Another week flew by in Bushwick — and can you believe that it’s March already? I’ve heard from friends that Venus is turning retrograde starting this weekend, which means that as an Aries, things are going to be wacky and I should definitely not cut my hair. Seems like the best thing for all of us to do is chill out and go see all the fabulous stuff that’s going on.
This is a very special Bushwicky kind of weekend. Those industrious folks (do they ever sleep?!) at Arts in Bushwick bring us: SITE Festival 09, a "two day interdisciplinary event, highlighting the diversity of performance in Bushwick." Theater, dance, music, performance art, panel discussions…what more could anyone ask for? AiB has put together a comprehensive listings menu and printable pdf that is kind of mind-blowing and Jeremy did a handy write-up as well! This ground is well-covered, but here a few more highlights and some non-SITE events as well.
Tonight, check out some tunes at Goodbye Blue Monday or the Kingdom Den and rest up for the weekend.
Friday, 3rd Ward presents Resonance in Residence, a "collaborative installation combining 100 algorithmically-controlled, sound-generating motors and field recordings" (with free beer while it lasts)! ISCP is home to Picture Parlor, the "third event in a new series of curated art showcases." Also check out their site for more stuff happening all weekend. There’s a lot of music to choose from at Goodbye Blue Monday, Bushwick Starr and Silent Barn.
Saturday, it’s ON. Grab a map and get out there. You may encounter these slow moving folks, who must be the same performers I remember moving slowly throughout Bushwick Open Studios circa ’07. Pretty incredible. You can learn about the past, present and future of food, attend some readings at Cafe Orwell and appreciate some art at Pocket Utopia. Check out some theater at the Bushwick Starr on both Saturday and Sunday. There are SO MANY awesome art/party/music options in the evening that my head is spinning: check out the Verbal Graffiti show/party OR the Addtract Consortium’s spring kickoff (remember Monduna?) OR the Afuche McKibbin house party tour kickoff OR hit up the IonSound festival at GBM.
Sunday, I’m excited for some actually interesting-sounding panel discussions (on alternative space for music and comedy, to name a couple). Consult your handy program pdf for times and places on both days. This "tongue in cheek lecture series" looks pretty witty and hey — you can hit up the Basement while you’re over that way. BushwickBK has partnered with local art space Norte Maar: "TRANSMITTED will stream a live reading of poetry and other audio performances locally through radio waves and on the internet right here on BushwickBK.com." After you’ve seen and heard it all, take a deep breath and take a load off at 3rd Ward. Moviehouse is back again followed by what is sure to be a raging afterparty.
Good luck out there! See lots of stuff, take pics, be merry and don’t forget to turn your clock ahead on Saturday night! Who needs that hour of sleep when we have all that extra daylight in our futures?
SITE Fest
Hubs
Chez Bushwick
The Bushwick Starr
Lumenhouse
Grace Space
pixie March 5th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
We distributed maps/programs today. They’re available at all the Hub and sponsor spaces (check the artsinbushwick.org website to see who they are).
Niina March 6th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Super looking forward to everything going on this weekend!
notafan March 7th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
NOOOOO! They’re invading Bushwick now. People in tight pants, ironic tshirts and black glasses. I went to a “performance art” piece and I wanted to kill myself. I pray that these fools don’t move beyond the Morgan Ave. stop. The reason I have such a problem with this group of people is because they are self-indulgent, self-centered rich kids from the suburbs. This festival does NOT in any way involve people from the neighborhood. It is exclusive and entirely white. Please stop trying to make Bushwick into “the next Williamsburg.”
careful March 7th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Shut up whiner. How could “people from the neighborhood” be interested — it’s not a spinning rim festival.
notafan March 7th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Wow. That’s the most classist/racist/ignorant thing I’ve seen all week. Thanks for painting native Bushwickers with a broad stroke, jackass! Now please, go back to Billyburg or Connecticut or Tennessee to get away from our “spinning rims”
notafan March 7th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
The problem with gentrification is people like careful. You come in and admire the neighborhood because it is “different” and “industrial” and “new” without any analysis of the dynamics between the natives and the newcomers. I will commend the Site Festival for posting bilingual meeting info. And the organizers are not entirely at fault. But there are people like this jerk who don’t realize the impact of their statements and latently racist/classist ideologies. I’m not trying to pick a fight, I would just really like this to be acknowledged somehow in a forum like this. Bushwick is a great neighborhood and sustainable development is in everyone’s best interest. But not at the expense of the culture and vitality that made this neighborhood in the first place. We have a rich fabric here that should be acknowledged, but people should not be demeaned for their cultural appendages. Yes, people have spinning rims. So what? It doesn’t mean they aren’t people who are interested in art, culture, music, etc. To imply such a thing is ignorant as hell. I feel that all too often, people like this inhabit this neighborhood and instead of appreciating the diversity, they see it as a novelty and look forward to the day when the streets are overrun with people like themselves. This is not the way to ensure that Bushwick develops with EVERYONE in mind.
