The show Soundstorm at the Lab Gallery is filled with mystery, power and magic. It has endured the strongest heatwave of the summer and acts as a breathing force in the gallery space on 47th and Lexington. The evolution of the show has been intense. It has channeled massive amounts of energy in its existence and continues to surprise me. On a steamy Friday night in the beginning of its installation a street viewer coming from LQ (a Club on Lex), in a fit of rage with his girlfriend put his fist through the front window. Unfortunately the gentleman lost his arm in the process and created a peculiar dynamic to the development of this installation.
I find the show to be the strongest installation that I have seen in the Lab Gallery in years. The layers of intent behind the show by Daniel Rothbart and Maia Anthea Marinelli go back further than you might realize. On April 24th, 1995 Lisa Paul Streitfeld curated a performance installation in the Lab Gallery where different artist participated in a Meditation / Mediation ceremony where consecutive artists projected their intent on the vessels that are consistent elements in all of Rothbarts installation work. Among the artist who participated were Max Blagg, Anthony Haden Guest, Valery Oisteanu, Bettina Sellmann, L. Brandon Krall, Larry Miller, John Perreault, Francine Hunter McGivern, and Abraham Lubeslki.
These vessels hold the intent of the space and all who have participated along the way. The potency of the experience for me seems to heighten the current experience of Soundstorm making it a charged experience.
Instinctually I tagged different Roger Smith personalities on facebook as represented in different vessels layering the intent and contributing to its charge. As if the walls a being pulled inward by the pulley systems controlled by the weather the amount of energy and tension in that space is fascinating. I believe the show is a conductor of emotions and energy! It has brought much to the surface, not all good, but most certainly necessary. I believe all installations in that space should be marked as an experience. In the context of provocative art, I am thoroughly stimulated.
I look forward to seeing what kind of aftermath is to be experienced. Bravo Daniel Rothbart!
This blog post is a response to an inquiry on The Lab Gallery Facebook Page by Danika Druttman. I encourage anyone who has experienced the Soundstorm Installation at the Lab Gallery to post a response to it. It can be a video, an essay or even a picture post. Lets keep the dialog going. Let me know what you think.
Follow your dreams with Panman Productions
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Panman Mixtape Set List
1. Panman Mixtape no. 1
Showcased on this mix-tape: Foxhollow Farm and the Marko Pogacnik stone installation, Pancity, and Roger Smith News
2. Panman Mixtape no. 7
Panman Mixtapes are visual and audio smashups. They are an experimentation with sound, visual projections and layered visual media.
3. Panman Mixtape no. 16
(Redstripe and Panman Jam)
As the mixtapes increase, the level of expectation holds higher goals. In this stage of the experimental process we are bringing more people into the mix.
4. Panman Mixtape no. 17
Here is a tapestry of what that journey represents within my psyche. Back and Forth, we go…
5. Panman Mixtape no. 22
There is one stronger wolf!
6. Panman Mixtape no. 26
Gaston the MC from Ill Rhyme Techniques.
7. Panman Mixtape no. 28
…With a live projection mashup concept we began to collect content.
8. Panman Mixtape no. 31
Crossing Narratives
“Millions of feet mark the city streets every day – people, likely unaware of their actions…”
- Mark Wiener, 2009
9. Panman Mixtape no. 35
A day in the life of Danika at the Roger Smith Hotel.
10.Panman Mixtape no. 36
Gaston, Colin E. and Blak Philly bring a taste of Connecticut’s underground Hip-Hop.
11. Panman Mixtape no. 45
Matisyahu Rehearsal for the Elemental Experience.
12. Panman Mixtape no. 47
Phish Mix; A cut from a headphone jam session mixed with the latest light shows from the Hampton and Jones beach shows.
13. Panman Mixtape no. 50
We continue where we started with a statement encouraging the pursuit of your dreams expressed through a healthy imagination, exploration into ourselves and a lust for greatness.
14. Panman Mixtape no. 56
The next stage of the panman mixtapes and creation of Pancity has begun.
15. Panman Mixtape no 57
Underwater Love; Smoke City
I hope that you enjoy the mixtapes. Please share them, comment and let me know what you think of them. Thanks for the continued support.
#SMartCAMP introduces Molly Crabapple of Dr. Sketchy at the Roger Smith Hotel.
Molly Crabapple is an award-winning artist, author and founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. She has been called “One of New York’s coolest denizens” by the NY Post, “a downtown phenomenon” by the New York Times, and “THE artist of our time” by comedian Margaret Cho. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Marvel Comics, and she has spoken at the Museum of Modern Art, South by Southwest Interactive, and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki. Molly calls New York her home, but travels internationally speaking, exhibiting art, and spreading the Sketchy’s gospel.
Dr. Sketchy’s in the Solarium @RShotel
The amazing Raquel Reed (@ihateraquelreed) in the Solarium of the Roger Smith Hotel.
These sketches were created by Ruth Kim, an aspiring artist residing in New York City.
Tribal identity is no longer a function of ethnic heritage or geographic locale. It is a choice. You express this choice to the outside world through your personal style.
