The widely anticipated Arts Center – The Shed – opened April 5th in Hudson Yards at the north end of the Highline in New York. The building is anything but a shed with a cost of $475 millon. Michael Bloomberg donated $75 million for the center dedicated as the Bloomberg Building. Michael Cooper of the New York Times shared that the telescoping shell “can roll back and forth on rails. When extended, it doubles the footprint of the Shed, creating a huge indoor space.” Credit for the architecture goes to Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro – Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The firm designed an expansion of the MOMA for 2019 and redesigned the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in 2014. Elizabeth Diller is being honored by Bang on a Can for her Mile Long Opera. For details on that project and upcoming projects see the link below.
A five day concert series, ‘Soundtrack of America’ (conceived by filmmaker Steve McQueen and Quincy Jones) celebrates the influence of African American musicians. Tamar-kali, Braxton Cook, Victory and Phony Ppl were slated to perform. Jon Batiste opened the series with the Howard University Marching Band playing James Reese Europe’s band music from 100 years earlier. In one of the five performance spaces designed for simultaneous performances, Reich Richter Pärt – part exhibition and live performance – will continue with scheduled performances through June 2nd. An accompanying film by Corinna Belz suggests the connections between Reich’s pulsing music and Ricter’s pattern paintings.
According to the architect’s website dsrny.com The Shed “will be an arts center dedicated to commissioning, producing and presenting all types of performing arts, visual arts and popular culture.” To insure the mission of bringing the arts to the community, Artistic Director Alex Poots guaranteed $10 tickets will be available for those who can’t afford full price tickets. In addition the Shed sponsors ‘Open Call’ to provide commissions to artists from New York’s five boroughs. 52 artists were selected out of 900 to receive funding, support and space to exhibit. The next deadline to apply is May 1.
The Lively Arts (redux) 