Shame on you!!!
Dresden March 8th, 2009 at 6:52 am
notafan, the problem with gentrification is a perceived problem. the only thing that will happen to an area is change. that’s what happens. as far as “bilingual” meetings… I wouldn’t call latino culture exactly open and accessible to the newcomers, would you? so maybe shame on you?
Dresden March 8th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Anyway notafan, I didn’t want to sound like I was building a wall, as I actually like latino culture and think it is accessible, but you sound like you’re bitching that performance art is weird, white and typically an activity of the (white) privileged… and that’s just pissing in the wind.
Rod March 8th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I think Notafan is one of this loosers~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmZHl5vvVYc
Rod March 8th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmZHl5vvVYc
Dresden March 9th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Bitching performance art is a lot of privileged white kids is like bitching there’s sand in the desert.
Professional Alternative March 9th, 2009 at 11:57 am
notafan didn’t want to pick a fight — he just wanted to get away with saying something outrageously stupid and have everyone agree.
I went around all weekend, and while it’s correct to say nobody “from the neighborhood” attended, it is completely false to say it was “exclusively and entirely white” — either among the audience or the performers.
The one thing notafan commends SITE for is its bilingual posters — as if anyone who would attend does not speak English. As if most of the people “from the neighborhood” who would ever possibly be interested did not speak English. The one thing they did that is totally patronizing and done 100% for image purposes, and you bit.
SITE was open to everyone, but not of interest to everyone. And that’s okay. notafan seems to be upset that Daddy Yankee wasn’t invited to perform in a loft space. I don’t see Ecuadoran bars putting The Cure in their jukeboxes. omg rasizms!
Kojo March 9th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Though The one thing that annoys me is that everyone is so quick to attack notafan but the comment made by Careful was not addressed. I happen to be African but I sometimes get mistaken for spanish. I have friends that happen to be artists, white, and living in Bushwick. I can also tell you that there are some artists in Brooklyn that do fit the “hipster mold”. I also have befriended many locals on my people who happen to be good people.
I do not comepletely agree with notafan’s comments because I happen to attend the events noted in the poset, and I enjoy them. My girlfriend is an artist and I have been able to witness the blossoming Bushwick’s art scene. Though I do not agree with notafan’s statements, I will not go so far as to call the man/woman stupid like Professional Alternative. WTF
It is this assumption by some (not all) that the people in the neighborhood are low class, do not appreciate culture of any kind. So Careful or Professional Alternative – not everyone of spanish or black decent listens do Daddy Yankee, spins their rims 24/7, blast reggaeton in the middle of the night, and falls into every ghetto generalization that you may believe. I agree that there has not been a true dialogue between the natives and newcomers (for a lack of a better term), but come on! Do you some of you have to always take it to this level.
Professional Alternative March 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
“not everyone of spanish or black decent listens do Daddy Yankee, spins their rims 24/7, blast reggaeton in the middle of the night, and falls into every ghetto generalization that you may believe.”
That is exactly what I said, Kojo. notafan seems to be making two contradictory complaints — first that SITE’s performance art is only for white people and then in another comment that it’s NOT only for white people. I simply made a distinction between the typical Bushwick “native,” as you put it, and others. They simply may not be interested in the “newcomer” community’s various likes and activities, and that is OKAY. People can put on an event that doesn’t appeal to everyone and not be racist or exclusionary — that was the point of my Daddy Yankee comment.
Furthermore, I didn’t call anyone stupid. I called a comment stupid. In fact, this entire conversation is stupid. SITE was a festival that included ANYONE who wanted to participate and ANYONE who wanted to attend. If that only ENDED UP being white people — which as you and I both know, it absolutely did NOT — then it is not a manifestation of racism or colonialism or anything of the sort as notafan seemed to be implying. That’s all there is to it.
Ingo Hart March 9th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I found the whole thing baffling and boring. And I’m white.
Kojo March 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Ingo Hart, it seems that boredom pushed you to make a comment. If you find this converation baffling, boring, or whatever. Why don’t you just walk away? Read the thread then move on. Why even comment?
Professional Alternative, I actually was following you with everything that you said in your earliest post. I do not agree with the comments made by notafan because I can see it could offend many people on this site, but the Daddy Yankee comment could be taken the wrong way to someone else. Thank you for taking the time to clarify what you said. Also, I enjoyed SITE Festival this year around. And, for the record, I’m black.
Armstrong March 9th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
what a bunch of neurotics, lol.
Steve March 10th, 2009 at 5:26 am
Kojo–Should only people who have nice things to say comment? Why is commenting on finding the event boring not legitimate? Ingo Hart is not the first to suggest that maybe what is being produced in Bushwick doesn’t really live up to the new bohemia hype. Maybe this has something to do with the tendency to recreate the paradise of a Bard dormitory rather than engage with the city the loft scene is embedded in (that’s a tendency–not true of everyone equally.).
notafan March 11th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Is anyone else at least a little upset that “Rod” called Make the Road– one of the best nonprofits in the area, maybe even all of NYC– a bunch of “losers”?
