Date: Sunday, February 26th 2012, 4 – 6 pm
Location: Flux Factory, 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City

SP Weather Station will host a Special Preview for the 2011 edition of the SP Weather Reports, presenting new works and works-in-progress by its most recent group of collaborating artists.  The public is welcome to join past and current artist participants for a reception and conversation at Flux Factory about this ongoing publication series.  Portfolios from all years will be available for view and sale (including 2011 pre-orders) and refreshments will be served.

Now in its fifth year, SP Weather Reports is a collated portfolio published annually by the artist-collaborative SP Weather Station.  Each year, twelve artists (or artist groups), one per month, are invited to ‘report’ on the weather data taken by the SPWS rooftop station, installed on the roof of Flux Factory in Long Island City. This open-ended assignment may be interpreted strictly or loosely; past artists have created prints, booklets, drawings, audio files, photos and video.

The 2011 SP Weather Reports feature works by: (January) Emcee C.M.; (February) Glen Einbinder; (March) Rafael Hidalgo Múgica; (April) Naomi Miller; (May) Chad Stayrook; (June) Michelle Rosenberg and Howard Huang; (July) Hope Ginsburg; (August) eteam; (September) Paul Kennedy; (October) Adrienne Garbini; (November) Travis LeRoy Southworth; (December) Rick Myers.

Click here for more information on current artists and an archive of past SP Weather Reports.

The event is free and open to the public, come and celebrate with us!  This event is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

About SP Weather Station: SP Weather Station is an interdisciplinary project that collects weather data, hosts a Guest Lecture Series, and organizes weather-related publications, events, and exhibitions. For more information please visit: spweatherstation.net

Image: Snapshot of August 2011 Weather Reports by eteam, No day without weather, 2012.

Flux village puppeteer Adam Ende, photo courtesy Alison Nguyen

Taco Night!!! (an opening holiday for Banquet for America): Friday, February 3, 7-11pm

It’s an American tradition, one that many get excited about. And traditions are funny: they start out as one thing, everyone brings something to it, and it changes. Taco Night!!! will show the diversity of America and its tradition through a tableau of food.

Flux will bring the basics: tortillas, rice, and vegan beans. You will bring the rest; in order to eat, you will need to bring a filling. Whatever you like: salsa, meat, vegetables, cheese, sour cream, etc., with enough to share.

While you are there, you’ll be able to meet the Flux village. Later on, we’ll have performances by Adam Ende, Hector Canonge, LuLu LoLo, and Trabajo (with the special collaboration of The Sperm Whale). Taco Night!!! is presented by Jean Barberis and Mark Krawczuk.

Special Flux Thursday: Thursday, February 9, 8pm+

Join us for this month’s Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck and salon… in our town-within-the gallery, as part of Banquet for America! This month, we’ll have dinner at the banquet table and enjoy presentations and performances from artists taking part in the exhibition.

This evening is a potluck; please bring drinks or something delicious to share!

Cabaret Extravaganza: Saturday, February 11, 7pm

Join us for a night of performances staged in our artist-built town. The Invisible Kitchen puppet theater will perform The Master of Prayer (see below!). Following the show will come fabulous performances by Homo Hasidus, Angela Washko, Veronica Dougherty, Kagero, and the Ruffian Arms.

The Invisible Kitchen presents: The Master of Prayer, a puppet allegory based on the story by Rebbe Nachman.

The Master of Prayer lives in the woods with his followers, singing, dancing, and repenting like crazy.  But he hears of a city of riches where people are valued only according to how much money they have, and is compelled to save these poor idiots from their money-lust. To this end, they depart together on a journey that takes them through many strange kingdoms where some people worship only happiness, others lust, and some even death itself.  They must cross a sea of wine, a river of milk, and a sea of blood before they find their way to the truth.

Does this all sounds very serious? Don’t worry! It’s very funny!

Featuring traditional and original klezmer music by the beautiful and talented Craig Judelman, with puppeteers Adam Ende (the director and janitor of Jawbone Puppet Theater) and Noah Block Harley (of Tic Toc Laboratories fame).

A Bacchanalian Banquet: Sunday, February 12, 6-9pm

Giustina Surbone presents A Bacchanalian Banquet, our closing event. A Bacchanalian Banquet is a decadent feast, a visual and tactile extravaganza influenced by Greek and Roman saturnalia and Filippo Marinetti’s Futurist Cookbook.

Featuring: Adam Ende, Alan Williams, Bismarck Del Castillo, David Modello, Hector Canonge, Jazzmine, Morgan Williams, Robin Dann, Stephanie Fribourg, and Theresa Magario

Videographer: Daniel Smyksy

Chef: Nadia Rohrs

This banquet is rsvp-only… and we are no longer taking reservations!

Sponsored by Fairway Market Red Hook, O Ottomanelli & Sons Prime Meat Market, Los Paisanos Meat Market, Raffetto’s, Sahadi’s, and Three Guys From Brooklyn.

WAGMAG, the Brooklyn art guide, has generously donated Pernod Absinthe to the Banquet for America’s opening and closing receptions. Download WAGMAG’s new gallery guide mobile app, The Art & Absinthe Guide to Brooklyn, here.

All events take place at 39-31 29th Street in Long Island City, Queens and are completely free, unless otherwise noted.

January 12th, 8pm+
Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck dinner and art salon, is back! Please join us for dinner, which starts at 8 in the kitchen, and then around 9:30 we’ll head to the gallery for artist presentations.

Bring drinks or something delicious to share!

Still from Flux Factory's 2009 Kickstarter campaign

Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 6:30pm

Kickstarter: Bring your Creative Idea To Life
Join us as we explore Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. Kickstarter’s own Stephanie Pereira leads off the evening with a presentation on how to bring your project to life. Learn how to structure a project, what kind of rewards work best, and other helpful tips and valuable stats. Next we’ll take a more detailed look at the anatomy of a successful project. Filmmaker Theresa Loong, the Asian American Arts Alliance, and Flux Factory will share their experiences using the platform.

Click here to register.

This project is organized by Kickstarter and the Queens Council on the Arts. In 2012, QCA will present professional development workshops to assist artists and arts organizations to build their business, marketing and fundraising skills.

Mark your calendars for Flux Factory’s Not-so-silent Annual Art Auction & Gala

Help us celebrate a colossal year at Flux Factory with a silent auction of over 100 works by artists from our extensive community. We will honor Nato Thompson of Creative Time and Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City for the lasting imprint their work has had on contemporary art. Entertainment provided by our emcee Matt Levy and DJ We Are Architects. Expect light food, libations, music, a timeline of our experimental programming, and a few surprises.

In addition to reveling in the company of innovative artists and bidding in the silent auction, there will be “knock-off” stations where you can commission artists to create an original artwork on demand. “Knock-off” Live Artists include Angela Washko, Daupo, Douglas Paulson, Emily Bunker, Eric Doeringer, Jon Burgerman, and Youjung Byun.

Committee Members: @museumnerd, Anita Durst, Barry Hoggard & James Wagner, Carin Kuoni, Carlo Lamagna, Chen Tamir, Claire Sexton, Deborah Fisher, Doreen Jakob, Ed Woodham, Elaine Bowen, Elizabeth Dee, Ewa Bartos, Hilary Bertisch, Jayne Drost, Julia Kaganskiy, Matthew Higgs, Morgan Meis, Melanie Cohn, Nathalie Anglès, Nick Griffin, Noni Pratt, Nora Gomez, Paul D. Miller, Perry Chen, Rado Petkov, Scott Hirst, Stephen S. Santo, Esq., and Veken Gueyikian.

Participating artists: the silent auction will include artworks by Bo Bartlett, Dana Sherwood, Dasha Shiskin, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Kristian Kozul, Mark Dion, Pablo Helguera, SWOON, The Yes Men, and many others. Click the arrow below to view the entire list.
Participating Artists

Purchase Tax-Deductible Tickets Today!

Get your tickets!

I love Flux: $50.00 USD Look at Me, I’m VIP: $125.00 USD The Greatest Love of All: $500.00 USD

Tickets can also be purchased by check to:
Flux Factory
39-31 29th Street
Long Island City, NY 11101

If you have any questions or would like to participate, please email auction@fluxfactory.org

Flux Factory’s 2011 Not-So-Silent Auction & Gala is supported by our sponsors, with an especially generous donation from our main sponsor, AT&T.

