Commission Celebrates Ongoing Revitalization of Park Avenue Armory and Marks 20th Anniversary of The Art Show

NEW YORK, January 11, 2008 — Park Avenue Armory in association with the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) announced today that three artists have been commissioned to create site-specific works for the Armory’s historic rooms. The artists, selected by curators Tom Eccles and Trevor Smith, are Spencer Finch, Lisi Raskin, and Pietro Roccosalva. In addition, a video and multimedia art installation by multiple contemporary artists will occupy the Armory’s main hallway. The installations which are titled High Resolution: Artists Projects at the Armory will be on view from February 21–25, 2008, during the 20th annual Art Show which is organized by the ADAA to benefit Henry Street Settlement.

Rebecca Robertson, President and CEO of Park Avenue Armory commented, “The works by these emerging contemporary artists in the context of our historic rooms and main hall will be both unexpected and provocative. The installations will add to the experience of those attending The Art Show while attracting new audiences to the Armory. We are deeply grateful to the ADAA for their support of the exhibition and congratulate them and Henry Street Settlement on the 20th anniversary of the celebrated Art Show at the Armory.”

“The realization of this project speaks to the strengths of both The Art Show and Park Avenue Armory as they create an inviting space for contemporary, modern and historical art,” said Roland Augustine, President of the Art Dealers Association of America and Partner in Luhring Augustine. “The Armory has always been home to The Art Show and we want to support their work by stimulating new creative projects in its revitalized space.”

Spencer Finch utilizes a scientific method and a poetic sensibility to explore the relationship between color, light, memory, and perception. Many of his installations begin with Finch recording the specific color and intensity of the light at a remote site that has a specific historical or literary significance. That light is then recreated through the use of simple materials such as light fixtures, colored gels and stained glass. To date, Finch has mostly presented his work in neutral gallery spaces; the Armory commission will enable him to situate his historically charged work in dramatic dialogue with the 19th century interiors of the Armory.

Lisi Raskin’s work, Command and Control, will engage the role of Park Avenue Armory’s Colonel’s Office as a monitoring station. The installation will be a mobile observation point in which the room will be monitored by three guards within a private chamber. The secret chamber will not be physically accessible to viewers of the installation, but will be visible via TV monitors, and radio transmissions—creating a space where the would-be art viewers become the subjects being viewed. Raskin is artist-in-residence at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS) for 2008.

Pietro Roccasalva’s installations will bring seemingly disparate objects, materials, and techniques together to create a psychologically and mythologically charged environment in a traditional space. Along with sculpture, light installation, paintings, and video, this commission will include a tableau vivant featuring the curator of his exhibition, his twin brother, and his father. The “characters” will guard the installation, which will be located in the Armory’s Mary Diver Room.

In addition, first year graduate students at CCS Bard are organizing programs of five single channel videos drawn from the legendary video art and interactive media archives of the Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). These videos will be played on monitors positioned like sentinels in a row, down the center of Armory’s main hallway that lead to the historic room installations. A different program will be produced for each day of the Art Show from February 21-25, 2008.

“The collaboration between the Park Avenue Armory and the ADAA is further testament to the continued presence of the past in contemporary art, and early career artists’ interest in connecting with that past,” remarked Tom Eccles, visual arts advisor to Park Avenue Armory, and executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture at Bard College.

The installations are being organized by Eccles with CCS Bard curator-in-residence, Trevor Smith. Prior to joining CCS, Eccles served as director and curator of The Public Art Fund in New York City from 1997 to 2005. During that time, Eccles presented more than eighty major exhibitions throughout the city, featuring works by such artists as Rachel Whiteread, Ilya Kabakov, Francis Alys, Mariko Mori, Julian Opie, Vik Muniz, Janet Cardiff, Martin Creed, Richard Long, and Barbara Kruger.

Trevor Smith is currently the curator-in-residence at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College where he organized Feelings, the first North American survey of the work of British artist Martin Creed. From 2003 to 2006, he was a curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, where he co-curated the widely acclaimed and award winning exhibition, Andrea Zittel: Critical Space.

