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Tweaked

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  1. For those heading to NYC this spring/summer. Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing "The eighty-first edition of the Whitney Biennial—the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the United States—features seventy-one artists and collectives grappling with many of today’s most pressing issues. This Biennial is like being inside a “dissonant chorus,’ as participating artist Ligia Lewis described it, a provocative yet intimate experience of distinct and disparate voices that collectively probe the cracks and fissures of the unfolding moment. The exhibition’s subtitle, Even Better Than the Real Thing, acknowledges that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is complicating our understanding of what is real, and rhetoric around gender and authenticity is being used politically and legally to perpetuate transphobia and restrict bodily autonomy. These developments are part of a long history of deeming people of marginalized race, gender, and ability as subhuman—less than real. In making this exhibition, we committed to amplifying the voices of artists who are confronting these legacies, and to providing a space where difficult ideas can be engaged and considered. This Biennial is a gathering of artists who explore the permeability of the relationships between mind and body, the fluidity of identity, and the growing precariousness of the natural and constructed worlds around us. Whether through subversive humor, expressive abstraction, or non-Western forms of cosmological thinking, to name but a few of their methods, these artists demonstrate that there are pathways to be found, strategies of coping and healing to be discovered, and ways to come together even in a fractured time."
  2. For the textile fans: Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction "This transformative exhibition explores how abstract art and woven textiles have intertwined over the past hundred years. In the 20th century, textiles have often been considered lesser—as applied art, women’s work, or domestic craft. Woven Histories challenges the hierarchies that often separate textiles from fine arts. Putting into dialogue some 160 works by more than 50 creators from across generations and continents, the exhibition explores the contributions of weaving and related techniques to abstraction, modernism’s preeminent art form. See a variety of textile techniques including weaving, knitting, netting, knotting, and felting. Understand the wide-ranging reasons artists from Anni Albers to Rosemarie Trockel and Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians/Cherokee Nation) have engaged with this art form. Some seek to effect social change, others to address political issues. Engaging with textiles as subject, material, and technique, others revitalize abstraction’s formal conventions or critique its patriarchal history and gendered identity. Explore this overlooked thread of art history that centers new voices: creators once marginalized for their gender, race, or class."
  3. New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 "Visionary artists reimagine the past, present alternate realities, and inspire audiences to create different futures. During the past few years, our world has been transformed by a global pandemic, advocacy for social reform, and political division. How have these extraordinary times inspired artists? Works by the 28 artists featured in New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 explore these ideas from perspectives that shift across geographies, cultural viewpoints, and time. One of the first major exhibitions to follow NMWA’s reopening after renovation, New Worlds will immerse visitors in the museum’s renewed spaces. It is the seventh and largest installment of the museum’s Women to Watch exhibition series. Presented every three years, Women to Watch is a dynamic collaboration between the museum and its network of outreach committees. The committees participating in New Worlds worked with curators in their regions to create shortlists of artists. From this list, NMWA curators selected the artists and works to exhibit at the museum in 2024. New Worlds features works by Irina Kirchuk (Argentina), Saskia Jordá (Arizona), Aimée Papazian (Arkansas), Nicki Green (Northern California), April Banks (Southern California), Meryl McMaster (Canada), Francisca Rojas Pohlhammer (Chile), Ana María Hernando (Colorado), Randa Maroufi (France), Marianna Dixon Williams (Georgia), Sophia Pompéry (Germany), Mona Cliff (Greater Kansas City Area), Rajyashri Goody (India), Hannan Abu-Hussein (Israel), Irene Fenara (Italy), Ai Hasegawa (Japan), Daniela Rivera (Massachusetts), SHAN Wallace (Mid-Atlantic Region), Alexis McGrigg (Mississippi), Eliza Naranjo Morse (New Mexico), Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (New York), Migiwa Orimo (Ohio), Graciela Arias (Peru), Marina Vargas (Spain), Arely Morales (Texas), Noémie Goudal (U.K.), Molly Vaughan (Washington), and Sarah Ortegon (Wyoming)."