Date: Thursday, December 1, 6 – 9pm
Location: Materials for the Arts, 33-00 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City

Materials for the Arts is pleased to present Creative Reuse in New York City, an exhibition of site-specific work by three of its nonprofit member organizations: Flux Factory, Local Project, and Free Style Arts Association, as well as work by Materials for the Arts teaching artists and workshop participants. Making art is a process of reimagining available materials. At Materials for the Arts, this process is called creative reuse: taking objects originally for one purpose and presenting them anew.

Creative Reuse in New York City features five large-scale mixed media installations and six smaller sculptures which explore creative reuse in New York City.

Thursday, December 1, from 6-9 pm, Materials for the Arts will host a public reception honoring the featured artists and their host organizations. The reception will include a panel where the artists will discuss their work, the use of found objects in their practice, and the role of their host organizations in the cultural community.

The exhibition is on view at Materials for the Arts, 33-00 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City, NY through February 29, 2012.

Creative Reuse in New York City was organized by John Kaiser and Nathaniel Shelness of the Education Center at Materials for the Arts.

November 17th, 7:30 pm – 9 pm

Conversations are casual, but interviewing someone takes skill. It doesn’t have to be intimidating and you don’t have to be a journalist to interview like one. Whether you’re a scientist, criminal sleuth, student, or professional networking at a party, you’ll learn how to ask anyone for information in this workshop taught by writer Pauline Pechin.

Pauline Pechin is a freelance journalist and the editor of All That We’ve Met, a blog and weekly interview series on the Nonsense list. Her work has appeared in publications like the Village Voice, BlackBook Magazine and New York’s Daily Intel.

This class is a beginner to intermediate workshop. Students will receive study materials and homework prior to class. Please come prepared for fun conversation.

Students may sign up via the Skillshare website here. Class fee is $15.

November 10th, 8pm+
Join us for Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck dinner and art salon! Dinner starts at 8 in the kitchen, and then around 9:30 we’ll head to the gallery for an all past and present Fluxer presentation.

Nick Normal will present about Proto-Gonzo, a special program based on collaboration, interdisciplinarity and experiment, a three-week residency in July 2011 for 6 artists. Alex Wolkowicz will discuss her projects at Art in Odd Places, ISE Cultural Foundation, and MarinArt that have coincided with her Flux artist residency. Jesper Aabille will talk about art, food, and his latest work Egg Frying Log. Douglas Paulson and Gretta Louw will collaborate on a combination live feed/live action performance that will be part of Louw’s project in Berlin, Controlling_Connectivity. Residency Unlimited/Flux Factory resident Karol Radziszewski will discuss his recent work.

Bring drinks or something delicious to share!

November 11th, 7 pm – 1 am
Something NEW is coming. Brace yourself!

Please join us for the launch of New York’s newest entertainment magazine. The launch party promises to be a great evening for networking and celebrating fashion, style, music and everything entertainment-related. No one knows the name of the magazine, as the name will be revealed at the launch event. Be among the first to know – be a part of history!

Music, light fare, and libations will be provided.
View the Facebook event page here. RSVP to elitepr.nyc@gmail.com.

The event is organized by current Flux Artist-in-Residence Lawman Lynch, a grant recipient of the Edward and Salley Van Lier Fund of The New York Community Trust.

Step right up! Come one! Come all! To the fabulous emporium of delights!

Flux Factory invites you to submit a proposal for Banquet for America, a 3-week long experiment in building a utopian village. We’re looking for builders, chefs, sideshow barkers, and performers to construct and inhabit our town within a gallery, complete with a theater, banquet hall, specialized shops, and more.

Each week the village will celebrate with a banquet. The preparation of food and ritual of communal eating has been enormously formative in shaping American culture. Banquet for America will explore food as a way to gain a deeper awareness of oneself within a larger community. Different chef/artists manage the hall, from the food to servers, performances, and structural installation. Each weekend will revolve around a cohesive theme, determined by the host; ideas include the classic German beer hall, the year 1928, and the ubiquitous American diner.

Banquet for America is a response to the decline of the traditional town structure in the face of box stores, malls, and chain restaurants. These structures attempt to replace the commercial enterprises of the traditional downtown district, and in doing so, subvert the viability of family-owned businesses. These changes are more visible in small towns, where change is more tangible, but are of vital importance to the larger economy and the fabric of the nation.

Selected artists will be requested to build the structures of Banquet for America from reclaimed materials, and occupy their booths for the duration of the project. They will interact with the public and produce an array of inventory, luring in visitors with their handmade goods.

The exhibition will be on display from February 3 – 12, 2012, with the opening reception on Friday, February 3, a special Flux Thursday on Thursday, February 9, and a closing banquet on Sunday, February 12. Installation will be from January 26 – February 2.

Send entries to Georgia@fluxfactory.org by 5 pm EST on November 15. Artists will be notified by December 1.

Interested parties should submit:
I.) A brief letter explaining your motivation for taking part in this project (250 words). Please title your document in this format: LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_LETTER.PDF).

II.) A short project proposal (500 words). Please include any applicable sketches, designs, brief texts describing the project, instructions, etc. in JPG, or PDF format (or as a website).

III) Documentation of previous work that connects directly with the project you are submitting, maximum 2 pages.

-Or- 5 images in JPEG of PDF format only. Maximum 72 dpi. Please title your document in this format: LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_IMAGE#).

-Or- 5 minutes of video. (Please send a URL/link to your video work, no DVDs will be accepted.)

IV) Resumé or bio (Maximum 2 pages. Titled LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_BIO.PDF).

If you have any questions, please email Georgia[at]fluxfactory[dot]org.

Come on down to support the Habitable Spaces project. The evening will feature a colorful mix of bands, djs, performance artists, and of course – tacos and tasty cocktails.  A silent art auction will be held throughout the night.

The Habitable Spaces project is a series of visionary structures that will be built in rural Texas. It will stretch the notion of sculpture, livable space, and “home” by incorporating a self-sustaining approach to every aspect of living, building, and creating.

The combination of art and self-sustainability will merge together as the artists live off the land and experience how everyday life affects artistic practice. Harvesting and producing food will spill into collaborative ideas within each artist’s habitable space creating a larger dynamic installation piece that changes and flows with its inhabitants and community throughout the seasons.

The Habitable Space project is organized by current Flux Artists-in-Residence Alison Ward and Shane Heinemeier.

Visit the Facebook event.

Part of Congress of Collectives, Collaborative Means brings together a series of artists working both collaboratively and collectively, relying on cooperative strategies for the realization of ambitious projects.  Artists included have practices that exist on the streets of densely populated cities, on Twitter, on boats, at factory parties, in video works and films, and in a variety of academic, DIY, and artistic institutions. Through talks, screenings, and live performances, artists in Collaborative Means will be addressing the notion of ownership in collaborations, how to unify masses, audience as collaborators, and the distinction between working as a collaboration and as a collective.

Viewers can expect to participate in a performance by gorgeousTaps and the Reality Show, see collectively-produced video works, built objects and performance documentation from Flux Factory and Madagascar Institute, and experience presentations by artists who have abandoned or expanded traditional alone-in-the-studio artist practices. This event is organized by Angela Washko in conjunction with Congress of the Collectives at Flux Factory. Participating artists include: Man Bartlett, Genevieve Belleveau aka gorgeousTaps, Flux Factory, Jaime Iglehart, Madagascar Institute, Oleg Mavromati and Boryana Rossa, Jeff Stark, and Angela Washko.

Contact angela.washko@gmail.com for more information.

October 13th, 8pm+
Join us for Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck dinner and art salon! Dinner starts at 8 in the kitchen, and then around 9:30 we’ll head to the gallery.

This month, Flux artist-in-residence Alison Ward will present her recent project, Hen Party, completed this summer in Manchester and former Flux artist-in-residence Brandstifter will speak about his recent work. Flux friend Melinda Maclean will present a short film about Coney Island. Sebastien Sanz de Santamaria will present Residency Unlimited, an organization he co-founded. In conjunction with our current exhibition Congress of Collectives, Melissa Brown will screen and discuss Dotto Lotto, an animation project made by over 2,000 participants.

Bring drinks or something delicious to share!