At Tribal Couture their mission is simple: Enhance your personal style and express yourself …. with jewels that are just as bold and unique as you are!
A Live art installment will take place on February 23rd from 7-9PM in the Roger Smith Popup Shop. Join us for one night of projection entertainment by Panman and Freakcast to compliment the Bold Jewelry line Tribal Couture.
For Christmas I received the best present I have gotten in a really long time…
It was an awesome terra bite drive from the Panman Team. For those of you who don’t know, that’s a lot of space to put lots of media files. What could make a girl happier? (O.K. flowers are cool. I love flowers, but you get the point .)
Anyway, as a result of this really great gift, I was inspired to clean up my old storage drives, and during this process I started watching all the work I had shot and edited over the years. (Admittedly some pieces were better than others.) Nevertheless, as we approached a new year, I thought it was appropriate to take a look back …… not just on the last year, but the last ten.
This is a medley. Not just a year in review, but a cleansing of my drives and releasing of content I have been holding onto for years. Hopefully it is a fond farewell. I like what I have done in the past, but as they say, your only as good as your last story… So alas, I must press on.
This year has been a huge period of change for me. I find myself in a completely different place than I was in January 2009, and I look around with amazement. The only constant in life is change, and therefore I must go with the flow and facilitate that momentum within my work.
I want to re-approach my traditional way of creating content and start the New Year off fresh, with a cleansed pallet.
I am not looking to banish the past, but rather release it. I want to evoke the storyteller inside me and really think about new ways to create and live, but first this process was necessary.
Oh one last thing…
There are a few shots I borrowed from other members of the Panman team, so thanks guys for making me look good….again.
The music is from the “IN C REMIXED” project. I highly recommend music lovers check it out. Jad Abumrad, a composer and radio producer created the version I used. Among other things he’s one of the hosts and creators of RADIO LAB. I insist if you haven’t heard it, you must. It’s my lifeblood. If you’re curious, start with THIS EPISODE, but listen to them all. You’ll Laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn something new. This is the direction I hope to take my story telling.
-Abianne Prince
Cinémonde is all about great drink, great food, and great film. The screening on December 14th, at the School of Visual Arts Theater (on 23rd Street, bet. 8th & 9th Aves, in NYC) featured WONDERFUL WORLD, directed by Josh Goldin, starring Matthew Broderick, Sannaa Lathan and Michael K. Williams.
It was a smashing event. Not only did we have the pleasure of watching two fantastic films but we were able to engage some of the people who make this soiree possible. One such person was the director of the School of Visual Arts Theater, Gene Stavis.
James Knowles speaks with Chef Nata Traub about her childhood summers in France, and her love of Mediterranean flavors. Nata Traub has amazed and excited Cinémonde’s guests with her delightful dishes and exquisite taste.
The Rogé is the beautiful bronze statue, created by James Knowes, CEO and Artist in Residence of the Roger Smith Hotel. It is the award given to the filmmakers as a way of recognizing their artistic achievement.
Last but certainly not least we spoke with the director, Josh Goldin. Lets go Behind the scenes and check it out.
Today it would seem that something that was working upon my subconscious has ascended into the conscious mind. Like a diver who had been stroking the depths has finally made himself known. Emerging through the water –with him he brings news of great treasures that lay at the bottom waiting to be extracted.
Being part of Panman Productions all of us have been mauling over this piece of human psychology, this treasure waiting to be exhumed from the depths. We all know it’s there, at the bottom, but everyone’s perception is different of what that treasure may be.
Within each persons different perception lays a different reality. Our minds build walls around each of our own realities and we stand at the gates to defend our very fragile- indispensable kingdoms.
I say to myself, my kingdom should be sacred. Believing this to be true I want to share it with others. My kingdom could be my aspirations and ambitions, it should involve my imagination and creativity pushed through the lens of action and exploration. My kingdom reveals itself as a world that I have called, FreakCast, my kingdom has many worlds within it. Each world bearing its own province: Pilgrims of Pleiades, Hooligans Under The Sun of the Littlest Little Skitbook, Penguins in the City Inc., and Nargile Productions, these are just a few examples. Without these para-realities I would be lost. There would be no compass to guide me, no purpose to explore, no reason behind why I am. Fundamentally I exist because of the worlds I have created for myself and adapt into reality. Those around me who inhabit similar dimensions/kingdoms/universes can walk as freely into mine as I can into theirs. Once we are interacting on this level, communication begins to evolve as a byproduct.
As a recent example I look towards Pancity. Pancity opened its gates to me and said, here is where all your dreams come true. No shit! It took some time to adapt this very earth shattering mantra but it was repeated enough where I gained the courage to test it out.
Panman had put out a petri-dish and said, go ahead colonize it. In this boundless petri-dish I saw no competition and ripe soil and went for it. What I realized seems that the petri-dish was designed for me. And that everyone in Pancity gets their own dish. We don’t have to compete for real-estate. Besides that, these dishes are boundless, morphing, vessels for our creativity. They interject, cross-multiply, and reverberate through all of Pancity in a holographic composite image that bends through space.