Park Avenue Armory is a new arts institution that is dedicated to producing and collaborating on groundbreaking works that can only be realized because of the unique capabilities of its vast, vaulted Drill Hall, and those that respond to its historic rooms which were designed by such artists as Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White and the Herter Brothers. Its inaugural program was Aaron Young’s project, Greeting Card, a 9,216-square-foot painting created by the burned out tire marks of twelve motorcyclists, performed and exhibited in association with Art Production Fund in the Drill Hall in September 2007. Park Avenue Armory is collaborating with the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Art Production Fund to host large-scale artworks, performances, and site-specific installations as part of the 2008 Whitney Biennial. In association with Lincoln Center Festival 2008, it will present an epic production of the opera, Die Soldaten, with the massive space in the Drill Hall enabling this rarely seen work to be staged as it was originally conceived by the composer.

About Park Avenue Armory
Park Avenue Armory is a newly launched arts organization whose mission is to revitalize one of New York’s most important landmarks as a dynamic center for the arts unlike any other in the city, unique in its non-traditional programming and for the splendor of its restored interiors. Its programming will use the vast space in its Drill Hall and the array of exuberant period rooms to present performing and visual art that resists the confines of formal single purpose halls and galleries. Filling a crucial niche in the cultural landscape of New York, Park Avenue Armory catalyzes works of contemporary art that cannot be realized at existing venues.

History of the Park Avenue Armory
Built between 1877 and 1881, the landmarked Park Avenue Armory is one of New York City’s most important historic structures, occupying a full city block on the Upper East Side. The Armory’s Drill Hall, reminiscent of a 19th-century European train shed, measures approximately 200 by 300 feet, with an 80-foot-high barrel-vaulted roof, and is one of the largest unobstructed spaces in the City. The adjacent Administrative Building includes interiors by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, the Herter Brothers, and other prominent designers of the period, constituting what the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission described as “the single most important collection of 19th-century interiors to survive intact in one building.”

Art Dealers Association of America
All Art Show exhibitors are members of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), a non-profit membership organization of the nation’s leading galleries. Founded in 1962, ADAA seeks to promote the highest standards of connoisseurship, scholarship and ethical practice within the profession. Visit www.artdealers.org

The Art Show
The Art Show, organized by the Art Dealers Association of America, is one of the U.S.’s most prestigious art fairs, featuring 70 of the nation’s leading art galleries. All proceeds from the event and its opening night gala benefit Henry Street Settlement, one of New York City’s best known and most effective social services and arts agencies. The 20th annual Art Show runs from February 21–25, 2008 at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street. Intimate in scale, The Art Show features works by international artists ranging from recently completed contemporary painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and multi-media works to museum-quality pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries. Several galleries present solo exhibitions. More information can be found at www.artdealers.org/artshow. A media preview for The Art Show 2008 will be held on a new day and time: Thursday, February 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. For more information, please contact Dan Tanzilli at FITZ & CO at 212-627-1455 x226 or at dan@fitzandco.com.

The Art Show Gala Benefit Preview
To inaugurate The Art Show 2008, a Gala Benefit Preview will be held on Wednesday, February 20, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and benefits Henry Street Settlement, a prominent social services and arts agency, located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. For advance ticket purchases or additional information, please call 212-766-9200 ext. 248.

Henry Street Settlement
Founded in 1893 by social work pioneer Lillian Wald and based on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Henry Street Settlement delivers a wide range of social services, health-care initiatives and arts programs that improve the lives of more than 65,000 New Yorkers each year. Distinguished by a profound connection to its neighbors, a willingness to address new problems with swift and innovative solutions, and a strong record of accomplishment, Henry Street challenges the effects of urban poverty by helping families achieve better lives for themselves and their children. Visit www.henrystreet.org

# # #

For further information please contact:

For the Park Avenue Armory:
Danielle Oteri / Maggie Berget
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
212-671-5165/157
doteri/mberget@resnicowschroeder.com

For ADAA and The Art Show:
Dan Tanzilli / Mac Russell
FITZ & CO
T 212-627-1455 x226 / x232
E dan/mac@fitzandco.com