In addition to the events, we will also have ongoing projects by Congress of Collectives participants in the Flux Factory gallery. Ongoing in the Flux gallery

October 2, 7:00 pm – 9 pm
An evening with BROODWORK and Meow Wolf Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101
An Evening with BROODWORK & Meow Wolf description

October 6, 7 pm
Crash Course on Collective Process Screening organized by Paper Tiger Television, Red Channels and Union Docs
Union Docs: 322 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Suggested donation: $10
Crash Course description

October 7, 7 pm – 10 pm
Pecha Kucha
Nurture Art: 910 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Pecha Kucha description

October 8, 11 am – 4 pm
Bench Press Redux by BroLab
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101 & along the Q39 and B57 bus routes
Bench Press Redux description

October 8, 3 pm
Collective Lock-in with public panel discussions
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101
Collective Lock-in description

October 9, 4 pm
SP Weather Station presents EARTH / FUTURE: Utopia—Dystopia—Ecotopia?
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101
EARTH/FUTURE description

Why do artists imagine the future? Will we see Utopia? Dystopia? Ecotopia? The third in a series of events related to Air, Water, Earth and Fire, SP Weather Station presents EARTH / FUTURE, featuring a presentation by artist Judy Natal.

As a photographer and the first artist-in-residence at Biosphere 2 (and co-creator of its ongoing residency program), Natal has often been an observer of contained environments—artificial ecosystems and protected and designed wildernesses—in an uncertain relationship to alien terrain. She travels to extreme environments to capture images that suggest life “after nature,” or perhaps a new relationship between the Earth, the built environment, and our human-ness.

Her interest in the way landscapes are altered—by scientists, engineers, designers, and utopians—has recently opened a broader inquiry into the myriad sources of our collectively constructed futuristic visions. Mining fields such as science fiction, ecology, robotics, architecture, and art history for source material, Natal posits a relationship between a fantastical/imagined future and the peculiar ways the land is already technologized for research, tourism, and survival.

For EARTH / FUTURE, Natal will explore themes and questions raised by her latest body of work, Future Perfect, while surveying some of the artworks, images, and texts that contribute to our visions of futurity. Audience members will be invited to join the conversation and participate in compiling a visual bibliography for further reading on Utopian/Dystopian/Ecotopian themes. Please bring along visual representation (copies, drawings, paintings, collages, snaps, etc.) of your favorite books on this subject to add to our library installation.

Click here for more information.

This event is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

October 10 - 12
Actions by Reactor, AAS, and Gaengeviertel
Actions description

October 11, 7 pm – 9 pm
Hotel Bar Club
La Piscine rooftop pool bar at Hotel Americano: 518 W27th Street, NYC
Hotel Bar Club description

October 12, 7 pm – 8:30 pm
Struggle with Gentrification panel discussion
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101
Reclaiming Space description

October 13, 4 pm – 8 pm
Manifesto Bookstorm during Creative Time’s Living As Form
Essex Street Market: 120 Essex Street, NYC 10002
Manifesto Bookstorm description

October 13, 8 pm
Flux Thursday
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101
Flux Thursday description

October 14, 4 am – 9 pm
Bench Press Redux by BroLab
Bench Press Redux description

October 14, 7 pm – 9 pm
Greatest Love of All: An Impromptu Collective by Angela Beallor, Kerry Downey & Niknaz Tavakolian
Holiday Inn Skyline Suite: 39-05 29th Street, 17th Floor, Long Island City 11101
Greatest Love of All description

October 15, 2 pm - 10 pm
Tactical Urbanism Salon hosted by DoTank:Brooklyn, Street Plans, and Tomorrow Lab
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City, Queens 11101
Urbanize Conference description

October 15 & 16
Lentils Beyond Control Restaurant by Makan
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101
Lentils Beyond Control description

October 16, 10 am
Williamsburg Waterfront Walking Tour with Lacey Tauber and Gaengeviertel
Meet at East River State Park, Kent Avenue at North 8th Street
Williamsburg Walking Tour description

October 16, 2 pm – 6 pm
The Confederation of Spaceships First Unconvention
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City 11101
Unconvention description

The Confederation seeks to form a collaborative, international organization that acts as a cultural catalyst, focusing on projects that encourage and enable social and cultural change and exchange on both global and local scales. SHARING IS CARING, WE CARE. The conversation begins at 2 pm, please join us from the start.
To confirm participation, contact keremjh[at]gmail[dot]com.

October 17, 2 pm
Resistance Walk hosted by Frank Morales and Gaengeviertel
Thompkins Square Park, corner of Avenue A & 7th Street, NYC 11226
Resistance Walk description

October 19, 7 pm
Collaborative Means
Flux Factory: 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City, Queens 11101
Collaborative Means description

Congress of Collectives is supported, in part, by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Materials for the Arts; and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties.

GETTING READY FOR ACTION

MoMA PS1 | 22-25 Jackson Ave. | LIC | NY 11101
Chashama | 25-25 44th Dr. | LIC | NY 11101
Flux Factory | 39-31 29th St. | LIC | NY 11101

This event is part of Urban Design Week 2011

The world’s first real-time architecture festival is coming to Long Island City in 2012.

To prepare for the event, we invite residents, professionals and city officials to an action packed day of ideas, fun and inspiration.

Change in the public space is seen as difficult and slow. Let’s challenge that notion. Let’s ask: Can a city respond to change as it happens? Who is responsible? Where are the resources? What can we do?

We invite you to explore these questions with us, and come up with answers we could not have imagined. Our goal is to open up the process, encourage change and participation in city planning and foster new ideas about what can be done in public space. 

72 HOUR URBAN ACTION is the world’s first real-time architecture festival. 100 participants in 10 international teams, have 3 days and nights to design and build projects in public space.

The first edition took place in 2010 in the Bat-Yam Biennale of Landscape Urbanism, and the next will take place in 2012 in Long Island City!

In preparation for the event, we invite you to join us for a day of brainstorming sessions, inclusive public planning workshops, talks with professionals and city officials, and a guided tour.

SEPTEMBER 17TH 2011

9:30 am – 10:00 am | PS1
Gathering and Registration
Hello and Coffee

10:00 am – 10:30 am | PS1
Introduction
By 72 Hour Urban Action directors Kerem Halbrecht and Gilly Karjesvky

10:30 am – 11:00 am | PS1
DIY Urbanism vs. Tactical Urbanism
An exploration and contemplation of independent urbanism.
By Aurash Khawarzad of DoTank:Brooklyn

11:00 am – 12:30 pm | PS1
LIC after Holding Pattern
Guided tour in Long Island City following the PS1 installation Holding Pattern. A unique opportunity to learn about LIC from the people’s point of view. By Interboro Partners

2:30 pm – 4:30 pm | Chashama
Imaginarium
Brainstorming and Urban Creativity sessions with 72HUA Directors

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm | Chashama
What’s Next?
Open Discussion with Residents, Professionals and City Officials

9:00 pm – Late | Flux Factory
Everyone’s a Winner Party
$10 in advance | $15 at the door

Build a Twitter Bot
Instructor: Jason Eppink
Dates & time: Saturday 9/10, 2 pm – 6 pm
Class fee: Free!

Novelty Twitter accounts are all the rage, netting book deals and even prime time TV shows. The only thing better than a novelty Twitter account is one you don’t have to update yourself. In this Twitter bot-building workshop, Flux Artist-in-Residence Jason Eppink will teach students how to make an automatic Twitter feed to be used for good…or evil. Students should bring a laptop and a basic knowledge of programming. This class is free, but you must RSVP to christina[at]fluxfactory[dot]org

DIY Manufacturing 
Instructors: thefuturefuture (Brandt Graves+Carrie McKnelly)
Date & time: Sunday 9/25, 2-5 pm
Class fee: $25

The recent surge in DIY culture and increasing availability of digital fabrication technologies has expanded the field of homebrew design and desktop manufacturing. Would-be makers have the option of using readily available online services like Ponoko or Shapeways, as well as low-cost 3D printers and CNC tools being developed by the Open Source community. In this class, students will be introduced to open source 3D modeling softwares and the online resources to produce almost anything. With a focus on 3D printing and flat cut CNC milling, thefuturefuture will guide students through an exercise to digitally model a light fixture. Mimicking digital fabrication tools, we will build up the fixture in sectional layers until the final form is achieved.

