Art
When Horses Were Coconuts
The Midnight Moment series resumes in August with When Horses Were Coconuts by 13BC, which will appear nightly on the screens of Times Square as well as online throughout the month.
The collective 13BC makes moving image work shaped by extensive research and committed to histories that elude official representation and record. When Horses Were Coconuts specifically considers the ongoing legacy of the atomic bomb and the inextricable histories of warfare, mass-media spectacle, pollution, and public memory.
The silent and ethereal underwater footage of When Horses Were Coconuts was inspired by the 1951 CBS News coverage of an atomic bomb test in Frenchman Flat, Nevada. While cameras captured what became the first live televised footage of the bomb, no adequate sound was recorded. Instead, an influential Foley artist named Robert L. Mott reimagined the sound for television by sourcing an audio recording of a waterfall from the CBS sound library, remixing it backwards and slowed down. The deep rumble he fabricated not only aired the night of the live televised event, but set the template for the infamous sound associated with the atomic bomb to this day. When Horses Were Coconuts works in the shadow of this recording and its history — refusing the iconic image of the mushroom cloud and instead offering an analogical visualization of Mott’s mythologized roar. The result is a representation of an absent but all-too familiar sound, producing an image “to be heard with the eyes,” in the collective’s words.
The work was filmed with an underwater handheld camera, swimming towards a waterfall in an upstate tributary of the Hudson River. By flipping the river’s surface upside down, the artists have created an otherworldly effect; the camera seems to skim over a quicksilver sea churning with toxic neon, as light rays stream and air bubbles rush through a murky sky. At once peaceful and poisonous, this image distills the widely diffused ecological and social consequences of weapons testing and opens towards strange timescales of viewing, even prior to our contemporary situation of remote simultaneity. In the collective’s words:
“Televised events like atomic bomb tests, the moon landing, or more than a century’s worth of Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball drops, were not only massive media spectacles. They also marked a time of simultaneous yet atomized viewing, of millions of people around the world watching and listening to an epochal event from their living rooms. Here, displayed simultaneously on multiple screens, and silent amidst the noise of Times Square, a small stream 120 miles north becomes the glittering image of a sound that shaped a half century of atomic imagination, anxiety and threat.”
When Horses Were Coconuts is part of a larger project titled Fatal Act, originally presented at 80WSE in 2019, consisting of four video works that together plumb the history of nuclear warfare.
13BC is a research and production collective for moving images co-founded in 2015 by Vic Brooks, Lucy Raven, and Evan Calder Williams. 13BC’s solo exhibition Fatal Act premiered at 80 Washington Square East Galleries, New York University in 2019 and subsequently toured to Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin. Previous exhibitions and screenings include Modern Mondays: An Evening with 13BC, Doc Fornight 2020, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2020); La Grand Balcon, La Biennale de Montréal (2016); Each Aspect of Life Is a Thing of Triad, mumok, Vienna (2016); Fade In: Int. Art Gallery – Day, Swiss Institute, New York (2016); Over You/You, 31st Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana (2015); and Random Acts, Frieze Film / Channel 4 Television, London (2015). lucyraven.com
thirteenblackcats.org
Lucy Raven (b. 1977, Tucson, Arizona) is an artist based in New York City. A co-founder of 13BC, her work is grounded primarily in animation and moving image installations. She has had exhibitions and screenings internationally, including at the Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Serpentine Gallery, London; MoMA and PS 1, New York; Portikus, Frankfurt; the Tate Modern, London; and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. A new permanent public artwork will open this September at the forthcoming Bauhaus Museum in Dessau, Germany on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the school’s founding. She teaches at Cooper Union School of Art in New York.