  4. Sad news: weygandts will close at the end of April. Long time store manager Warren is moving on and with the leasing up at the end of April, they have decided to close shop.
  5. A solid evening at 2 Amys. Not a ton of specials on the wine bar menu, must be a Monday thing. The hit of the night was the Tongue and Tail Aspic. Also good was the Capicola with tuna spuma and cress. The fava bean crostini was tasty as always. Unfortunately the skin on the pickled mackerel was on the chew side. Chris behind the bar thought that perhaps the membrane between the scales and skin hadn't been properly dealt with.
  6. Fresh Baguette Cleveland Park opens tomorrow, Wednesday, February 21. We did an EventBright mock service last week, and Fresh Baguette offered two free items and a coffee. The store is airy and bright with a long counter and many offerings. I haven't been to other Fresh Baguettes, so I'm not sure if this is their standard buildout look and something different for CP. I liked the loaf of ciabatta and the Opal Noir was tasty. The croissants were fine but not nearly as good as the decadent croissants across the street at SakuSaku. Since Firehook closed getting anything that resembles a decent loaf of bread in CP has been impossible, necessitating a trek up to Breadfurst. Hopefully the denizens of CP will support Fresh Baguette.
  7. For what its worth, a couple of years ago we were eating a late lunch at the NYC Pastis and a delivery guy wheeled in a hand truck loaded with boxes labeled Lamb Weston, one of the world's largest producers of frozen French fries. I like the NYC Pastis because it is a block away from the Whitney so its a convenient spot to have a long lunch before or after museum-ing. A Pastis also recently opened in Miami, so perhaps this is the concept that the restaurant group is going to punch out around the country.
  8. Re Iguazu Falls: Just so you know the walk way out to Devil's Throat on the Argentine side was washed away in 2023 by flooding and when we went in December the trail was closed. That said, the Upper and Lower trails on the Argentine side are well worth visiting. The lower trail has some amazing views. Assuming the trail is still closed on the Argentine side, you'll need to go to the Brazilian side if you want to view Devil's Throat up close. We spent about six hours wandering around the national park on the Argentine side. Hotels can arrange a cab to take you to the park and then you exchange WhatsApp info and text the driver when you want to be picked up. Or you can take the city bus, which is a fun adventure. The Jungle Restaurant at the Iguazu Jungle Lodge is good. Plenty of non-lodge people were dining there and seemed popular for steak. We had a river fish called Pacu, which is relate to piranha, and it was really good, simply grilled with lemon. The central area of Puerto Iguazu has several blocks of restaurants and bars and I noticed there are several winery/tasting room type places around town.
  9. Well, first reason is I don't have an AMEX card. Also, it was our understanding at the time that AMEX did not offer a good exchange rate for in country purchases in Argentina. Visa/MC offering the Foreign Tourist Dollar or MEP rate is a relatively new change. So if you are planning to use AMEX in BA you should dig into what exchange rate AMEX is offering and if they charge international transaction fees (there's a lot of conflicting info re: AMEX usage in Argentina on the internet). I've had a Visa Venture card for years and since the Venture card doesn't charge transaction fees and Visa automatically uses a good exchange rate, that was the primary reason we used Visa. Another tip for using credit cards as a tourist in Uruguay: if you use a credit card the transaction will automatically refund the VAT on purchases made by tourists. On the receipt you'll see a VAT credit and it can be a significant savings. So for larger purchases, like meals at restaurants, I'd definitely recommend using a credit card vs. cash. Here's some more info. We stayed in BA for 10 days and then took a 3 day trip to Iguazu Falls, which is about a 2.5 hour flight from BA. We heard cool things about the Tigre Delta, but when we were there in December the temperatures in Tigre were over 100F. It looks like the temps are now cooler, so definitely worth your consideration. Let me know if you have any other questions. Another tip, a lot of restaurants in BA and MVD use the booking app Meitre. It's easy to use and you can set up an account when making your first reservation but you'll almost certainly end up using it if/when making a restaurant reservation. https://meitre.com/en
  10. Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) - If you are a Capital One Venture X card holder you and two guests can get unlimited complimentary entry to the new Capital One Lounge located in Terminal D. The lounges have complimentary food and drink as well as yoga rooms, shower facilities, and nice clean bathrooms! Throughout 2024, a Venture card will get you two complimentary entries (or you plus a guest). After that it costs $45 for Capital One card holders and $65 for non card holders. We had a three hour layover at DFW and it was a nice place to hangout away from the hustle and bustle of the terminal. The food was decent and free booze. Just present your card and boarding pass. The lounge is located near Gate D 22. They also have lounges at Denver International Airport (DEN) and Dulles (IAD).