Students will leave with their custom designed lamp, a basic understanding of 3D modeling, and knowledge of the readily available resources to make things at home. Students should bring a laptop and cutting utensils (x-acto/ box cutter).

Introduction to Generative Systems with Processing
Instructor: Marius Watz
Dates & time: Tuesday 9/27, 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Class fee: $40

This class will introduce students to the conceptual and practical principles of generative systems and creative coding practices using Processing software. Building from essential computational concepts to more complex parametric processes, code will be discussed as a creative material. Digital artist Marius Watz will demonstrate how to go from abstract code to real-world outputs, whether for use on screen, print media or with 3D printing. Programming experience not a prerequisite, but some coding or scripting knowledge is helpful. Participants should bring laptops capable of running Processing.

Date: Saturday, September 17
Time: Doors open at 9 pm
21 and over

Have a competitive spirit but a lousy ability to conquer? Enjoy playing sports that end in group hugs, no matter who wins? Need a confidence boost? Then September 17th is your night!

Join Flux Factory for winning games, trophies, live music, dancing, and libations. Don’t worry, we aren’t keeping score but everyone will score!! There will be games that keep on giving; an Olympics-style platform for 1st, 1st, and 1st place; pie eating contests; raffles with a grand prize; and a marathon finish line right at the start.

Performances by Ninja Sex Party and The Ruffian Arms. Dancing tunes provided by DJ Dirty Finger, DJ James Stacher, DJ Tinseltown, DJ Mountains, DJ Vinyl Richie.

Games and installations by Flux Factory and Friends, Everyone’s a Weiner Veggie Treats by Drew, Arcade Games by Babycastles and many more surprises because…you can’t possibly lose at this party!

$10 advance / $15 at the door.

Everyone’s a Winner is a Flux Factory fundraiser and also the official Maker Faire after party, so Makers get free admission with credentials badge.

September 8th, 8pm+
Join us for Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck dinner and art salon! Dinner starts at 8 in the kitchen, and then around 9:30 we’ll head to the gallery.

In keeping with September’s Back to School workshops, this Flux Thursday will have a special art & tech focus. Digital artist Jer Thorp will discuss his algorithmic design for the NYC 9/11 Memorial. Current Flux Artists-in-Residence Gretta Louw and Angela Washko will discuss their recent and upcoming projects both at home and abroad. Sparked by an inflammatory Twitter exchange, media art curators Lindsay Howard and Marius Watz will face off in a curatorial death match speed debate about media art, Net Art 2.0, kittens and whether “everything is equal on the Internet” (moderated by Julia Kagansky). Cellist Anna Callner and artist Shantell Martin of My New Project will perform a live music and vj set. Finally, we’ll be raffling off two tickets to Maker Faire and our Everyone’s a Winner party on September 17.

Bring drinks or something delicious to share!

Dates: September 21 – 24
Time: Doors open at 7:00 pm, show starts at 8:00 pm
Admission: $2 in advance / $5 at the door

Be There For Me is an original theater production written and directed by Theresa Arthur. The play takes place in a floral shop, owned by the heroine Alex Mitchell. She suffers unexpected heartbreak when her boyfriend Jessie cheats on her. Seeking revenge, Alex agrees to a spur-of-the-moment plan to pose as a couple with her best friend Nate. While fighting her emerging feelings for Nate, Alex is thrown into the constant ebb and flow of “he loves me, or he loves me not.” 2 hours.

Produced by students of Laguardia Community College. Starring Christina Biondo, Nelson Patino Jr, Kareema Moore, Sharif Griggs, and Tony-Ann Nelson.

To order advance tickets contact reezluvfilmz@yahoo.com

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PERFORMANCE SCHEDULED FOR 9/20 HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Opening reception: Thursday, August 25th, 6 pm – 9 pm
With a special screening and live musical accompaniment at 8 pm
Dates: Friday, August 26th, 10 am – 6 pm

Las Hermanas Iglesias present Faraway Neighbor, an exhibition of sculpture, painting, performance and video by 5 Tasmanian and 5 New York based artists. This exhibition is part of a larger exchange project that started in 2008. After a recent visit to Tasmania, Las Hermanas invited 5 artists living in the capital city of Hobart to exhibit in New York. They then sought out 5 artists within their local community whose work resonated with their Australian neighbors.

As the exhibition title suggests, while oceans apart, the studio practice of these two groups is strongly connected. Threads that weave between the performative, sculptural and two dimensional works include utilitarian and architectural references, deft craftsmanship with unlikely materials, and a nod to absurd visions through the lens of sincerity in order to comprehend our participation within changing environments.  The exhibition features work by Trudi Brinckman, Lee Lee Chan, Adam Frezza, Jeff Kurosaki & Tara Pelletier (The Friendly Falcons and Their Friend the Snake), Colin Langridge, Esperanza Mayorbe, Mish Meijers, Tom O’Hern, Tricky Walsh and Amanda Valdez. Faraway Neighbor will serve as a platform for introducing and connecting these artists and their work to each other and the New York City community.

Faraway Neighbor is a one-night only event on Thursday, August 25th, 6pm-9pm. At 8 pm the Friendly Falcons will screen their latest video project, “Oh, river” with live musical accompaniment. A free limited edition, two-sided newspaper poster with an exhibition essay by Jeremy Mikolajczak (Director and Chief Curator, University of Central Missouri Gallery of Art & Design, Warrensburg, MO) will be available.

Mexican workers represent a high percentage of the US labor force, working all kinds of occupations, from teachers and scientists to construction workers, playing a invaluable role in US economy and community. Journalist Eduardo Porter will be leading a conversation about how this nation benefits from Mexican migration, and how it is that Mexican communities contribute to the growth of this country.

This evening is presented as part of artist Natalia Porter’s Trajinera Boatbuilding Workshop. The Trajinera is a Pre-Hispanic Mexican Barge used in the Xochimilco area of Mexico City. Natalia Porter uses the trajinera in this project as a literal and figurative platform for the discussion of Mexican Culture in New York City and the nation as a whole.

DIRECTIONS:
The best way to arrive at Valentino Pier is by the Free IKEA water Taxi. It leaves from Wall St. in Downtown Manhattan. More info here: http://info.ikea-usa.com/Brooklyn/StoreDirections.aspx

From Brooklyn, Take the B61 bus to Red Hook at Coffey St.

Saturday, August 13 · 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Gowanus Studio Space, 166 7th street, Brooklyn

SHANGHAI’D, SHIPWRECKED, and MAROONED with MARE LIBERUM — BAMBOO + ZIP TIES = KAYAK

Mare Liberum, the freeform boatbuilding collective based in Gowanus finds its roots in centuries-old stories of urban water squatters and haphazard water craft builders. Past workshops have centered on our fleet of historic 15′ banks dories, but this workshop will instead focus on cheap methods to produce a skin on frame Bamboo Kayak. Each workshopper will walk out with a kayak, built with little more than bamboo, zip ties, canvas and a bit of paint.

$45 suggested Donation.

SIGN UP: www.gowanusstudio.eventbri​te.com

Thursday, August 11, 8 pm +

Join us for Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck and salon! Dinner starts at 8 in the kitchen, and then around 9:30 we’ll head to the gallery. In-house Fluxer Lawman Lynch will perform, and Ivan Argote and Pauline Bastard will present their latest work. Miatta Kawinzi and Jamal Jordan will do a performance piece in conversation with footage of Sun Ra and his Arkestra on the theme of space/time transcendence. Sea Worthy intern extraordinaire Arthur Poisson will discuss his summer research project and Maria Schweitzer will show her recent drawings. Las Hermanas Iglesias will talk about the upcoming exhibition they are organizing in the Flux Gallery, Faraway Neighbor–featuring 5 artists from NYC paired with 5 Tasmanian artists. Bring drinks or something delicious to share!

Image: Untitled (Out the Train Window I), Maria Schweitzer, 2011.

Saturday, July 30

9:30 pm – late

80 Vernon Ave, between Marcy & Tompkins (G train to Myrtle/Willoughby or J,M,Z to Myrtle)

SWIMMING CITIES in collaboration with SEA WORTHY present: A Celebration of The Battle for Mau Mau Island with Rusty Lazer (New Orleans, Bounce!), Dirtyfinger (Black Label), Geko Jones (Que Bajo?!) and Barney Iller (Rubulad).