New York, November 16, 2007 — The curatorial team for the 2008 Whitney Biennial has selected 81 artists for the exhibition, which opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, on March 6, and runs through June 1, 2008. Since its founding in 1932, the Biennial has evolved into the Whitney’s signature exhibition as well as the most important survey of the state of contemporary art in the United States today. The exhibition will occupy the entire Museum, with the exception of the fifth floor, which is devoted to the permanent collection.
The 2008 Biennial is curated by Henriette Huldisch, Assistant Curator at the Whitney, and Shamim M. Momin, Associate Curator at the Whitney and Branch Director and Curator of the Whitney Museum at Altria, and overseen by Donna De Salvo, the Whitney’s Chief Curator and Associate Director for Programs. Three advisors worked with the curatorial team throughout the process: Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem; Bill Horrigan, Director of the Media Arts department at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University; and Linda Norden, independent curator and writer.
For the first time, the Whitney is collaborating with the Park Avenue Armory and Art Production Fund (APF), to provide the Biennial with a second venue in the historic Seventh Regiment Armory building, at Park Avenue and 67th Street. The Armory will be the setting for a series of performances, temporary installations, events, and other public programs by Biennial artists from March 6 to March 23, creating an opportunity to present works that could not be accommodated within the Whitney’s walls and remaining true to the fluid, interactive way in which these works were conceived.
Donna De Salvo noted, “The Biennial is a laboratory, a way of ‘taking the temperature’ of what is happening now and putting it on view. It influences our thinking on multiple levels and, for the Whitney, translates directly into the choices we make about our exhibitions and collections. In dealing with the art of the present, there are no easy assessments, only multiple points of entry. For the Whitney, and for our public, we hope the Biennial is one way in.”
History
The prototype for the Biennial debuted soon after Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney opened the Whitney Studio Club in Greenwich Village in 1918. At a time when American artists were struggling to free themselves from the prevailing art and culture of Europe, the Studio Club was an alternative space where artists could gather and display their works in annual survey exhibitions. These small, early versions of the Biennial created the first major public forum for contemporary American art, as well as a means for the advancement and assimilation of modernism into the predominantly realist tradition of American art. Many artists who would later be counted among the most important figures in 20th-century American art had their first exhibition opportunities at the Whitney, including Milton Avery, Philip Guston, Edward Hopper, and Georgia O’Keeffe.
In 1931 the Whitney Museum of American Art opened to the public, and the first Whitney Biennial was introduced in 1932. The 2008 Biennial will be the 74th in the series of Whitney Annual and Biennial exhibitions held since 1932, the same year that the Museum established an acquisition fund for purchases from each Biennial exhibition. The early Biennials alternated painting with sculpture and works on paper; selections were made, at first, by the artists and then by curators. In 1937, the program was changed to Annual exhibitions of separate media (painting displayed in the fall, and sculpture and other media in the spring). In 1973 the current program of Biennials of combined media was instated.

Artists

These are the artists selected for the 2008 Whitney Biennial:

Rita Ackermann
Born 1968 in Budapest, Hungary
Lives in New York, New York

Natalia Almada
Born 1974 in Mexico
Lives in Mexico City, Mexico and New York, New York

Edgar Arceneaux
Born 1972 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Fia Backström
Born 1970 in Stockholm, Sweden
Lives in New York, New York

John Baldessari
Born 1931 in National City, California
Lives in Santa Monica, California

Robert Bechtle
Born 1932 in San Francisco, California
Lives in San Francisco, California

Walead Beshty
Born 1976 in London, England
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Carol Bove
Born 1971 in Geneva, Switzerland
Lives in New York, New York

Joe Bradley
Born 1975 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Lives in New York, New York

Matthew Brannon
Born 1971 in Saint Maries, Idaho
Lives in New York, New York

Bozidar Brazda
Born 1972 in Cambridge, Canada
Lives in New York, New York

Olaf Breuning
Born 1970 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Lives in New York, New York

Jedediah Caesar
Born 1973 in Oakland, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

William Cordova
Born 1971 in Lima, Peru
Lives in Houston, Texas and Miami, Florida

Dexter Sinister
Stuart Bailey
Born 1973 in York, England

David Reinfurt
Born 1971 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Based in New York, New York

Harry (Harriet) Dodge and Stanya Kahn
Born 1966 and 1968, respectively, in San Francisco, California
Live in Los Angeles, California

Shannon Ebner
Born 1971 in Englewood, New Jersey
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Gardar Eide Einarsson
Born 1976 in Oslo, Norway
Lives in New York, New York

Roe Ethridge
Born 1969 in Miami, Florida
Lives in New York, New York

Kevin Jerome Everson
Born 1965 in Mansfield, Ohio
Lives in Charlottesville, Virginia

