaces.
Featured artists include Luna Park, Sam Horine, Street Stars and none other than Gothamist’s very own Jake Dobkin! Concurrent with this opening is Bushwick Yourself : a one woman show showcasing the collage skills of Gaëtane Michaux. Check it out!
Quality of Life/Bushwick Yourself
October 10, 2008 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Factory Fresh
1053 Flushing Avenue
Brooklyn New York 11237
Miss Heather
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