Around Town
Burn It Up: Breakout Asian-American Designers in Fashion | Fri., Feb. 4
In America's fashion capital, we see designers that are gay and straight, male and female, veterans and newbies, but minorities often lack representation.
Enter Burn It Up, the Asia Society's spotlight on emerging Asian-American designers. Established participants include hat-maker Eugenia Kim; clothing designers Mary Ping and Siri Kuptamethee; newbie accessories designer Chrishabana; and designer-turned-artist Susan Cianciolo. Despite the vast array of talent, the two most likely to gain recognition this season will be Jean Yu and Tammy Tiranasar.
Tiranasar's necklaces are sure to grace the pages of glossies and indies alike, as they combine two of the hottest themes this season: big and ethnic. Her abstract bead and wax necklaces, almost completely flat, are so striking they're sure to draw you in for a closer look.
Yu's designs are not as unique, but her modern, clean style is novel; her transparent, bare designs ethereal and dark. Imagine the clean lines of Armani and simplicity of Prada through the eyes of an ultra-modernist. Her undergarment collection resurrects the angelic waif through pale pinks and skin tones. The last item reveals the bad girl waiting to break out: a silk wireless bra and matching panties in hot pink, with tomato-red garter straps hanging down, useless but wild.
Asia Society, 725 Park Ave. (70th St.); 212-288-6400; 6:30; $15, $7 st.
-Andrea Toochin
Little Buddha | Sun., Feb. 6
Funny thing about the Little Buddha screening this afternoon at the Rubin Museum of Art, the first museum in the Western Hemisphere dedicated to Himalayan art. (Yes, an art museum screening a Keanu Reeves/Bridget Fonda/Chris Isaak film in which Neo himself plays Siddhartha is kind of funny, but that's not it.) An apparently unreliable website, not directly affiliated with the museum, listed today's screening complete with a description of the film, only to accidentally label the calendar event as a screening of?The Golden Child! Can you fucking imagine? A bunch of Himalayan art enthusiasts roll up to the museum, do the tour, then decide to take in the day's screening. If you weren't raised on WPIX 11's "December Movies to Remember," you'd think The Golden Child might be a legitimate Lama flick, a documentary even. Instead, you've got Eddie Murphy playing The Chosen One, finding blood in his rice and posing important questions like, "Do you have Star Search in Tibet? Probably not. Probably got Food Search."
But wait, there's more. Why the movie listing mishap? Because just last month they actually did screen The Golden Child. The Rubin Museum of Art is either hard-up for attendance or the best museum ever, possessing amazing senses of humor and self, relishing the opportunity to explore the role of Himalayan culture as seen through the always absurd, occasionally well-intentioned Hollywood gaze. I'm going with the latter explanation. I'm also going back in two weeks when they show Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt as one fine-looking Nazi sympathizer.
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.); 212-415-5500; 2; free w/adm.
-Dan Migdal
Shorewalkers' New York Bridge Walk
Sat., Feb. 5
Misery loves bridges. Since 1982, Shorewalkers has led organized, invigorating walks exploring the varied and extensive shore areas in and around the city. Their admirable mission is to "enhance, enjoy and protect the parks, promenades and paths along the waters." When the alliteration settles, they like to cross some bridges at a "moderately brisk pace." There are over 25 miles to be walked across Manhattan's 16 area bridges. Last year, the crew fell just two bridges shy, but this year they're itching to make it all the way to the George Washington. Can it be done in the unforgiving cold of February? If so, there'll be a party in the Palisades like you wouldn't believe. Bring water, a MetroCard (no point walking between bridges) and sandwiches. And they mean sandwiches. That's what Shorewalkers eat. Anyone who gets caught with something stupid like a pizza bagel or a blintz better be able to swim.
Meet at Manhattan Municipal Building (1 Centre St.); 212-330-7686; 9:30am; $3, free for members.