Omer Fast
Born 1972 in Jerusalem, Israel
Lives in Berlin, Germany

Robert Fenz
Born 1969 in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Coco Fusco
Born 1960 in New York, New York
Lives in New York, New York

Gang Gang Dance
Lizzi Bougatsos, Brian DeGraw, Tim DeWit, Josh Diamond, Nathan Maddox
Founded 2001-02 in New York, New York
Based in New York, New York

Amy Granat and Drew Heitzler
Born 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri, and born 1972 in Charleston, South Carolina,
Respectively Live in New York, NY, and Los Angeles, California, respectively

Rashawn Griffin
Born 1980 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in New York, New York

Adler Guerrier
Born 1975 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Lives in Miami, Florida

MK Guth
Born 1963 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Lives in Portland, Oregon

Fritz Haeg
Born 1969 in St. Cloud, Minnesota
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Rachel Harrison
Born 1966 in New York, New York
Lives in New York, New York

Ellen Harvey
Born 1967 in Kent, England
Lives in New York, New York

Mary Heilmann
Born 1940 in San Francisco, California
Lives in New York, New York

Leslie Hewitt
Born 1977 in New York, New York
Lives in New York, New York and Houston, Texas

Patrick Hill
Born 1972 in Royal Oak, Michigan
Lives in Los Angeles, California

William E. Jones
Born 1962 in Canton, Ohio
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Karen Kilimnik
Born 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Alice Könitz
Born 1970 in Essen, Germany
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Louise Lawler
Born 1947 in Bronxville, New York
Lives in New York, New York

Spike Lee
Born 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia
Lives in New York, New York

Sherrie Levine
Born 1947 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and New York, New York

Charles Long
Born 1958 in Long Branch, New Jersey
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Lucky Dragons
Luke Fischbeck, born 1978 in San Francisco, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Daniel Joseph Martinez
Born 1957 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Corey McCorkle
Born 1969 in La Crosse, Wisconsin
Lives in New York, New York

Rodney McMillian
Born 1969 in Columbia, South Carolina
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Julia Meltzer and David Thorne
Born 1968 in Hollywood, California, and born 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts
Live in Los Angeles, California

Jennifer Montgomery
Born 1961 in New York, New York
Lives in Chicago, Illinois

Olivier Mosset
Born 1944 in Bern, Switzerland
Lives in Tucson, Arizona

Matt Mullican
Born 1951 in Santa Monica, California
Lives in New York, New York

Neighborhood Public Radio (NPR)
Formed 2004 in Oakland, California
Based in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Diego, California, and Chicago, Illinois

Ruben Ochoa
Born 1974 in Oceanside, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

DJ Olive
Born 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts
Lives in New York, New York

Mitzi Pederson
Born 1976 in Stuart, Florida
Lives in San Francisco, California

Kembra Pfahler/The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Born 1961 in Hermosa Beach, California
Lives in New York, New York

Seth Price
Born 1973 in East Jerusalem
Lives in New York, New York

Stephen Prina
Born 1954 in Galesburg, Illinois
Lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California

Adam Putnam
Born 1973 in New York, New York
Lives in New York, New York

Michael Queenland
Born 1970 in Pasadena, California
Lives in New York, New York

Jason Rhoades
Born 1965, Newcastle, California
Died 2006, Los Angeles, California

Ry Rocklen
Born 1978 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Bert Rodriguez
Born 1975 in Miami, Florida
Lives in Miami, Florida

Marina Rosenfeld
Born 1968 in New York, New York
Lives in New York, New York

Amanda Ross-Ho
Born 1975 in Chicago, Illinois
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Mika Rottenberg
Born 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Lives in New York, New York

Heather Rowe
Born 1970 in New Haven, Connecticut
Lives in New York, New York

Eduardo Sarabia
Born 1976 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California, Guadalajara, Mexico, and Berlin, Germany

Melanie Schiff
Born 1977 in Chicago, Illinois
Lives in Chicago, Illinois

Amie Siegel
Born 1974 in Chicago, Illinois
Lives in New York, New York and Berlin, Germany

Lisa Sigal
Born 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Lives in New York, New York

Gretchen Skogerson
Born 1970 in Teaneck, New Jersey
Lives in New York, New York

Michael Smith
Born 1951 in Chicago, Illinois
Lives in New York, New York and Austin, Texas