  11. Buenos Aires Travel Tips Transportation We flew American Airlines BWI-DFW-EZE. Admittedly that route was a bit planes, trains, and automobiles and it did take us 23 hours door to door to get from my apartment to our Airbnb in BA. However, Argentina is only a two hour time difference this time of year, so despite a long travel day, there was little travel hangover and no big time change adjustments to struggle with. You can pretty much stay on DC time and function very well in BA. Most international flights will arrive at Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), which is about an hour outside of downtown BA. You should plan on about two hours from arrival to clear passport control and then transport into BA. Our Airbnb host arranged for a friend to pick us up at the airport for a small fee. The best no hassle route is to pre-book a cab with Taxi Ezeiza: book online, check in at the Taxi Ezeiza kiosk at the airport, they will call one of their drivers who meets you at the kiosk and takes you to the cab, and off you go. For most domestic flights and limited South American flights, the smaller Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP) is located in BA proper and easy to use. In BA, Uber is widely available (you can even pay your Uber drive with cash) and the subway system is easy to use. The subway ride is flat rate (about 80 cents USD) and multiple passengers can use the same subway card. The subway lines will take you to most of the neighbors you'll want to visit. Currency The Argentina peso is currently in free fall and Argentina is facing massive inflation. It's tough to judge current prices online right now because prices change weekly, that said USD goes a long way in BA. In December, $1 USD was roughly $1,000 pesos (Blue Rate) and is currently around $1,200 pesos (Blue Rate). As a tourist, you'll be using several exchange rates. The unofficial Blue Rate (the best rate) is what you can get by exchanging US currency at cambios in BA and Visa and Mastercard will covert purchases using the Foreign Tourist Dollar or MEP rate (the second best rate). Visa does the conversion automatically to your credit card statement, Mastercard will do the conversion to the official exchange rate and then credit you to the MEP rate. Make sure your credit card waivers international purchase fees. If you want cash, bring brand new crisp $100 USD bills (you'll get a better exchange rate) and use one of the many cambio money exchange stores, they are all over the place. Or you can download the Western Union app and Western Union money to yourself on the go and then collect your money at Western Union stores. Some of the cambio and Western Union locations are better or less sketchy than others, so ask a local for the best places. Our Airbnb host gave us good suggestions. Most of the cambios and Western Union stores have different hours or close early on the weekends, so plan for that. We found that the best route for us was to pay for most things like big meals or shopping with a Visa Venture card and then walk around with about the equivalent of $20-$25 USD is Argentine pesos for smaller purchases (coffee, drinks, or small meals etc.). Tourist Stuff If you like big boisterous cities, then BA is the place for you. We rented an Airbnb for 10 days in the Palermo Soho neighborhood. The area is very walkable, has tons of cafes, restaurants, shopping and is convenient for getting around town. WhatsApp: Almost everyone and many businesses use WhatsApp and almost all your electronic communications will be via WhatsApp, so you'll want to download it to your phone. BA has several large museums and many many smaller museums. Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) is great for contemporary Latin American art and a very cool building. If you are picking one art museum to go to MALBA is my recommendation. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes is equivalent to Argentina's national gallery and was good. Museo Moderno in San Telmo was a cool space but the art they had on display was...ok. If historic house museums is your thing, then the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo is cool. For something completely different visit the Museo del Agua y de la Historia Sanitaria aka the Toilet Museum. Cementerio de la Recoleta is justifiably famous and definitely a must visit. We did a two hour guided tour which was about $10 per person plus entrance fee. There are multiple companies that offer tours. I'd also suggest seeing what is playing at Teatro Colón, an opulent grand theater with some of the best acoustics in the world. But really, BA is a great city to wander around. There are lots of public parks, cool architecture, and you are never far from a great place to eat or drink.