Last weekend the naval gangs of New York assembled to Battle for Mau Mau Island (see photos here).  Come see the fallen soldiers, harvested booty, and glorious victors at a new two-story space in Bed-Stuy. Mau Mau gangs, gladiator raft jousting, cocktail catacombs, clothing optional watergun fight, underground casino & film screenings of eerily beautiful movies set on the water, slide show and videos of the battle, and an awards presentation for the victors.  Wet & wild all night long.

$5 for gangs in matching costumes, Mau Mau vets, or before 11pm, $10 otherwise; 21+.

All proceeds go directly to the Swimming Cities India project.

First opening reception: July 22, 5 pm
Dates: Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays from July 22 to September 19
Times: noon to 6 pm
Location: Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

MarinArt is launching an exhibition space at Marina 59 in Far Rockaway, as a sub-project of Flux Factory’s ongoing Sea Worthy exhibition. Beginning with A Photographic History of Marina 59, opening on Friday, July 22 at 5 pm and running through August 27 the space will display work from the local art community inside two shipping containers modified by ArtBloc. Also on display will be a collection of photographs by Beth Perkins.

UPCOMING

Alexandra Wolkowicz, Higher and Wider
September 16-18, noon-6 pm
Opening Reception: Friday, September 16, 6-9 pm

Through the Sea Worthy exhibition, Flux Factory has converted the ArtBloc shipping container space into a gallery, displaying work relating to the local geography, established communities, and artistic culture of the Rockaways. The exhibition space is part of Marina 59, a hub for avid fishermen and sport boaters and an emerging art scene alongside low income housing projects. The aim of MarinArt is to use an art space as a bridge between communities.

Marina 59 has opened its gates to artists in recent years, helping to solidify and strengthen the local arts community, but also creating another layer in addition to the complex social strata of the fishing and boating cultures, low income housing, and burgeoning condo developments. This project facilitates a dialogue between groups which are suddenly colliding, rather than forgetting local residents in a fog of gentrification.

Contact Georgia Muenster  at georgia@fluxfactory.org or Chess Venis at 336-314-0274 with questions or to schedule a site visit.

Enormous thanks to Marina 59 and ArtBloc for the use of the space and to Chess Venis for her assistance with the project.

Social Hijinks! A screening and live action lecture night
Wednesday August 10, 7:30 pm
Free + Bring your own beverages and snacks

In conjunction with the exhibition Why Participate?, Angela Washko has organized a lineup of videos and live performative lectures by artists whose projects take place within social spaces. The works being presented and discussed are mischievous, critical, occasionally hilarious, and examine the boundaries of legality. Artists Jason Eppink, Nate Hill, Ann Hirsch, Jaime Iglehart, Action Club, Paolo Pedercini, and Jeff Stark present and talk about their works discussing surveillance, costumed public service, reality television, knock-off culture, collaboration, video game evolution, protest, and performance in public spaces.

(image courtesy Jeff Stark)

Join us for Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck and salon! Dinner starts at 8, with guest chef Farah Shaikh preparing a delicious Pakistani dinner, and then it’s down to the gallery for a full evening of presentations. Tom Watson will discuss The Consulate of Cornerhouse, a project by the Manchester-based group Archipelago. Adrian Owen will shower us with delightful arias. Alex Young will present his most recent work. Hannah Heilmann will screen part II of The Shower, an insight into the human gaze and “capitalistic hormone folklore.” Our neighbor Noni Pratt will talk about the practice of Tenzin Lama, a traditional Tibetan artist from the Gadenpa Buddhist Center. Finally, Matthew Nevin and Katherine Nolan from the MART collective’s Invite or Reject show, currently on display in the Flux Gallery, will present analyses on the anthropologic nature of Irish food and the female subject’s narcissistic relationship to the camera.

As is tradition, please bring a side dish, dessert, or drinks to share!

Invite or Reject is an ambitious new Irish Visual Arts Exhibition curated by MART’s Ciara Scanlan and Matthew Nevin. The show consists of 15 selected Irish artists to create new work spread over a three-city exhibition.

The first leg of a three part exhibition opened in Chicago in June 2011. The second part opens at Flux Factory in July, and the show will carry on to C4 Gallery Los Angeles in August. This exhibition showcases some of Ireland’s leading and emerging visual artists, highlighting their position in the international contemporary art scene.

MART’S Invite or Reject refers to the duality of understanding and miscommunication that exists within Irish emigration. It was common for the Irish to be rejected and treated as second-class citizens for the early part of the 19th century. This Irish diaspora flocked to America for a better life away from famine, war and hardship, and to help build a better homeland. In spite of over 37 million Irish Americans, the current political and social climate in America and Ireland presents obstacles for gaining a work visa, consequently turning America into a holiday destination for the Irish–which is in stark contrast to its history.

MART is an Irish visual artist organization. Our primary aim is to create a platform for new media, installation, experimental film, and performance artists to showcase their work. MART was founded on an inclusive ethos, to inspire a curiosity for knowledge, to bring contemporary art to the forefront of culture by actively engaging people from all sectors of society in both its viewing and production.

Click here for the Facebook event
Contact: Matthew Nevin 601.613.5716 or Ciara Scanlan 601.613.6710
For press inquiries, email info@martgroup.org

July 24 and August 13, 9 pm
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Please join us on the boat for singing together. We will gather on the dock and learn songs together. All will be welcomed in small groups onto the boat to learn simple, resonant group song together over the water.

The boat for singing together was built by artist and raft-builder A’yen Tran with friends. The vessel is built from old docks scavenged from Jamaica Bay, scrap wood from New York City, and trees from Mount Desert Island, Maine. Completely enclosed by a canopy of saplings and fabric, an opening in the craft’s center over the water creates an intimate space for sharing song over water.

July 3, 4 – 6 pm
Flux Factory Gallery

In the second in a series of events related to Air, Water, Earth and Fire, artist Hope Ginsburg and SP Weather Station will collaborate on an event inspired by Ginsburg’s Sponge series of hands-on, participatory workshops – a discipline-bending project that empowers participants to absorb information, swap-knowledge, and (inspired by the infinite reproductive powers of sea-sponges), envision new events of their own. The evening will feature short presentations by special guests including artist Beka Goedde, artist/biologist/teacher Nim Lee, artist Marie Lorenz, and others with local knowledge of the NYC waterscape.

Come, absorb, and share.  This event is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Date: Saturday, July 2, 2011
Time: 4 pm – on

This day-long event explores the practical, philosophical, and playful applications of the term “hacking.” Presentations and workshops will cover topics such as circuit bending, culture jamming, dumpster diving, email encryption, and the repurposing of waste items into useful tools. The symposium is geared towards providing visitors with foundational information in order to become hackers themselves. Hackposiumis part of Flux Factory’s Summer School program and is curated by Jaime Iglehart via New Age Beverages, in collaboration with Pete Edwards of Casper Electronics.

Demos of hacked objects and freegan snacks start at 4pm.
Talks and presentations start at 6 pm, and are followed by musical performances.

PRESENTATIONS:
Zacqary Adam Green and Plankhead will present a short talk and workshop on the importance and uses of email encryption. Show up with your computer and leave the Hackposium ready to write and receive encrypted email.

Video artist and dumpster diver Jason Tschantre, of freegan.info will discuss the philosophy and practical elements of freeganism and  the tactical use of waste items towards the enhancement of daily life, including en exploration of the hows and whys of dumpster diving in New York City.

Syed Salahuddin and Joe Salina of the Brooklyn-based independent video game arcade Babycastles will talk about how to set up hardware and write custom software to automate DIY video games, as well as how to start your own independent arcade.

Jordan Seiler of PublicAdCampaign will give a presentation on public media curation and the importance of actively engaging your environment. Highlighting a number of simple and affective forms of street level advertising takeovers (including phonebooth, street level billboards, and Augmented Reality, Jordan will reveal the tools and tactics for simple public curation of our shared spaces.

Artist and circuit bender Benjamin Gaulon of recyclism.com will join us via skype for a guided tour of  CCTV and hardware hacking projects, including how to turn surveillance into broadcast, controlling a remote-control toy via twitter, and re-using discarded digital information.

Nick Normal of Maker Faire New York will present an open interpretation to “hacking” and the groups and spaces that make it possible. Including hackerspaces, makerspaces, labs, studios, foundries, facilities, factories – they’re all throughout the five boroughs, but where are they and what are they up to?