Agathe Snow
Born 1976 in Corsica, France
Lives in New York, New York

Frances Stark
Born 1967 in Newport Beach, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Mika Tajima/New Humans
Mika Tajima
Born 1975 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in New York, New York

Howie Chen
Born 1976 in Cincinnati, Ohio
Lives in New York, New York

Javier Téllez
Born 1969 in Valencia, Venezuela
Lives in New York, New York

Cheyney Thompson
Born 1975 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Lives in New York, New York

Mungo Thomson
Born 1969 in Woodland, California
Lives in Berlin, Germany and Los Angeles, California

Leslie Thornton
Born 1951 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Lives in New York, New York

Phoebe Washburn
Born 1973 in Poughkeepsie, New York
Lives in New York, New York

James Welling
Born 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Mario Ybarra Jr.
Born 1973 in Los Angeles, California
Lives in Los Angeles, California

Catalog
The 2008 Biennial catalog includes essays by Biennial curators Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momin, as well as a specially commissioned essay by Rebecca Solnit, a writer, historian, and activist. In one section of the book, short texts accompany reproductions of each artist’s work; other sections present documentation of the artists’ diverse methods and practices as represented in the Biennial exhibition. The book, designed by Miko McGinty, will be distributed by Yale University Press.

Biennial Information
Tickets for the 2008 Biennial go on sale in February 2008. Admission to the Biennial events at the Park Avenue Armory is free. Check whitney.org for updates.

The Bucksbaum Award
During the course of the 2008 Biennial, the fifth Bucksbaum Award will be given. Endowed by Whitney trustee Melva Bucksbaum and her family, The Bucksbaum Award is an honor given to an artist chosen from among those in the Biennial. It includes a grant of $100,000 and an exhibition at the Whitney. Mark Bradford was the most recent recipient in 2006. Previous recipients were Raymond Pettibon in 2004, Irit Batsry in 2002, and Paul Pfeiffer in 2000.

About the Whitney
The Whitney Museum of American Art is the leading advocate of 20th- and 21st- century American art. Founded in 1930, the Museum is regarded as the preeminent collection of American art and includes major works and materials from the estate of Edward Hopper, the largest public collection of works by Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, and Lucas Samaras, as well as significant works by Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Georgia O’Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Kiki Smith, and Andy Warhol, among other artists. With its history of exhibiting the most promising and influential American artists and provoking intense critical and public debate, the Whitney’s signature show, the Biennial, has become the most important survey of the state of contemporary art in America today.

“A knuckle-whitening ride through a thrilling tale,” proclaimed the Financial Times (London) about Die Soldaten, the landmark opera production coming this July to Lincoln Center Festival 2008 in association with the Park Avenue armory. The Armory is a fitting setting for this not-to-be-missed site-specific work that raises important and timely questions about the casualties of war.

Lincoln Center Festival To Present Daring New Production Of Die Soldaten (“Soldiers”) At Park Avenue Armory This July

Visionary production of the iconic 20th century opera to have North American premiere

December 3, 2007

Contact:

Eileen McMahon
212-875-5391, emcmahon@lincolnceneter.org

Marian Skokan
212-875-5386, mskokan@lincolncenter.org
Die Soldaten, the iconic 20th-century opera by German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann, will be presented in a dramatic new production by Lincoln Center Festival in association with the Park Avenue Armory, it was announced today by Festival Director, Nigel Redden. The North American premiere of this critically-acclaimed production, the first to be mounted outside of an opera house, in a non-proscenium space, as the composer originally envisioned it, will take place in the Park Avenue Armory in July. This staging of Die Soldaten originated at the Ruhr Triennale in Germany in 2006 under Artistic Director Jürgen Flimm.

In Germany, Die Soldaten was performed in a former gas power plant of a steelworks factory. The audience was seated on platforms placed on a system of railroad tracks, allowing them to move into and out of the stage action. Directed by David Pountney and conducted by Steven Sloane, leading the Bochumer Symphoniker (a 110-piece orchestra with a mammoth percussion complement), and a cast of 40 singers, actors and dancers, it will be re-created for the Lincoln Center Festival in the enormous, vaulted, former Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory—a space uniquely suited for the monumental production. Die Soldaten will have five performances: July 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12. Casting will be announced at a later date.