Even better, we may set out our own petri-dishes if that is our cause.
We all have a kingdom. We were all once children. Some of us have taken that world with us and nurtured it, others tried to shed that world. The reasons are boundless, but be aware that if you are not living in your kingdom then you are living in someone else’s. If that could be the case what role do you play?
Few kingdoms are out there to Make YOUR dreams come true. No wonder we are skeptical.
First I had to believe. Then I had to stake my belief and take a risk. Dreams don’t come true out of nowhere and out of nothing. First you have to have a dream. Even for me this seems vague and uncertain since the fear of this dream coming true exists. What do you do next? How do you operate without your dream once it has come true? What if it’s a disappointment? Dream Again?
I realized that these were all traps and that dreams innately carry the DNA of your personal survival and evolution.
I realized that these were all traps and that dreams innately carry the DNA of your personal survival and evolution.
The process of finding your dream should be figuring out what you would like to create. It may be anything. The end result carries no significant importance. Going through the process of creation reverberates historically as an important element linking creativity with survival. Process unlocks realization. That realization should be the next process: evolution.
Evolution as defined by me: change over time that increases chance of survival and improves quality of life.
Evolution of self leads to evolution of community.
To get to the process you will have to do things that you will generate a million excuses as to why not to do.
On the other hand your process may be to create a circumstance in which you will have to do nothing, relax, meditate, find out how to get back to or explore your infinite kingdom.
When you present the product that has come from going through a process, Panman will respond. The new level of communication could seem as concise and unexpected.
I believe in this one tenet as a module to making the culture of our company as strong as water (apply personal elemental analogy here.)
Several realizations that I believe I have made through process.
1.Extract truth and realization from tribulation. For some reason it seems more impacting than from positive experiences and seems to last longer. Its longevity offers more time and abilities to study the realization and to extract its character.
2.Play games with yourself and others. Games should be how we learn and check paradigms.
3.Do not accept mediocrity, be weird.
4.The universe or ether, god, subconscious, shows it self as a fabric of humor. Gut-wrenching humor. Often you come off as the butt of the joke.
5.Be afraid. Be afraid to confront your fear. Confront it anyway.
6.Don’t do things as if you are doing them for someone. Do things for yourself.
7.Don’t believe anything anyone tells you. Especially when they sound really convincing. Always test their advice and opinions. Rely on your won experiences. It should be your kingdom after all.
A wise old sage was once asked what is one piece of advice you can share with the world. His response was, don’t trust what wise old sages tell you. There is a deeper meaning to this than the one that is obvious at first glance.
The hard part is remembering what I have realized. Memory can be tuff rubber. It feels great to have people around that have made similar realizations. I suppose that maybe what community could be based on.
When this performance was exhibited at the LAB Gallery, I had just received news that a close family member had become an expectant mother. I was deeply moved by this performance, not only because of my excitement about a new family member, but also because of the elegance and beauty by which Kata presented the experience of her pregnancy. The performance provoked me to think about the nature of motherhood. Here are some of my thoughts.
When a woman imagines having a family, the notion is lucid and naive. No matter her previous thoughts, the reality of what that experience will truly be like is intangible and distant by its very nature.
Life moves forward, but somewhere in between, your perception of the world changes forever. You no longer can conceive of yourself first. Now you have been given the knowledge that you will be a mother in 40 weeks time, and the only thing in the world that you can think of is how you can give every ounce of your being to this new life growing inside you.
As humans, we are locked in our own minds. We perceive the world through the narrow lens experience and genetics have allotted us. But for this moment in time, these 40 weeks, you extend your vision beyond the ledge of your own corner of existence and for once honestly know what it feels like to be another. You create the other, and project onto and into the other; and they onto you.
Your perception of time shatters. It is no longer about your life, but the one to come.
Everything happens quickly, and yet the process has a framework that is slow and methodical: one step at a time, building, changing and morphing. A force so strong yet so fragile.
Circles completed and corners eroded.
Having no children of my own, I can only speculate. But I believe every woman wonders and waits patiently for the moment when they will give every once of their being to another.
I hope this video captures a fraction of that beauty and honesty.
You may remember Kevin from the former 4222 Gallery in port Jefferson where he was an artist in residence or the Studio Visits series from last year. If you don’t here is the first video of a five video series to boost your memory.
Aleks “Marlo” D. had a chance to catch up with Kevin last week and to offer him a show at the the Roger Smith Hotel. Although elated by the proposition, Kevin could not express his joy since he had a recent accident that impaired his ability to do so.
Kevin Garcia’s art work is a reflection of his own cultural fusion. Born and raised in Mineola, NY, as a first-generation American of Colombian descent, Kevin’s background has greatly impacted the varied themes and media reflected in his art. One of his earliest memories of a trip back to Colombia, was being the sole person repeatedly awoken by a roosters crow in the early morning hours on an Uncle’s farm. As a child, the sound was awe-inspiring, and in some way, came to represent his connection to the foreign land. Over the years, the rooster became an intimate symbol for Kevin, using it interchangeably in his art work to express human action and emotion.
