I've been advised that Parreno's marquee pieces deserve further discussion. They are, certainly, the dominant visual element of the H{N)Y P N(Y}OSIS installation at the Park Avenue Armory, marking the outline of Danny the Street and providing much of the illumination in the Drill Hall. The films and musical interludes might alternate, turning on and off in random sequence, but the marquees abide like sentinels or referees, providing strict framing of the playing field, defining the rules of the game.

When the circus comes to town, we are accustomed to a certain hierarchy of presentation. First there is the sideshow, often an allee lined with various attractions that are transitory and ephemeral: small, spicy, tender morsels that serve to whet our appetite for the main course, where the real business of the circus -- marching elephants, dancing bears, lion tamers, jugglers, tightrope walkers, aerial acts, the flying trapeze and such -- gets done under the Big Top.

Tom Sachs
Space Program: Mars
Park Avenue Armory
66th Street and Park Avenue
produced by the Armory and Creative Time
May 16 - June 17, 2012

May 16, 2012.

It must be a daunting task for any artist to consider placing a body of work into a huge, cavernous void such as the Park Avenue Armory. How to fill the 55,000 square foot Drill Hall, with its high vaulted ceilings and acres of plank floor, in addition to the ornate, memorabilia filled, wood paneled corridors and regimental meeting rooms, and not have your work overwhelmed by the vastness? How to signify amid the hangings, accoutrements and sheer volume of another age?

The AIPAD Photography Show New York will be presented by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) from March 17 through 20, 2011. More than 75 of the world’s leading fine art photography galleries will present work including contemporary, modern, and 19th century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video, and new media, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.

The 31st edition of The AIPAD Photography Show New York will open with a Gala Preview on March 16 to benefit the John Szarkowski Fund, an endowment for photography acquisitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Ticket information is as follows:

Benefactor 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($5,000 4 tickets)

Patron 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($750, 1 ticket)

Sponsor 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($250, 1 ticket)

Friend 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($100, 1 ticket)

For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact The Museum of Modern Art, http://www.moma.org/aipad2011, 212/708-9680 or specialevents@moma.org.

Ernesto Neto
Anthropodino
Seventh Regiment Armory
Park Avenue and 66th Street, New York
May 13 - June 14, 2009

May 14, 2009.

In Brasil, to call someone or something "ginga" (pronounced ZHEEN-ga)

is to offer a high compliment. Ginga connotes an intuitive, mystical quality of movement and attitude that Brasilians like to think is uniquely theirs, permeating the way they walk, talk and dance, part of everything they do. It is a synthesis of mind and body, a state of corporeal grace informed by intelligence, creativity and rhythm. Most frequently applied to the "beautiful game" evinced by the star players of Brasilian fútbol, ginga is also evident in the Escolas de Samba, and in the other athletes, musicians, actors and artists who are the pride of Brasil.

When Ronaldo fakes out a defender with his splendid footwork and executes a somersault kick into the net, this is ginga. When Caetano Veloso sings and plays guitar on "O leãozinho", this is ginga. And now, Ernesto Neto, a true Carioca, an artist who lives, works and takes inspiration from his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, has successfully exported ginga to New York for his month long playground and sculptural installation in the huge Drill Hall of the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue.

There are socially conscious nonprofits which feed the hungry, house the homeless, work with runaway or HIV-positive youth, engage in natural disaster relief. And there are arts/cultural nonprofits, generally sharing a left-liberal orientation. The two should be sympathetic and cooperative. Artists, for example, are often moved to donate work to auctions that benefit socially or politically active causes. But as the economy shrinks, there will necessarily be increased competition for fewer dollars, and organizations dealing with subsistence and survival will likely be favored over artistic endeavors. This could endanger the natural affinity between good causes and good art.

Were the Whitney Biennial an entry on the police blotter of art history, of the Who, What, When, Why, “Just the Facts, Ma’am” variety, then this short text concerns its Where. Unlike other New York museums, which have recently, for better or worse, completed dramatic new building projects (MoMA’s Tanaguchi temple and the New Museum’s grey ghost on the Bowery) or made major efforts in franchising their brand overseas (look no further than the Mc Guggenheims) the Whitney has generally been stymied in its expansion plans.