-Dan Migdal
Aid for Aceh Benefit Party
Thurs., Feb. 3
The Indonesian province of Aceh (pronounced "Ah-chayh") got the worst of last month's tsunami. Countless villages were wiped out; much of the capital, Banda Aceh, was flattened. The Indonesian government estimates that a majority of the country's 150,000 dead are in the province. Yet that same government continues its repression of Aceh, which hosts a sizable rebel movement. NGOs report that international aid supplies meant for Aceh are sitting idle in Indonesian airports and military bases. NYC Friends of Aceh hope to bypass Indonesian authorities by donating the funds raised tonight directly to indigenous organizations already in the province. The program mixes experimental music and visual artists in collaboration with local Acehnese activists.
Clemente Soto Velez Center, 107 Suffolk St. (betw. Rivington & Delancey Sts.); 212-340-9462; 8 p.m.-2 a.m., $10-$30, sliding scale, donations of $40+ receive a limited edition t-shirt with original art work by Seth Tobocman.
-Alexander Zaitchik
Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit | Thurs., Feb. 3
I was behind the wheel of a car once when I was 19. A blue Mercury Sable. This friend of mine thought it would be fun to put someone in the driver's seat who couldn't drive. We were in a big empty parking lot. Luckily, my friend sat shotgun, because the car had this stick-thing sticking out of the side of the wheel, and you had to move it in, like, four different directions to get it into drive mode. I think she called it a "clutch." When I hit the gas, I triggered a smoking peel-out of the highest order. How was I supposed to know? When an arcade driving game has a pedal, you floor that shit-right? After I found the brakes, we stopped screaming and switched seats. She hasn't spoken to me much since.
Like most New Yorkers who ride the subway on a daily basis, tonight's lecture will mean nothing to me. The only difference I can see between Lexus and other car companies is their love of black and white footage in commercials. But BusinessWeek's international finance editor and former Tokyo correspondent, Chester Dawson, thinks there's more to it than that. He's been invited to the Japan Society's "Authors on Asia" series to share his insights, recently published in Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit. As Toyota's first foray into the global luxury market, Lexus invested over a billion dollars and 450 prototypes in its first six years-an effort that eventually saw them eclipse Mercedes in U.S. luxury car sales. In pursuit of this esteemed status, it seems Lexus did not relent. Booksigning and reception to follow.
Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St., (betw. 1st & 2nd Aves.); 212-752-3015; 6:30; $10, $5 st./s.c.
-Dan Migdal
The Aztec Empire | Through Sun., Feb. 13
Time is running out to experience this magnificent exhibition. Every piece-from the turquoise and jade jewelry to the awe-inspiring statue of Mictlantecuhtli, god of death-makes The Aztec Empire worth seeing. Many of these objects are being shown for the first time; many others won't leave Mexico for another generation.
The exhibit is curated by Felipe Solis, director of Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology (Museo Nacional de Antropologia). One of the world's foremost Aztec experts, Solis co-discovered one of the most significant pieces of Aztec sacred art, the moonstone of goddess Coyolchauqui. He has also been responsible for bringing in objects from museums around the world, especially from Mexico and the U.S., which owns the second greatest collection of Aztec pieces after its southern neighbor.
Solis was able to secure 95 percent of the objects he wanted for the exhibition. The show also exposes New York's growing Mexican population to their cultural heritage by bringing in a great number of pieces from the province of Puebla, where most local immigrants are from. Frank Lloyd Wright's design for the museum building proved serendipitous, inspiring Mexican architect Enrique Norten to transform the Rotunda into the body of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent of Mexican mythology. Norten was able to create silent, intimate viewing spaces.
"I consider myself an enemy of including non-European civilizations in natural history museums, along with animals and prehistoric men. It is a racist and primitivist bias of white, European society," says Solis. "These pieces are art and thus they can make people feel."
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Ave. (E. 89th St.); 212-423-3500; www.guggenheim.org; Sat.-Weds., 10-5:45; Fri., 10-8; $18-$23, $15-$20 st./s.c., free-$5 child.
-Hector Meza