Evan Calder Williams (b. 1982, Portland, Maine) is a writer, theorist, and filmmaker based in Shady, NY. He is the author of Combined and Uneven Apocalypse; Roman Letters; Shard Cinema; and two forthcoming books, The Negative Archive and Manual Override: A Theory of Sabotage. He is an editor of Viewpoint Magazine and the translator, with David Fernbach, of a new edition of Mario Mieli’s Towards a Gay Communism. His individual and collaborative films, installations, and audio works have been exhibited at the Berlinale, Mercer Union, ISSUE Project Room, the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, and other institutions and festivals. He teaches at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. cargocollective.com/ecw
Vic Brooks (b. 1979, London, UK) is a curator and filmmaker based in Shady, NY. Alongside co-founding 13BC, she is senior curator of time-based visual art at EMPAC / Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, co-chair of the Contemporary Curatorial Workshop at Williams Graduate Program in the History of Art, and works with the Calder Foundation to commission artists working in moving image. Brooks has commissioned and produced new works in the expanded field of visual art, moving image, and performance with artists such as Charles Atlas, Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, Martine Syms, Laure Prouvost, Ephraim Asili, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Clarissa Tossin, and Moved by the Motion (Wu Tsang, boychild, Josh Johnson, Patrick Belaga, Asma Maroof). vicbrooks.com
Gay Pride, Bryant Park Picnic Performances, Movie Nights, Lincoln Center Summer for the City (Midsummer Night Swing), Juneteenth, New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Tribeca Film Festival, Free Outdoor Concerts, Museum Mile Festival, the Puerto Rican Day Parade and that’s just the beginning!
Until September 29 every summer in Times Square, NYC, TSQ LIVE showcases hundreds of artists, performers and cultural producers and this summer 80 free events hosting over a dozen incredible New York-based institutions and collectives, including Pioneer Works, NEW INC, Children’s Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Ailey Extension, New York Live Arts, OTA Entertainment, Soul Summit, Rash Bar, and Elsewhere.
6/1: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park New York City Opera: La Bohème
6/2: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Jazzmobile: The Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra
6/2: Billy Joel @ MSG
6/3-4: Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit atUniversity Place, starting at East 13th Street and continuing south along the east side of Washington Square Park to West 3rd Street.
6/7 until September: Little Island Tony and Grammy Award winners in The Glade, late night djs, drag bingo, and dance parties in The Play Ground, weekly artmaking activities for all ages and Teen Night every Friday.
6/7 – 18: Tribeca Film Festival will take place movie theatres, rooftops and various venues throughout NYC, such as the new Pier 57, Beacon Theatre, the Angelika. The premiere of Let the Canary Sing with a performance by Cyndi Lauper or The Closing Gala: A Bronx Tale, followed by a conversation with director and star Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal, and writer and co-star Chazz Palminteri.
6/8 – 8/6: Shakespeare in the Park – Hamlet
6/8: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Contemporary Dance: Robin Dunn, The Lite
6/9: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Contemporary Dance: Dance Heginbotham, Jennifer Muller/The Works
6/9 – 11: @ Citi Field Governors Ball Music Festival – The contemporary music festival for music lovers by music lovers. With 60+ artists of all genres across 4 stages, there is something for everyone, including delicious restaurants, food trucks and menus.
6/9 – 18: River to River Festival The festival takes place in a variety of public venues that canvas all of Downtown New York – from Chambers Street down to the southern tip of Manhattan and across the island from river to river.
6/11: National Puerto Rican Day Parade Fifth Avenue, 44th to 79th Street
6/12: Bryant Park Movie Nights Almost Famous (2000)
6:13: Museum Mile Festival on Fifth Avenue from 84th Street to 109th Street: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Neue Galerie New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; The Jewish Museum; Museum of the City of New York; El Museo del Barrio; and The Africa Center.
6/14 – August: Dancing Under the Stars (formerly Midsummer Night Swing), free outdoor movies, dancing, singing, readings, celebrations, flamingos, disco ball, poetry, Mozart, concerts, crafts, Juneteenth and much more!
6/15: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Contemporary Dance: Terk Lewis + Kayla Farrish
6/16: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Contemporary Dance: Soles of Duende + Josh Johnson
6/17-25: Gay Pride The Rally, The March & Pride Island. The 2023 theme is “Strength in Solidarity” and Christina Aguilera is headlining NYC Pride Island on Sunday, June 25th at Brooklyn Army Terminal. The festivities begin with Family Night and the Rally and culminate with PrideFest & The March. Other events include Pride Island and the annual Dance on the Pier, following the parade wrapping up Pride Week in a grand fireworks display.
6/16 – 18: Juneteenth is a celebration of June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, which declared the ending of slavery in the USA. The three day Juneteenth in NYC festival kicks off Friday with a virtual summit, Friday night is the Celebration of Black Kings, Saturday is Festival Community Day and the festival culminates Sunday with a Parade, Fashion Show, Food trucks Field Day and more. Monday, June 19th, is a national holiday, with government, banks and post offices closed. More Info: Junteenth NY
There are dozens more Juneteenth celebrations throughout all 5 Boroughs, including BBQs, the NYC Parks Department, Seneca Village, Broadway, Lincoln Center, concerts, shows, theater and more.