A pioneering work at its creation—with a huge orchestra, challenging score and vocal writing, overlapping and simultaneous scenes, and incorporating film, taped music and amplification—Die Soldaten has continued to present enormous challenges to presenters. It has only been staged twice in the U.S. since its 1965 premiere by the Cologne Opera— its U.S. premiere by the Opera Company of Boston in 1982, and by New York City Opera in 1991, in both cases, departing from the composer’s vision.

The Park Avenue Armory setting will provide an immersive experience by allowing the full orchestra complement to be in placed with the audience and stage action. The movable seating on railway tracks, impossible in a traditional theater setting, will enable the audience to experience the extremes of intimacy and overwhelming all-enveloping sound, and the meshing of scenic action, that the composer envisioned.

German expressionist composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann based his powerful, wrenching music drama on the 18th–century play of the same name by J.M.R Lenz. Die Soldaten follows the fortunes of Marie, a naïve young woman from a small town, whose desire for a life beyond her provincial sphere leads to a relationship with an unscrupulous military officer, precipitating a downward spiral to prostitution and degradation. In Zimmermann’s conception, the four act, 15 scene Die Soldaten moves beyond a melodramatic tale of class consciousness to an outcry at the brutality that man visits on his fellow man. It is also considered as one of the signal musical expressions of the horror of World War II.

Commenting on Die Soldaten, Nigel Redden said, “We’re delighted to be able to bring this extraordinary production to the Festival. The Lincoln Center Festival has become known for productions that stretch performance boundaries—whether with the length of performance, the size of the cast, the technical demands, or non-traditional settings on and off the Lincoln Center campus. With this production of Die Soldaten, New York audiences will, for the first time, be able to experience this important 20th-century opera as its composer intended—with the constraints of a traditional proscenium setting eliminated—enveloped in sound, and surrounding the action.”

“In our first year as a new arts organization dedicated to the presentation of non-traditional contemporary work, we are thrilled to be collaborating with Lincoln Center Festival on Die Soldaten,” said Rebecca Robertson, President and CEO of Park Avenue Armory. “This is a production that could not be realized in any other venue in New York and it will demonstrate the potential of the Drill Hall to catalyze new work.”

Commented Jürgen Flimm, Artistic Director of the Ruhr Triennale, “We are very proud to come to New York and we thank Nigel Redden and Rebecca Robertson, who will make it possible for us to bring this production to the world capital of theater.”

“A work of atonal twentieth-century angst…to many, Die Soldaten is the great work of alienation and despair, increasingly occupying a place in past-World War II opera similar to that commanded by Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in contemporary theater or Bergman’s The Virgin Spring in modern film.” – Jay Reise, Opera News, September 1991