Anyway, what isn’t being addressed is the tendency of neighborhood newcomers to put down the people who are originally from the community. If you think you are so much better, so much smarter and so much more interesting, than why move here in the first place? It’s insulting. I actually wish we could have more of a serious dialogue about this– everyone’s role in gentrification. It is not merely a “perceived” problem, as Make the Road will tell you. Maybe if some newcomers tried to actually talk to people from around here, these misunderstandings wouldn’t happen. It breaks my heart to see people react to people who live here as if they are mindless automatons who just spin rims and listen to Daddy Yankee. Just as much as it must ruffle your feathers to hear talk of fitting into a hipster mold. The key to this is to take this discussion into the open and off of the internet, but who among us is really to have this potentially uncomfortable conversation (yes, it has a LOT to do with class, education, race, etc)? I know I am. I am black, middle class and a newcomer to this neighborhood myself. I do enjoy many “hipster” activities, but I occupy a space where I have to always be aware of my impact on my surroundings– I do not have the privilege of being able to ignore these things. So before you attack me, please, try to understand the frustration that mounts in many people both old and new trying to get along in an increasingly difficult situation. Surely you must understand Bushwick’s history with unscrupulous landlords and real estate developers. There are prominent condos and lofts going up that natives of the community surely will not be moving into. How does this affect the dynamics of the neighborhood? They are tough questions because inevitably, people feel as if they are being attacked, but in order to make the community thrive, we have to have these sorts of dialogues.
That’s all I was saying. I was just mad after coming home from a particularly AWFUL performance art show. It was TERRIBLE. Hopefully the rest of SITE was a lot better!
mopar March 11th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Notafan, hipsters are not the only newcomers to Bushwick. There are tons of recent immigrants from Mexico, Ecuador, and other countries.
I don’t know why you think there is such a problem with the lack of interaction between the various residents. Maybe if you live in the lofts you mostly know other newcomers because people only recently started living in the factories there.
I live elsewhere and have plenty of interaction with my neighbors and people I meet at the laundromat, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.
Also, you should have seen the crowd that turned out to protest the horrifying murder of Jose Sucuzhanay. It was diverse in every sense and everyone shared a common sense of outrage and values. I saw young, gay immigrants (one in a very unusual outfit!) as well as older straight immigrants who spoke up against homophobia and racism. And not to mention lots of other people. It was very impressive, a true coming together of the community.
The biggest barrier to getting to know my neighbors better is that I don’t speak Spanish. I really wish I did because there are several people I would like to be friends with. Everyone has been amazingly friendly.
mopar March 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Also, some of the recent Mexican arrivals are pretty darn hip! There are hipsters in Mexico too.
(Hipster…hopelessly vague and overused word…I just mean arty college grad type with indie music etc. leanings.)
pamarama March 12th, 2009 at 11:50 am
perhaps neighborhood newcomers are vulnerable and insecure because the existing cultures they are stepping into are far more vibrant, historic and colorful than their own. perhaps they are very jealous so they get get easily irritated and offensive. i don’t get why they come to such places for a piece of NY authenticity and to enjoy a true, old school NY flavor, and then dilute it with so much milk that it no longer has any taste. why must they homogenize. why must they pasteurize. to admire the street life safely, a distanced image of it trapped within a gallery trapped within a frame, initially viewed from the protection of a lens. i am an art lover but these convergences are just getting very weird. i think the hipster scene is actually incredible and the “old school” NY scene is even more incredible. why must the former attack the latter, especially when they are the visitors. what would be truly original, and i would love to see it happen in bushwick first and set a good example for the future, is harmony, for the new to CATER to the OLD, yes this is appropriate, in a genuine effort to truly integrate, with the best of both worlds, what an incredibly gorgeous place that would be. just think of it, people in projects could eat healthy local farm subsidies and the skokies from okie can actually get a little street cred. can you see it… you have to see it to believe it. without any thought given to the place they are stepping into other than exploiting it for their own interest and destroying it in the process, primarily for its cheapness, while condescendingly making fun of it, than is a very ugly and scary place to operate from, and would make these hipsters no better than the people destroying the rainforest for money. thoughts?
whisper March 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Nothing quite as refreshing as a nice milk metaphor pamarama.
Ang March 12th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Love it. Well said. I also agree with an earlier post that this conversation could really go somewhere if it was done face to face. It would be great to have some community forum (maybe one already exists I don’t know) that met monthly where folks from the area could come and discuss problems, solutions, new ideas that can help and benefit all. I think we could be an example for future communities. I just moved from Crown heights not too long ago which is experiencing many of the same issues. Wouldn’t it be great to have another community follow suit with ours? Anyway, Pamarama said it better so I’ll stop.