As I type this 24 performers are creating human sculpture based on the lives of 24 new yorkers living downtown.  Meanwhile, a man is backstage reviewing his lines before he takes stage at The Public Theater to deliver a one-man show that recounts the Apollo 11 moon landing.  Later in the evening, the stage will transform into an ode to the American Dance Legand, Martha Graham, with a multi-media tribute, using materials from her actual choreography, past documentaries and actual notes from her personal journals.

Quite the cultural buffet to say the least.  In its 6th year, the Under The Radar Festival has returned and transformed the citie’s theaters into a hotbed of new-found theater from around the world.  Going on through January 17th, see the festival’s sites for scheduling, performance synopsis and location information.  While its cold outside, why not undergo some cultural stimulus?

photo courtesy of Creative Commons License

Just following on from Harper’s post below, I thought I would post DJ Scotch Egg’s most excellent Tetris/Bach composition, to give you a taster of what to expect at Blip Fest.

I predict you will now be either jumping around the room in excitement or sitting in the corner flinching involuntarily.

Starting today is a festival I look forward to every year. Perhaps because there are memories involved. I can still remember myself wide-eyed and bushy tailed, wandering the cold streets of chelsea at night, solo, looking for an art opening to crash, or two or three. Instead of art, the gods of old school nintendo and game boys swooped in and lead me into a gallery-turned-discotheque. The DJs were not spinning records however.  Instead, music was all made using former video gaming devices, like the Commodore 64 and Amiga, the Atari ST and 2600 and Game Boys.  Topping it off, artists created hypnotic visuals matching the music, employing similar devices and experimentation.

If you have no plans yet. GO! If you already have plans, cancel.  The Blip Festival lasts through the weekend.  It is for the geeky gamer, the disco raver and everything in between.  ALL INFO HERE.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons License

In response to Anya’s latest blog on an “intriguing and unusual exhibition to visit” in London, New York has some “art in odd places” to visit this weekend too. Exploring the “odd, ordinary and ingenious in the spectacle of daily life,” the annual Art in Odd Places festival aims to expand, question and provoke the way we communicate in public space. Simply put, it forces us to question the role art plays in public.

The festival is a must. It is free. Most exciting is how it transforms the Lower East Side and Alphabet city for the weekend, turning store shop windows into curious displays, public gardens into theatrical stagings, and forcing walker-bys to closely examine everything – from cracks in the sidewalks to building cornices. The Art in Odd Places festival, if nothing else, forces us to take nothing in this city for granted, forcing us to peel our eyes a bit more than usual by highlighting the unusual.

Photos Courtesy of DannyBirchall and Hragv with Creative Commons License

These days comics are practically mainstream. X Men has spawned at least five blockbuster hits/excuses to watch Hugh Jackman flounce about with his shirt off, most of Alan Moore’s ouvre has been adapted for the big screen (albeit in wildly varying quality) and even Astroboy, Japan’s scared Manga posterboy, has been made into a 3D kids film.

That said, whilst you can bump into any innocuous pleb in the street and get them to explain the deconstruction of the superhero in Watchmen, it is still only a small fraction of these folk who are moved enough to want to meet the inky fingered men behind the works, and even less who feel inspired enough to dress up like their anti/heroes in unforgiving spandex.

However, a few times a year, like the eclipse of the moon and the migration of the wildebeest across the Serengeti, the true comicbook aficionados come together for a weekend of intense fandom. This week it’s New York a.k.a Gotham’s turn!

Big Apple Comic Con is taking place at Pier 94 all weekend, and the big names in attendance include Thomas Jane (appearing for just an hour), Joe Quesada (Friday and Saturday only) and William Shatner (there ALL weekend and probably still on Monday in case they need help clearing up). There will be limited edition comics and figurines on sale, talks and Q&A sessions, and less we forget, hundreds of people of both gender in overly skimpy bright costumes (the two below being notable exceptions).

Photos by Parka81 used under a Creative Commons License