  12. First of all, you can be a non-meat eater and eat very well in BA. In fact, you can eat very well. Here are some of the place we enjoyed during our trip to BA in December. La Alacena Trattoria (Palermo): Adorable corner store style Italian restaurant by chef Julieta Oriolo. Great house made pasta, recommend the marinated fresh sardines, and the tiramisu will end the meal nicely. They also own a pasta and salumeria store a couple blocks away. Reservations suggested. Floreria Atlantico (Retiro): Speakeasy style basement cocktail lounge tucked along Arroyo street. The first floor is a florist and wine shop (what a great combination). A heavy door leads downstairs to the cocktail lounge. The cocktail menu is seasonal rotating plus classics (they make a great negroni). Also very good food: anchovy on toasted focaccia, shrimp and king crab stuffed empanada, fried baby potatoes. They ask if we had reservations, but we had no problem walking in at 5pm/6pm and sitting at the bar, which is where you want to sit anyway. The bartenders are great. This place is so good we went twice. La Biela (Recoleta): Across a small park from the main entrance to Recoleta Cemetery, La Biela is one of the old school classic cafes of BA. Great spot for a pre or post meal while visiting the cemetery. Serves traditional BA cafe food. Cafe Tortoni (Plaza De Mayo Area): Bills itself as the oldest cafe in BA, the tourist now out number the locals but they are still serving very good classic BA cafe fare. Very good coffee and jamon, queso, tomate tostado (think grilled ham and cheese sandwich). The carrot cake was excellent. Aldo's Restaurante (Palermo): The food at Aldo's was a little too rich on rich, but they have a lovely patio for outdoor dining and an extensive wine list with many Argentine wines. The burrata small plate was excellent as well as good pastas, but as noted you'll want to try to balance the meal. Obrador Florida (Palermo): Artisanal helado shop. Excellent gelato. Freddo (multiple locations): Helado chain located across the city. The dulce de leche is very good, nutty and rich taken to point just before burnt. Merienda (Palermo): Noting this cafe because it was near our airbnb, but a good example of the many, many neighborhood coffee shop cafes that are all over the place in BA. You could literally do a trip to BA and only eat at these types of places. Croque Madame (Multiple Locations): This cafe appears to be a chain that has contracts with many of the BA museums. Museum cafes in the US are usually underwhelming, but Croque Madame does a good job. If you need a quick pick-me-up while at the museums, this is a good option. Plazoleta Dorrego (San Telmo): Plazoleta Dorrego is the heartbeat of the San Telmo neighborhood with street performers and street market vendors. The plaza is filled with cafe tables serviced by several restaurants and bars. Grab a seat, order a drink, and people watch. It's a great way to spend an hour or so while exploring San Telmo. Postres: BA is a city of desserts. You can barely walk a block without running into a small postres cafe that serves coffee and dessert. There's too many to note, just stop in at one that looks good. Embrace the BA lifestyle of the afternoon coffee and dessert. Porteno style pizza: Lionel Messi was openly mocked when he shared a photo of Argentine pizza from a Miami pizza shop on IG. But Porteno style pizza is a thing, a cheesy, gloopy thing. It's basically a pan pizza with tomato sauce, a lot of cheese, thinly sliced tomatoes, and one olive per slice. It's a curious creation, but strangely tasty in a drunk pizza kinda way. Had to be tried. While BA's rep is a city of beef there's plenty more to the BA dining scene. We found very good Italian/Mediterranean influenced food, excellent pasta, cured sardines and anchovies seemed to be having a moment, burrata was everywhere, and the cocktails were excellent. And it's a city where you have to save room for dessert.
