Seven in One Blow – 10th Anniversary Production!For the tenth consecutive season, Axis Company will present its winter show for children, Seven In One Blow, or The Brave Little Kid. Adapted from the classic fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm, this interactive play with music is conceived by Axis Company and directed by Randy Sharp featuring Axis’ signature blend of advanced technology and live performance. Children in the audience will be encouraged to participate in many of the Kid’s challenges with singing and organized “shout outs.”

A-Lab Forum: ARTE UTIL
centers around the works of artists whose practice involves social and political engagement. Through actions, performances, situations, and in may instances the reference to the object(s) , participating artists explore possible ways to bridge the gap between audiences and art experience. Taking as departure the notion of Arte Util (Useful Art), first introduced in the 1960’s , the forum will open the dialogue to offer a possible re-formulation of ideas behind artistic creation, aesthetics, alternative narratives, and public participation. Selected artists were invited to present their work and share their approach, ideas and experimentation with art that can be found in the streets outside the white box of a gallery or museum setting.

WILDLIFE: FETISH SHOW has the honor of hosting the absurdly lovely Monica Emmons of BDSquad-curated House of Fetish–a one night art exhibit exploring the fetishistic response and its ritualistic roots. Free Entry. $5 Open Bar (beer provided by Nock Brewery, among other options). expect magic.

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TUESDAY:

99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative FilmFilmmakers Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites in attendance for discussion including a video conversation with other film collaborators. Film critic Christopher Campbell will be moderating the discussion. Williams Cole will introduce the event.This feature length documentary film is spearheaded by over 50 independent filmmakers, photographers, and videographers across the country. We have come together to pledge our time, skills and gear to cover the events taking place in NYC and around the country. The end product will be a compelling, cinematic, resonant, and honest portrait of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Founded by NYC filmmakers Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites, the project currently counts among its collaborative many award winning documentary producers, directors, musicians and editors (as well as PR people and distributors) including Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley (Battle for Brooklyn, Horns and Halos), Ava Duvernay (distributor of independent black films via AFFRM, dir/prod I Will Follow), Aaron Yanes as supervising editor (a frequent Barry Levinson editor, he’s also edited many award-winning features and documentaries, from Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Padre Nuestro to James Toback’s Cannes prize-winningTyson, Tyler Brodie (Another Earth, Terri), Bob Ray (Total Badass) and many more.

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FRIDAY:

Mathilde Aubier, Paul Burgess, Cless, Virginia Echeverria, Fred Free, John Gall, James Gallagher, April Gertler, Ashkan Honarvar, Colin Jenkins, Gordon Magnin, Clarita Mata, Jeffery Meyer, Tom Moglu, Randy Mora, Julien Pacaud, Lilly Pereira, Dave Plunkert, Ciara Phelan, Eduardo Recife, Kareen Rizk, Javier Rodriguez, Valerie Roybal, Katherine Streeter, Leigh Wells, Charles Wilkin, Lionel Williams, Bill ZindelFrom its abstract roots in Cubism to the political and counter culture movements of Dada and Punk, collage has always been a product of its environment. With the rise of 24 hour media cycles, social networks and search engines, contemporary culture has effectively rendered print media obsolete, creating a virtual boom in discarded paper ephemera for collage artists to examine and reinvent. Through these discarded remnants collage artists have become the archivists and activists of this post modern age, paralleling the frenetic pace in which we live while exposing the voyeuristic and often disjointed nature of popular culture.INTERVIEW WITH THE 22.

Doomsday Film Festival
The 2011 Doomsday Film Festival explores our collective obsession with the Apocalypse in film, art, and culture.From raptures, plagues, meteorites, nuclear holocausts, aliens, zombie attacks, ecological catastrophe, and cybernetic revolt to the 2012 doomsday predictions, the Festival will touch upon all possible permutations of our collective demise. We’ll be screening films from across the board, with works ranging from premieres to established classics to rediscovered gems. On the schedule for the 2011 Festival are nuclear fallout cartoons, early ’60s atomic parables, ’80s zombie punk, award-winning independent shorts, and much more.The event will incorporate a panel-based symposium featuring authors, artists, and all manner of experts on the End of Days. We plan to tackle the Apocalypse in all its forms, and hope you’ll join us for the ride!

For Hughes, this upcoming show is a concoction of two inpirations: Flight to Canada, a novel by Ishmael Reed, and Coonskin, an animated film by Bakshi. Flight to Canada tells the story of Raven Quickskill, 40’s, and Leechfield slaves who run away from their master, Mr. Swille, in search of freedom. Coonskin tells the story of Brother Rabbit, Preacher Fox, and Brother Bear, who flee the American South during the 1970s in search of liberation. Using satire, sex, violence, identity, and history to tell the stories of their characters, both Reed and Bakshi make clear that transformation can only come from within—a theme that is the cornerstone of Hughes’ work and that resonates deeply in his life. Consequently, there is “Coonskin 2: Flight to Canada”, which is Hughes’ vision of a sequel that will never happen. The show serves as homage and “thank you” to the great works of Reed and Bakshi and is a representation of Hughes’ love of the lost art of animation. Terrance Hughes was born in 1975 in St. Louis, Missouri, and currently lives and works in New York City. He is a self-taught artist, whose work deals with different periods of Black American history and issues surrounding cultural and social identities. Hughes’ works consist of two elements: graphite and charcoal on paper to create rendered portraits and landscapes from photo references, which are meant to mimic the photo itself, complete with imperfections; and animation Cel Vinyl on acetate, providing stark contrast through its vivid color and three-dimensional effect. It is his belief that the lost art of animation deserves a place in the art world.

Hughes has had recent exhibitions at Modern Eden, San Francisco, The Cheaper Show, Vancouver, and Mad Art Gallery, St. Louis. In March, Hughes participated in a group show to benefit Japan relief at graphite., Williamsburg.

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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.Free + Bring your own beverages and snacks(images courtesy of Jeff Stark)

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Don’t feel too chewed up. I think as we get older it will be easier to feel this way. Yes I feel like shit at times, probably lately more than ever, but it’s only a temporary paralysis. If I have a goal in life it’s to make sure that it’s always temporary, despite the inevitability. That’s a real goal, and I’m content to deal with it. I’m trying to follow the example of cutting-edge Japanese cooking and French nouvelle cuisine, which is more concerned with difference and variation in savor and texture than with taste sensation in mouthfuls. Yes it’s the same as it’s always been, what you said.