Bialystoker Spawns New Controversy Over Landmarking

Image via Forward.com

A decision by the historic but broke Bialystoker Center of Nursing and Rehabilitation on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to accept designation of its building as a landmark now appears to be conflicting with its most pressing moral imperative: paying back wages to its workers.

Read the full story on Forward.com

Eddie Kendricks

Beth Hamedrash Does a 180

An unusual application to the landmarks commission, filed in December, would have allowed the congregation to demolish its building and replace it with a new development — including a sanctuary, a museum and space for residential use. But the synagogue that wanted to demolish itself now appears to have had a change of heart. 

Read the full story in The Forward.

BADBADNOTGOOD

Heaven 17

East India Youth

Back

Several months ago, I was talking Marie Vic about her project, "Popcorn." The installation she was working on was really simple (it involved handing out bags of freshly-made popcorn to passersby in the Chelsea gallery district), but her preparation was really intense, and so even though all she wanted me to do was write a brief artist's statement for the show, we talked for hours about relational aesthetics, institutional critique in Chelsea, and loads of other topics that I hadn't had to think about (as part of my job, at least) since I was in college.

It was fun as hell. Hoping to give Marie some further background, I suggested a blog post I'd written for Hard to Reach about a show at Murray Guy that was relevant to her new project. Reading stuff for this blog has been like hearing my own voice played back to me, but eventually I did give the post a look, and I ultimately decided that most of what I wrote here between November 2010 and January 2012 was nothing to be ashamed of.

Now that I'm freelancing full-time, it's come up that I should try to revive this thing. I've decided to start by re-posting some recent articles in The Forward and The New York Times, as well as a mix I made for a friend's wedding in the fall. Here they are.

Landmark Synagogue Seeks Right to Demolish Itself

Is 1850 Lower East Side Shul Crumbling Beyond Repair?

Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, considered to be the oldest Russian Jewish congregation in the United States, is looking to reverse the landmark status of the venerable structure in which it once prayed in order to demolish it and make way for a multi-use development. Architectural preservationists have expressed dismay at the idea of losing a building that has been among the Lower East Side’s most prominent houses of worship since the mid-19th century.

Read the full article on Forward.com

Photo by Kirsten Luce, via NYTimes.com

Before Word Can Spread, Party’s Over at a Brooklyn Speakeasy

Later, Sully, who was serving as a bartender, projected a 1980 Sonny Chiba film, “Shogun’s Ninja,” on a screen opposite the bar. Sully had been toting an archaic Walkman cassette player for music, and played mix tapes he had prepared especially for the evening. The alternative, he said, would have been flipping records over a turntable. But there was simply no room.

Read the full article on cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com

And finally, my wedding gift Isaac Plumb and Erin Mesa, a tribute to His Awesomeness Al Pacino.



More to follow. Promise.

Is “The City Dark” Self-Parody?

Image via Wicked Delicate Films

There’s nothing immediately offensive about the premise of Ian Cheney’s new documentary, The City Dark. Living in New York, I can believe that Cheney, an amateur astronomer since his teenage years in Maine, might miss seeing the stars at night, and feel deprived. When he attempts to stretch that wistfulness into an authoritative documentary, however, the results are less than convincing.

Read the full post on Art Fag City.