  13. “Kwame Onwuachi to Honor Benjamin Banneker in his New DC Restaurant” by Zoe Glasser in the Going-Out Guide on washingtonpost.com
  14. According to the Cleveland Park listserve, a new owner is rebranding Indique as Dakshin and retaining much of the staff and menu...so call it TBD.
  15. As part of a longer South America trip we spent a week in Uruguay, primarily in Montevideo. Transportation We took the Buquebus ferry from Buenos Aires to Montevideo. It’s a high-speed ferry and takes about 2.5 hours to make the trip. The Buquebus has several food and drink kiosks as well as duty free shopping and currency exchange (which offers a good exchange rate). The ferry drops you off at the port terminal steps away from the Ciudad Vieja (Old City) area of Montevideo. Passport control is done in BA and once you arrive in Montevideo you collect your luggage and clear customs. Outside there are plenty of cabs waiting with a dispatcher coordinating rides, so it’s an easy arrival in Montevideo. In Montevideo, Uber is easy to use, there are plenty of radio cabs, and hotels can arrange private drivers. We left Uruguay via Carrasco International Airport, which is similar in size to DCA or BWI and we found it very efficient. We flew American Airlines back to the U.S.: MVD to Miami to DCA. Accommodations We rented an Airbnb in the historic Palacio Salvo building, which overlooks Plaza Independencia and borders the Ciudad Vieja and Centro districts. Palacio Salvo was a good location for exploring the city but the neighborhood could be described as gritty. Other neighborhoods with plenty of Airbnbs and hotels are Punta Carretas and Pocitos. These neighborhoods are more upscale with plenty of restaurants and shops. We also spent a night at the Hyatt Centric in Pocitos, which is a comfortable hotel overlooking Playa de la Pocitos. Tourist Stuff Ciudad Vieja – The Old City is a self–contained peninsula area where Montevideo was founded. Through the heart of Ciudad Vieja is a pedestrian street called Sarandi, lined with restaurants, shops, and street market stalls. The Plaza de la Constitucion is lovely and there are several small museums in the area. Sarandi takes you to another pedestrian street called Calle Perez Castellano which takes you to the historic Mercado del Puerto. We found that if you leave the tourist area, the side streets of Ciudad Vieja get sketchy pretty quickly, so best to stick to the tourist areas. The Old City tends to follow the schedule of the cruise ships, so some afternoons most of the stores and restaurants were shutting down by 4 or 5pm. Morning to early afternoon is the best time to visit. Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales – The national gallery of Uruguay. It’s a cool medium sized art museum with several great unknown-in-the-U.S. Uruguayan artists from the late 1800s to early 1900s. The second floor has rotating contemporary art exhibits. Palacio Taranco – A French style mansion that is now a decorative arts museum along Zabala Square in the Old City. The Rambla – The heart and soul of Montevideo is the Rambla, a 14-mile uninterrupted waterfront pedestrian promenade that connects the city with the Rio de la Plata. The Rambla has small parks and beaches and around 5pm to 6pm the denizens of Montevideo start gathering to chat with friends, drink mate, and watch the sunset. It’s a great place to chill and enjoy city life. Restaurants and Food Jacinto (Ciudad Vieja) – The best restaurant we ate at. We had seats by the open kitchen and watched awesome looking plates of food being prepared. Excellent grilled sweet breads with a romesco sauce. Highly recommend. Dona Isabel (Ciudad Vieja) – A great cheese and charcuterie store across the street from Jacinto. They also prepare lovely looking cheese and meat boards with a small wine selection. We picked up very tasty cheese and salami. Highly recommend. Piwo Helados (Ciudad Vieja) – A good spot for helados, which in Argentina and Uruguay is a cross between gelato and ice cream. Mercado del Puerto (Ciudad Vieja) – The Old City port market, which these days is basically a large food hall with parrilla