Ed Bear and Lea Bertucci present ExiTrip, a project which hacks the outmoded ipod accessory iTrip to make a low power transmitter capable of functioning independently from an iPod. Beyond just putting sound on the radio, the ExiTrip can function as a digital controller, synthesizer, and much more.

Jamie O’shea of substitute materials will discuss an absurd extrapolation of the DIY movement with his project Immaculate Telegraphy, demonstrating how a well-informed caveman could have started the internet.

PERFORMANCES:

• Jeff Donaldson  of notendo
• Phil Stearns
• TwistyCat
• Pete Edwards of Casper Electronics

For more information or press inquiries, contact info(at)fluxfactory.org

Summer School is a Flux Factory project that brings knowledge to the people.
Come! Drink! Learn! Explore!

Saturday July 2nd, 4 pm – on
Hackposium
This day-long event explores the practical, philosophical, and playful applications of the term “hacking.” Presentations and workshops will cover topics such as lock picking, culture jamming, dumpster diving, email encryption, and the repurposing of waste items into useful tools. The symposium is geared towards providing visitors with foundational information in order to become hackers themselves (Free). More info here.

Thursday July 7th, 7 – 9 pm
Consciousness Raising
We’ll explore the language surrounding contemporary issues in sex, gender, race, class, and other cultural concepts through this seminar-based forum.
Instructors: Max Steele and Colin Self ($10).
Buy tickets for Consciousness Raising

Saturday July 9th, 1 – 3 pm
Silkscreen Intro
In this introductory silkscreening class, we will go through the basics of the silkscreening process.  Students will learn how to prepare, use, and reclaim a silkscreen, and will leave with an original silkscreened tote bag!
Instructor: Gabriel Cohen ($20).
Buy tickets for Silkscreen Intro

Thursday July 14th, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Snails: Exploring the Next Frontier in Urban Farming
Snails are a high protein, gourmet food! This class will outline urban farming techniques of raising and preparing snails for your culinary delight. Students will receive a starter kit with a snail and week’s worth of food
Instructor: Melanie Cohn ($15).
Buy tickets for Exploring the Next Frontier in Urban Farming

Sunday July 17th, 3 – 6 pm
Marzipan as a Medium
Marzipan is a versatile candy medium that is often considered only in terms of cake decorations or creepily lifelike baby candies. In this class, we’ll explore using marzipan as a rich artistic medium…that also happens to be edible. Students will receive marzipan, food coloring, and luster dust, but should bring their own tools to make cool marzipan shapes, like tin cans, knives, and spoons.
Instructor: Hannah Nordgren ($60).
Buy tickets for Marzipan as a Medium

Thursday July 21st, 7 – 9 pm
Herbal Concentrates
Herbal medicine is cheap, easy, effective and safe. In this class you will learn how to make tinctures, syrups, salves and teas. Bring a few small (3oz +) jars to make your own stress-relieving tincture and calendula salve to take home and impress your friends.
Instructor: Stephen Switzer, herbalist at Thirdroot Community Health Center ($25).
Buy tickets for Herbal Concentrates

Saturday July 23rd, 2 – 6 pm
Circuit Bending
What is circuit bending and why is it so awesome?!? We will show you! Learn creative customization of electronics with professional hacker, builder and bender Peter Edwards ($20).
Buy tickets for Circuit Bending

Thursday July 28th, 6:30 – 8:45 pm
Visualization Tarot
This unique introductory class will teach you the meanings of the Tarot Major Arcana cards using fun visualization techniques and drawing exercises. Learn the cards’ symbols and how to read with them through color and sketching–no art ability necessary!
Instructor:  Lorraine Schein ($24).
*Please bring your own tarot deck.
Buy tickets for Visualization Tarot

To learn more, buy tickets or lose your mind, email our Summer School principal, gabrielfcohen@gmail.com

Thursday, July 21
6:30 – 8:30 pm
EFA Project Space, 323 West 39th Street, 2nd floor, NYC

EFA Project Space is proud to host a rare screening of Kon-Tiki (1950) in conjunction with Sea Worthy: An Exhibition. The Academy Award-winning documentary chronicles Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 adventures across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian Islands. Special reception to follow!

For more information, contact projectspace@efanyc.org.

Join us for an artist talk with Reid Stowe, an artist and mariner who spent 1,152 days at sea aboard the Anne: the longest sea voyage in history, without ever docking or resupplying. Reid will recount his expedition around the world, followed by a kickoff party for Flux Factory’s series of excursions on the waterways of New York City.

Fantastic journeys! Music! Libations! The Queensboro Bridge!

July 2-3, 9-10, and 16-17
Gowanus Studio Space, 166 7th street, Brooklyn

Join artists and designers Natalia Porter and Ben Cohen on a 4-week long adventure in building one of Mexico’s most emblematic watercrafts: the Trajinera, a pre-hispanic Mexican barge. Traditionally used for shipping crops in and out of the fields and on the canals of Xochimilco, these 30 foot-long craft equipped with a dining table and chairs are predominantly now used for the enjoyment of local and non-local tourists.

The Trajinera boat has existed for centuries. Today, it is still popular in Xochimilco, a rural part of southern Mexico City, best known for its canals and chinampas, which are the remainders of an extensive lake and canal system that connected most of the settlements of the Valley of Mexico during Tenochtitlan, the capital of the abounding Aztec Empire in the 15th century. Often referred to as “floating gardens,” chinampas were artificial islands, a method of ancient Mesoamerican agriculture. The canals are a vestige of the area’s pre-Hispanic past, which has made Xochimilco a World Heritage Site.

To build this Trajinera, Natalia has employed the help of two architecture students at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana – Xochimilco, to research the design and construction techniques of these boats. We will be using these plans to build “Xochitl”, our replica Trajinera here in New York. After launching in the Gowanus Canal “Xochitl” will serve not only as a place of cultural exchange, but as a tool and platform for the discussion of different issues, including Mexican Immigration in and around New York City, in partnership with the Mexico Now Festival and the Queens Museum of Art.

Feel free to email any questions to: ben@gowanusstudio.org or to natalia.porter@gmail.com

$65 donation. Sign-ups are available here!

July 7 – September 4
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

This just in! The Boggsville Boatel, set in Marina 59 in Jamaica Bay, Far Rockaway, has been SOLD OUT all summer long. Friends of Flux, Swimming Cities, is auctioning rooms for a weekend bash September 9-10. All proceeds go toward the Swimming Cities India raft project, which leaves on September 20! Follow the auction here and send an email to swimmingcitiesoceanofblood@gmail.com to bid on your favorite boat and extend your summer one more night!

Boggsville Boatel is a floating hotel and theater fashioned out of abandoned and re-claimed boats, all of which sleep 2-5 people. Five of the vessels are leisure fishing crafts from the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, ranging from 28 to 40 feet long. Another is a 70’s drifter houseboat remodeled into a rustic penthouse. Rooms include dinner and access to the Swimming Cities GOING AWAY PARTY on Sept 10, from 8pm-late. Kick it on your poop deck four blocks from the beach with cold beer, all of your friends and swim trunks—plus Cocktail Cruises in Jamaica Bay, Jerk Burgers & Pineapple Hot Dogs by Carnival Queen Lamar Iposa and Sea Shanty Karaoke.

 —————–

Artist and boat-builder Constance Hockaday has constructed a series of floating hotel rooms and a theater at Marina 59 at Far Rockaway in New York City. Boggsville is a floating hotel and theater built in the Neutrino tradition, that is, fashioned out of abandoned and re-claimed boats from the marina. Five of the vessels are leisure fishing crafts from the 70’s and early 80’s, ranging from 28 to 35 feet long. Another is a 70’s drifter houseboat remodeled into a rustic penthouse. The boats are all moored around a floating platform in the middle of a small bay.

Named for Ms. Nancy Boggs, who would move her floating brothel to either side of the Willamette River of Portland to evade the law – depending on where the authorities were bringing trouble to her business – the Boatel explores the boundaries of the hospitality experience.

Artist TJ Hospodar will man an “office of local tourism” for your perusal at the marina.

Major special thanks go to Alita Edgar, Arthur Poisson, and Chess Venis.