6/17: The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is the nation’s largest art parade where 3,000+ participants dress in hand-made costumes.
6/ 19: Bryant Park Movie Nights Amistad (1997)
6/23: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Emerging Music Festival: Psymon Spine, THUS LOVE, Katy Kirby
6/24: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Emerging Music Festival: Ky Vöss, Seramic, Miss Grit, Dead Tooth
6/26: Bryant Park Movie Nights Mean Girls (2004)
6/30: Picnic Performances @ Bryant Park Jalopy Theatre: Michael Daves Quartet ft. Tony Trishka, Yacouba Sissoko, Terrell King
6/30: Intrepid Museum Summer Movie Series: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Taylor Swift’s career-spanning costume exhibition just opened at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). On May 18, MAD Director Tim Rodgersand Board Chair Michele Cohen (with husband Marty) welcomed members and patrons for a preview of the exhibition before it opened to the public on the 20th. Guests included Susan and Larry Ach, Loreen Arbus, Christiana Baroni, Marian Burke, Patti and Michael Dweck, Alexander Hankin, Marsy Mittlemann, Netta Rosin, as well as MAD curators Elissa Auther, Barbara Paris Gifford, and Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy. Television cameras whirled in a music filled electric gallery.
(BFA Madison McGaw)
Taylor Swift: Storyteller is a career-spanning look at the artistic reinventions of the 12-time GRAMMY Award–winning artist who is one of the most prolific songwriters in history. The exhibition includes stage costumes from all her eras; the cheerleader and ballerina ensembles from the award-winning music video for “Shake It Off” (2014) to the sparkling ensemble from “Bejeweled” (2022). Concert attire by couture fashion houses including Cavalli, Gucci, Louboutin, Versace, YSL and more, are featured along with props, jewelry, ephemera, and projections of music videos. The exhibition runs through September 4, 2023. Timed tickets for the exhibition are available for $25 and include access to all Museum exhibitions. For more information, visit https://madmuseum.org/exhibition/taylor-swift-storyteller.
Alexander Hankin
Alexander Hankin, Barbara Tober
Amanda Ibrahim, Zachary Miller
Angelic Vizcarrondo-Laboy, Willow Holdorf
Barbara Paris Gifford, Angelic Vizcarrondo-Laboy, Willow Holdorf
Barbara Paris Gifford, Elissa Auther
Barbara Tober, Marian Burke
Ben Strauss, Marian Burke
Bruce White, Christina Clare Ewald
Isabel Lo, Lina Hares
Jeffrey Brosa, Andy Seid, Wendy Leiser
Jeffrey Quaritius
Joey Spieczny, Alexander Hankin, Zachary Miller, Justin Grabell
Larry Ach, Susan Ach
Tim Rodgers
Sasha Nixon, Robert Lugo
Patti Dweck, Michael Dweck
Michele Cohen, Marsy Mittlemann
Marsy Mittlemann, Netta Rosin
Lucig Kebranian
Last Thursday multidisciplinary, shamanic artist ETTE exposed the name of her predator and took back her life. The show was powerful, prolific and empowering. “Whistle Blower” was co-produced by Derek Warburton.
Now you can go inside the performance that exposed who raped ETTE and the action she took to take her life back.
Sexual Violence Affects Millions of Americans
Younger People Are at the Highest Risk of Sexual Violence
- Ages 12-34 are the highest risk years for rape and sexual assault.3
- Those age 65 and older are 92% less likely than 12-24 year olds to be a victim of rape or sexual assault, and 83% less likely than 25-49 year olds.4
On Thursday multidisciplinary, shamanic artist ETTE exposed the name of her predator and took back her life. The show was powerful, prolific and empowering. My guest Elisabeta, writer ElizaBeth Taylor and I, all felt privileged to be apart of an act so brave and true. Abuse victims should NEVER feel the way they are made to feel.
Before the main event we talked with ETTE about her abuse and how prevalent abuse is in our society.
Her co-host Derek Warburton also shared his story and why he co-produced this amazing night.
Did you know?
Before that happened T2C had a chance to see her art show entitled “Whistle Blower”.
ETTE’s art
Tomorrow the performance.
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