restaurants. It gets overrun by tourists when the cruise ships are docked but still considered legit by the locals. If you want your grilled meat fix with a boisterous market atmosphere, this is the place to go. Café Le Farmacia (Ciudad Vieja) – A corner café with old pharmacy decor. A good spot for traditional café fare. Confiteria La Corunesa (Centro) – A excellent confiteria with a wide range of desserts. La Perdiz (Punta Carretas) – This is the kind of restaurant where you want to go with a group and order multiple dishes to share. Portion sizes are large, good selection of meat and seafood. We enjoyed the fish nuggets, amazing chorizo, and grilled squid served with rice. The fries with mushroom gravy were a little odd but enjoyable. The Lab Coffee Roasters (Nuevo Pocitos) – Coffee shop café with a small outdoor patio area. Excellent coffee and the shared breakfast for two (café para compartir) is a great deal. Make sure you try the excellent budin de naraanja (orange cake). Highly recommend. Bar Facal (Centro) – Old school café coffee house founded in 1882 known for their traditional Uruguayan food. They also serve mate if you would like to try the national drink (kind of like a bitter herby green tea) Bar Tinkal (Palermo) – Another old school joint which has more of a bar vibe, known for their chivitos. Dona Martina (Pocitos) – Small store front empanada shop. The empanadas are premade but cooked to order. Cake’s (Pocitos area) – An old house that has been converted into a tea room with light fare and decadent desserts. Wineries The main wine growing regions of Uruguay are easily accessible from Montevideo and Punta del Este. Canelones, the largest wine region, is about 30-45 minutes from the main downtown areas of Montevideo and many wineries offer overnight accommodations with a package deal. We did an overnight at Pizzorno, which is a medium sized winery with a nice tasting room, restaurant, and patio and a four room inn with a small swimming pool. Our stay included overnight accommodation, wine tour and tasting, a tapas style dinner (which was ok), and an excellent breakfast. The winery arranged a private driver to pick us up at our Airbnb and drop us off the next day at our hotel. I’d say Montevideo is a good tourist destination. The city is easily navigable, most of the tourist areas are close by, although there aren’t a ton of tourist attractions (as compared, perhaps unfairly, to Buenos Aires, which admittedly is a much larger city). However, we really enjoyed the vibe of Montevideo. It’s much more chilled out compared to BA, the people are really friendly, there’s great food, and you just can’t beat a beautiful evening relaxing along the Rambla watching the sunset. The style of living is muy bien! Given the ease of transit between the two countries, if you are considering a trip to Argentina, I’d recommend tacking on a visit to Uruguay.
  16. Closed per their website. I've eaten a lot of Indique over the years and they were one of our favorite to-go orders during the pandemic. The menu never really changed, but their food was always delicious.
  17. Miami (MIA) after an 8 hour flight back from South America, the Versailles stand in Terminal D really hit the spot, gauva and cheese pastry for the win. Located across from D21.
  18. After seeing Refik Anadol's AI installation at MoMA, I was checking out his website and screen recorded the audio to his piece Quantum Memory. I looped it three times and then added sections of Marc Romboy's Counting Comets Part 2. Mixed on Traktor. Quantum Memory (Counting Comets Tweaky Edit)
  19. The first time I truly remember meeting Joe was when he organized his first blowout dinner at Laboratorio. 30-some foodies all getting together to dine together, many had never met before. I seem to recall that the staff at Laboratorio didn't really know who we were or what the food board scene was all about. At the end of the night they told us that we had drank the most wine of any group they had hosted. I know that Joe could at times be a polarizing guy...he was certainly opinionated...but he had a joy for life that is rarely seen these days.