The boatel opens on July 7; Tickets for the night range from a donation of $50 to $100 dollars. Your donation will go towards supporting this not for profit project that brings more people access to the water.

We’ve recently expanded the schedule to Wednesday through Sunday nights. Tickets will be available here at 5 pm on July 18.

For press inquiries, contact georgia(at)fluxfactory.org.

-The Theater-

Each night there will be a movie or lecture themed on the water screened on the floating platform. Hotel-goers and boaters from the area are welcome to pull up alongside the platform and view the entertainment.

You can download a pdf of the schedule here!

If you would like to attend the theater but you don’t want a boat for the night, rsvp to constancehockaday(at)gmail.com. Please bring a chair (and snacks). Donations are welcome.

-The Boats-

Americano is a Guido vessel with a long sloping bow. This boat is very private and sleeps 3-4. The windows are tinted and the inside is very Slick Rick. $50 a night.

CRUMB is a quaint and comfortable boat and was probably previously owned by an elderly couple. There is a private sleeping area; it’s spacious and perfect for rolling around in. She sleeps 4 people. This boat also has a shaded top deck with reclining furniture. $50 a night.

New York, NY is Euro. This boat has been remodeled to be more open than she was originally designed to be. She sleeps 3-4 people, and she has a breakfast nook, a great space for preparing lunches, and a desk for the writer-ly types. $50 a night.

Queen Zenobia is a classy little 30-foot yacht. She can sleep 3-4 people, if they are willing to snuggle up. On this boat there is a comfortable little breakfast nook and plenty of deck space for lounging around. $50 a night.

Ms. Nancy Boggs is a rustic floating cabin. This 1967 Drift-R houseboat has been remodeled into down-home love nest. This boat can sleep 4 or 5 people. There are two beds, one of which can fit 3.5 people and the other just one. It is the perfect place to roll around with more than one or two. It has a spacious breakfast nook and several decks for sun bathing, fishing, or picnicking. $100 a night.

(click on any image for a full picture!)

Note: there’s only room in the boat for one participant on each Cacophony trip!

Tickets are all sold out.

Bronx River Excursions
Dates and Times:
Saturday, July 9, 6 am
Sunday, July 10, 6 am
Thursday, July 28, 6 am
Friday, July 29, 6 am

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Excursions
Dates and Times:
Thursday, July 7, 9 am
Friday, July 8, 9 am
Saturday, July 30, 9 am
Sunday, July 31, 9 am

Saturday, July 9, 5 pm
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Join as we triumphantly launch our flotilla of handmade boats at Marina 59 in the Rockaways. Artist Brindalyn Webster has organized a christening ceremony for each of the Sea Worthy vessels. Spectators are invited to watch as “sponsors” name each boat, breaking a bottle of sparkling cider on the prow and signaling its maiden voyage into the water – all to be accompanied by spectacular live music. Boat-building artists include Andrew Eutsler, Shane Heinemeier & Alison Ward, Constance Hockaday, and Ian Warren.\

In a public workshop at The Gowanus Studio Space, artist Anne Percoco and participants will convert an old boat into a mobile shrine, constructed from primarily scrap material, and will travel along the now EPA Superfund site of the Gowanus Canal. This mobile shrine inverts the idea of a pilgrimage: the shrine itself traveling to various sites, not just the pilgrims. This workshop and pilgrimage will be an experience during which viewers are given the opportunity to try out an animistic understanding of this unique landscape and an alternate way of engaging their immediate surroundings.

Sign up by emailing workshops@gowanusstudio.org!

A solar-powered yacht - something you might see!

Postponed, TBA!

Alalba Eco Tours – led by Gabriela Basterra, Andy Bichlbaum, and Jeff Day – will sail the East River and New York Harbor, exploring and documenting waterfront docking spaces along the coast of Manhattan and beyond. The Alalba is a lovingly restored 50-foot ketch dating from the 70′s – for daringly innovative, edgy New Yorkers only.

Tickets will be available right here soon.

Postponed! Rain Date: September 18, 6 pm – note the time change!

August 28, 6 pm – Procession for Immediate Certainty
Location: Pier 26, Chelsea Piers at 24th Street

(note the time change and rain date!)

Artist and boat-builder Jessica Segall will conduct the Procession for Immediate Certainty, a parade during which her handmade Norwegian faering will be carried across Manhattan along 23rd Street, with live music by the Raya Brass Band. The procession will end with a launch into the East River in the style of a Viking funeral. The vessel will then sail on to Queens, to be accompanied by the release of sky lanterns over the river.

We’re looking for strong hands to carry the boat, but anyone can join us to watch – come wearing blue!

Ongoing, July-August – Hans Maharawal & Thomas Robinson
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

In response to the untimely end of the Captain Courageous, a handmade take on the Polynesian fishing canoe made from parts of an ice rink, Hans Maharawal and Thomas Robinson are constructing a new vessel: a pirate ship. The objective of this project is to thoroughly explore our universal right to the water through crew-building and ocean adventures. Take to the seas and taste freedom – events TBA.

Ongoing, July-August– Andrew Eutsler, Shane Heinemeier & Alison Ward
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Artists Andrew Eutsler, Shane Heinemeier, and Alison Ward have constructed the Sea Shanty, a dual house-raft for meditation. The vessel is a platform with two shacks: one outwardly flamboyant with magenta shingles and Shane Heinemeier’s characteristic “swipe paintings,” and the other plain clapboard, outhouse-like, inwardly fitted with a throne and gold leaf. Each structure is just large enough for one person, sitting down: contrasting spaces to sit and contemplate extravagance, seaworthiness, and the water.

This fabulous vessel is to be moored at Marina 59 in the Rockaways and will be part of Brindalyn Webster’s dedication ceremony on July 9.

Ongoing, July-August –  Ian Warren
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Artist Ian Warren is has created Walden 59, a seaworthy replica of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond. The vessel’s maiden voyage will begin in early July at a small beach just south of the George Washington Bridge. From there, in the spirit of transcendental adventure, he will navigate to Marina 59 in the Rockaways in time for Brindalyn Webster’s dedication ceremony on July 9th.

Warren’s work presents a meditation on the experience of being male through storytelling and personal myth-making. These visual narratives, set in rural America, investigate sexuality, rugged individualism, and social conditioning.

“I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil,–to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society.”

-From the essay “Walking” by Henry D. Thoreau

The Floating Neutrinos, "Son of Town Hall"

Thursday, June 16, 6:30 – 8:30pm
EFA Project Space, 323 West 39th Street, 2nd Floor NYC

In conjunction with the Sea Worthy exhibition, EFA presents Take to the Water! an evening of presentations and conversation focusing on three significant creative movements that involve the rejection of land-based conventions in order to establish platforms for new possibilities on the ubiquitous waterways.

Join us as Constance Hockaday shares stories of her work with the Floating Neutrinos, Swoon talks about her activities with Miss Rockaday Armada and the sea-borne Swimming Cities collective, and Mary Mattingly describes the vision and realization of the Waterpod project. Following the presentations, Sea Worthy curatorial team member Dylan Gauthier will lead a discussion and talk-back with the artists.

For more information, please click here.

Sea Worthy: an Exhibition is the first of a three-part collaboration between EFA Project Space, Flux Factory and Gowanus Studio Space. It will be followed by Sea Worthy: Excursions and Sea Worthy: Workshops.

June 9, 8 pm+

Join us for Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck and salon! Dinner starts at 8, with performances and presentations to follow. This month, guest chefs René Smith and Sutthirat “Som” Supaparinya will prepare a delicious Thai dinner, followed by a presentation of their recent work. Flux Artist-in-Residence Wieteke Heldens will discuss her upcoming show, Paintings, Painthings and Paintthings and Fluxer Sean Metelerkamp will show some recent work.

As is the tradition, please bring a side dish, dessert, or drinks to share!

Sea Worthy: Exhibition, Workshops & Excursions

Presented by EFA Project Space, Flux Factory and The Gowanus Studio Space

Summer, 2011

The EFA Project Space, Flux Factory and The Gowanus Studio Space present Sea Worthy, an exhibition and series of public screenings, performances, lectures, workshops and artist-led excursions on the water. With 72 islands and over 700 miles of coastline, New York City is a formidable archipelago. This project invites discussion about water access, activates the largest open space in the city, and engages maritime themes in contemporary art practice. Sea Worthy brings together artists from here and abroad – in consultation with boat builders, world-class mariners, historians, writers, activists, and ecologists – to make new work about, around, and on the waterways of New York City in the summer of 2011.