  20. Grace & Proper is a corner neighborhood boho-chic joint that feels like it has been there forever, but has been open for about a year. The main room is dominated by the bar with some smaller tables along side and a small side room with bar stools and a ledge. Everything is ordered at the bar. The bar menu is extensive with wine and cocktails and a handful of beers on tap. The food menu is shared snacking style with cured meats, conserva, salads, and sandwiches. Highlights included a plate of bread with honey drizzled butter and radishes; a delicious plate of boquerones with pickled peppers; and tomato pinsa, a flatbread topped with tomato puree, olive oil and arugula. If you like eating off the wine bar menu and sitting in the back bar area of 2Amy's, then Grace & Proper is the place for you.
  21. A wordsmith themed cocktail bar situated in a stand alone three story skinny townhouse. The first floor is all of 6 barstools along the bar and 4 barstools along the front window. The second floor has more of a low-slung lounge feel and the third floor is a lofted space with a second bar area. The menu is creative and traditional cocktails plus wine and beer. Food is bar snacks: spiced almonds and potato chips. The creative cocktails are the way to go here at this cute little spot tucked just off Broad Street. Insta TimeOut Philly
  22. “Simone Leigh” opens Friday, November 3. "Simone Leigh (b. 1967, Chicago) represented the United States at the 2022 Venice Biennale, one of the largest and most important contemporary art exhibitions in the world. For over two decades, Leigh has embraced a polyphonic artistic vocabulary that elaborates on Black feminist thought, an intellectual tradition which values and centers the experiences of Black women. Informed by a rigorous attention to a wide swath of historical periods, geographies, and artistic traditions of Africa and the African diaspora, Leigh often combines the female body with domestic vessels or architectural elements to point to unacknowledged acts of labor and care, particularly among and for Black women. For her presentation at the Hirshhorn, the artist will include three new bronze sculptures, “Bisi”, “Herm” and “One Foot” (2023) within the galleries. Leigh’s monumental bronze, “Satellite” (2022) which stood sentry outside the U.S. Pavilion in Venice, has been installed at the entrance to the Hirshhorn on the southern plaza to signal the exhibition’s arrival. Clay forms the basis of most of Leigh’s artworks, including her bronze sculptures, which are first modeled in clay. The artist pushes the medium’s possibilities through scale and method, challenging conventional, hierarchical fine arts histories, which can still attach to ceramics associations around women’s labor, decoration, domestic crafts, and utility. This exhibition traces the artist’s unique visual language through signature motifs, including cowrie shells, braiding, rosettes, face vessels, and eyeless faces. Through Leigh’s re-performing of these forms in varying materials and scales, new structures of thought and meanings emerge, each consistently centering the experiences and intellectual labor of Black femmes. Accompanied by a major monograph, this exhibition offers visitors a timely opportunity to experience the complex and profoundly moving work of this groundbreaking artist."
  23. Agree with Eric, the Nyonya Laksa from the Daisy's Dream vendor is really good. The kind of hangover bowl of curry noodle soup you don't realize you need until you are slurping it down. I went with the fish cake, bean curd, boiled egg, and bean sprouts (#3 on the menu). Also good was the kopi coffee from Kopifellas, which is a pulled coffee with condensed milk. A couple of notes. The food hall opens at 10am, but at 10:30am on a Sunday, most of the vendors were not yet open for the day and still doing setup. So you probably don't want to get there before 11am. Urban Hawker is very close to MoMA as well as Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center, and a short walk from the southern edge of Central Park. It's a good choice if you are doing tourist things in midtown.
  24. For fans of video and media installations, this is a good one. Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies "The presentation celebrates major new acquisitions to SAAM’s media art collection. It pairs recently added video works by ADÁL, Raven Chacon, Mariam Ghani, Martine Gutierrez, Arthur Jafa, Erin Ellen Kelly, Christine Sun Kim, Liz Magic Laser, Simone Leigh, and Cauleen Smith with related photographs, sculptures, prints and immersive installations by the same creators. The featured artists draw on the vast cultural influence of American music. Whether turning to early spirituals, jazz and mid-century musicals, or movie soundtracks and hip-hop, each artist deeply considers the traditions, methods, and purpose of music in daily life. Connecting innovative forms, past and present, to the American experience, they emphasize that our national story has always been complex, multivocal, and set to music."
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