More information about the Sea Worthy exhibition, workshops, public performances, and excursions can be found here.

Part I: Sea Worthy, Exhibition

EFA Project Space

June 10 – July 29, 2011

Opening Reception: Friday, June 10, 6-8 pm

EFA Project Space presents an exhibition featuring artists who approach water navigation as subject, pushing its potential as a mutable open platform for social experimentation as well as metaphor for personal, artistic, and collective freedom. The show includes installations, models, prints, drawings, photos, videos, and various other musings by artist-seafarers who generously impart their experience of the sea in order to refresh our perception of the land.

Some highlights include:

• Documentation of Anne Percoco’s intricate Kilmer Shrines, monuments constructed in honor of sites of some of the under-appreciated drainage systems of New Jersey.
• A full-scale print by artist, boat-builder, and Tide and Current Taxi pioneer Marie Lorenz, who commemorates abandoned, washed-up boats combed from the shores of NYC by inking and printing in the style of Japanese fish prints.
• Illustrated plans of Amze Emmons’s fantasy purchase of a decommissioned British aircraft carrier which he proposes to convert into a community for climate refugees.
• Jonathan Kaiser’s Janet II, a personal, portable vessel crafted from salvaged materials, including disassembled chairs and hundreds of plastic grocery bags. The watercraft has transported the artist along foreign waterways and is an artifact of his travels and a testament to the potential of everyday refuse.EFA Project Space, a program of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, is located at 323 West 39th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10018. Visit us at efanyc.org.

For press inquiries, please contact Michelle Levy, Director, EFA Project Space, at michelle@efanyc.org.

Join us for an artist talk with Reid Stowe, followed by a kickoff party for Flux Factory’s series of excursions on the waterways of New York City.

July 2-3, 9-10, and 16-17 (three weekends) – Build a Trajinera with Natalia Porter
Gowanus Studio Space, 166 7th street, Brooklyn

Natalia Porter and Ben Cohen are hosting a 4-week long adventure in building one of Mexico’s most emblematic watercrafts: the Trajinera, a pre-hispanic Mexican barge.

July 3, 4-6 pm – SP Weather Station Presents Water: Sponge
Flux Factory Gallery, 39-31 29th Street, Long Island City, Queens

Hope Ginsburg and SP Weather Station present an evening inspired by the infinite reproductive powers of sea-sponges. Featuring short presentations by special guests including Beka Goedde, Nim Lee, and Marie Lorenz.

July 7 – September 4  – Constance Hockaday’s Boggsville Boatel and Boat-In Theater
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Artist and boat-builder Constance Hockaday has constructed a series of floating hotels and a theater in the Neutrino tradition, complete with a movie or lecture each night this summer.

July 7-10,  28-31 – Gina Siepel: CACOPHONY, A Series of Listening Trips
The Bronx River and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

Cacophony is a series of early morning expeditions by boat in the Bronx River and the Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge, an exploration on the intersection of nature and the city through the medium of sound.

July 9, 5 pm – Dedication Ceremonies: Seaworthy Fleet
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Join as we triumphantly christen our flotilla of handmade boats with artist Brindalyn Webster.

July 21, 6:30 pm – Special Screening: Kon-Tiki
EFA Project Space, 323 West 39th Street, 2nd floor, NYC

A rare screening of Kon-Tiki (1950), a documentary chronicling Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 adventures across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian Islands.

Weekends, July 22 through August 27 – MarinArt
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

MarinArt is launching an exhibition space as part of Sea Worthy. Beginning with A Photographic History of Marina 59, opening on Friday, July 22 at 5 pm and running through July 24 the space will display work from the local art community inside two shipping containers modified by ArtBloc.

July 23, 30 – Anne Percoco: Shrines of the Gowanus Canal
Gowanus Studio Space, 166 7th street, Brooklyn

In this workshop, participants will convert an old boat into a mobile shrine, constructed primarily from scrap materials, and will travel along the now EPA Superfund site of the Gowanus Canal.

July 24 and August 13, 9 pm – A’yen Tran’s Boat for Singing Together
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Join us on the Boat for Singing Together. All will be welcomed in small groups onto the boat to learn simple, resonant group song together over the water.

Saturday, July 30 – 9:30 pm – A Celebration of the Battle for Mau Mau Island
80 Vernon Ave, between Marcy & Tompkins

SWIMMING CITIES in collaboration with SEA WORTHY present the afterparty for the Battle for Mau Mau Island, complete with Mau Mau gangs, gladiator raft jousting, cocktail catacombs, clothing optional watergun fight and an underground casino.

August 6, 3-5 pm – The Trajinera – In Discussion with Eduardo Porter
Valentino Pier: Coffey St & Ferris St, Red Hook

Eduardo Porter will lead a conversation about how this nation benefits from Mexican migration, and how it is that Mexican communities contribute to the growth of this country.

Saturday, August 13 – 12-3 pm – Mare Liberum Workshop: Shanhai’d, Shipwrecked, and Marooned
Gowanus Studio Space, 166 7th street, Brooklyn

Mare Liberum presents a boat-building workshop where participants will leave with their very own handmade bamboo, zip tie, and canvas kayak.

Alalba Eco Tours – Postponed, Details TBA

Alalba Eco Tours – led by Gabriela Basterra, Andy Bichlbaum, and Jeff Day – will explore and document the coast of New York City aboard the Alalba, a lovingly restored 50-foot ketch.

Postponed to September 18, 6 pm – Procession for Immediate Certainty

Artist and boat-builder Jessica Segall will conduct the Procession for Immediate Certainty, carrying her handmade Norwegian faering in a parade across Manhattan to launch into the East River in the style of a Viking funeral.

Ongoing, July-August – Ian Warren’s Walden 59
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Ian Warren is creating a seaworthy replica of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond, to navigate from the George Washington Bridge to Marina 59.

Ongoing, July-August – Andrew Eutsler, Shane Heinemeier & Alison Ward’s Sea Shanty
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

Artists Andrew Eutsler, Shane Heinemeier, and Alison Ward have constructed a dual house-raft built for meditation.

Ongoing, July-August – Hans Maharawal & Thomas Robinson: Pirate Ship
Marina 59, 5914 Beach Channel Drive, Far Rockaway

In response to the untimely end of the Captain Courageous, a handmade take on the Polynesian fishing canoe made from parts of an ice rink, Hans Maharawal and Thomas Robinson are constructing a new vessel: a pirate ship.

Contact georgia(at)fluxfactory.org for more information on anything.

May 12, 8 pm +

Join us next week for Flux Thursday, our monthly potluck and salon! Dinner starts at 8 pm, with presentations and performances to follow. This month, Going Places (Doing Stuff) veteran Liz Barry will talk about TreeKIT, a grassroots project mapping trees throughout the streets of western Queens. Michal Shilo will screen Face Styling, a video exploring the intimate and sometimes meticulous process of male grooming and the styling of facial hair. Fluxers Jean Barberis, Georgia Muenster, Adrian Owen, and Alison Ward will talk about Super-G, their recent residency in a cardboard city at a flea market within a grocery store in Greensboro, North Carolina. Bring drinks or something delicious to share!

Image: A young lady in a hat by Alison Ward, Super-G.

Opening Reception: Friday May 20th, 6-10 pm

May 20 – June 5, 2011
Open daily from 1- 6 pm

The ‘memory palace’ is an ancient memorization technique, in which one mentally furnishes a remembered architectural space with vivid, off the wall mnemonic imagery. The 2011 Brooklyn College MFA Thesis Exhibition resembles a memory palace, in that it is idiosyncratic rather than unified and endeavors to make a virtue of this heterogeneity. The memory palace also serves as a metaphor for the academic experience: In an MFA program, the school supplies the quantitative structures that order the experience–the space, the time, the schedules, the deadlines–and the students furnish the bureaucratic boxes with color, with strangeness, with life.

Participating Artists: Linda Bernal, Julia Cocuzza, Gregory Hayes, Megan Hays, Michele Liebler, Hector Madera-Gonzalez, Allison Merz, Madison Omahne, Ivan Rivera, Nooshin Rostami, Natalie Taylor, and Boris Torres.

Curated by Adam Thompson.