Bernd Alois Zimmermann was twenty-one when World War II began in 1939 and he was drafted and served in the military until 1942, when he was hospitalized with a severe skin condition. Prior to and after the war, he studied musicology, German, philosophy and psychology at the universities of Bonn and Cologne, as well as music and composition at music universities in Cologne and Berlin. Although adopting the twelve-tone, serialist idiom from the early 1950s onward, Zimmermann’s compositional voice was highly individualistic. He drew on a wide range of musical and non-musical sources including medieval Catholic philosophy, Aeschylus, Dante, Dostoyevsky and Mayakovski, Pound and Joyce and music from the Renaissance to the 20th-century, in particular that of Bach, Mozart and Debussy. It was while in the Army in occupied Paris that he first encountered the music of Stravinsky and Milhaud, both strong influences on his work. Afflicted from youth with a debilitating and degenerative eye condition, Zimmermann also suffered from depression and severe insomnia. These ailments and the wrenching experiences of the war were expressed in the dark despair of many of Zimmermann’s works, including his only opera, Die Soldaten. He committed suicide in 1970.
With Die Soldaten, Zimmermann envisioned a new kind of modern opera, “Opera as total theater! In other words: architecture, sculpture, painting, musical theater, spoken theater, ballet, film, microphone, television, tape and sound techniques, electronic music, concrete music, circus, the musical and all forms of motion theater combined to form the phenomenon of pluralistic opera. In my Soldaten, I have attempted to take decisive steps in this direction.”
Zimmermann broke with traditional notions of form and continuity in action with his idea of “spherical time,” that the past, present and future are all happening simultaneously. His Die Soldaten, he writes, takes place in “the past, present and future” in Lille and Armentieres. In the opera, overlapping scenes and simultaneous action and a rich layering of musical textures, incorporating styles from various periods and quotations ranging from Bach to jazz, Gregorian chant to folksongs, are used to render that simultaneity. Zimmermann’s method of using musical quotations or “collages” in his compositions has been compared to writers Eliot, Pound and Joyce’s use of literary quotations.
Critical acclaim for Ruhr Triennale performances of Die Soldaten (2006 and 2007)
“The magnificent performance…really does justice to Die Soldaten for perhaps the first time in forty years.
It shows how visionary Zimmermann’s thinking and composition was and demonstrates how suited it is to being staged outside an opera house for the first time, using the technology and electro-acoustic methods of today.” –Die Welt
“The highest praise is due to the members of the Bochumer Symphoniker (with jazz combo) conducted by Steven Sloane. They presented the colossal score’s cosmos of sound, extending as it does from the tenderness of chamber music to brutal force, with superb confidence.” – NRZ
“A voyage of epic proportions and a triumph…this is a knuckle-whitening ride through a thrilling tale, so physically engaging that the two and a half hours pass in an instant.” – Financial Times (London)
David Pountney (Director) first came to international attention with the 1972 Wexford Festival (U.K.) production of Katya Kabanova. From 1975-1980, he served as Director of Production for the Scottish Opera where he created an acclaimed cycle of Janáček operas in collaboration with the Welsh National Opera. In 1977, Pountney oversaw the world premiere of David Blake’s Toussaint at the English National Opera and took up the reins as Director of Productions at ENO in 1980, holding the position until 1992. During his tenure he directed more than 20 operas ranging from Rusalka and Doctor Faust to Hansel and Gretel and The Fairy Queen. He has directed more than ten world premieres including two by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and Philip Glass’s Satyagraha and The Voyage. He has also translated dozens of operas into English. Since 1992, he has worked regularly as a director at the Zurich Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, and the Metropolitan Opera as well as continuing collaborations with the ENO and WNO. Mr. Pountney has been Artistic Director of the Bregenz Festival since 2003.
Steven Sloane has been General Music Director of the Bochumer Symphoniker (City of Bochum Symphony Orchestra) since 1994 where he has created innovative, thematically-oriented programs to wide critical acclaim. Born in Los Angeles, he studied viola, musicology and conducting at UCLA and continued his conducting studies with Eugene Ormandy, Franco Ferrara and Gary Bertini. Moving to Israel in 1981, he conducted leading Israeli orchestras including the Israeli Philharmonia, Jerusalem Symphony, and Haifa Symphony. He was also Orchestral and Choral Director of the Israel Conservatory of Music. From 1985-1992, he was Principal Resident Conductor of the Frankfurt Opera. He has been regular guest conductor with both New York City Opera (since 1990) and Tel Aviv’s New Israeli Opera. He has served as Music Director of the Spoleto Festival U.S.A., Opera North (Leeds, U.K.), and the American Composers Orchestra. Sloane conducted the world premiere of Elliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor’s Grendel and subsequent performances at Lincoln Center Festival 2006. Other opera engagements include Le Nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden and Salome at the Hong Kong Music Festival. He has also conducted works for the Seattle Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Welsh National Opera, Opera North and Stuttgart Opera. Sloane has appeared as guest conductor with leading orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic, DSO Berlin and the London Philharmonia Orchestra. He was appointed chief conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Norway in 2007.

About the Ruhr Triennale
Established in 2001 by Gerard Mortier, the Ruhr Triennale presented its first three-year cycle of performances from 2002 to 2004. Using regional theaters and former industrial buildings in cities in Germany’s industrial belt (the Ruhr region), the Triennale’s mission is to present contemporary music and art and innovative productions of the classics. The Triennale’s main venue is Bochum’s Jahrhunderthalle (Centennial Hall) which was the venue for this production of Die Soldaten. Built in 1902, the enormous, glass-covered space, measuring 233 ft. by 108 ft., with a triple-nave, served as the central power plant for a steelworks factory until 1964. Jürgen Flimm became the Triennale’s second artistic director in 2005.
Jürgen Flimm (Artistic Director, Ruhr Triennale, 2005 to present) is best-known to American audiences as an opera director. His productions for the Metropolitan Opera: Fidelio in 2000 and Salome in 2004, both featuring Karita Mattila, were highly-acclaimed by audiences and critics. He created a controversial Wagner Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 2000. He first came to prominence as a theater director in Germany, holding positions as director of the National Theatre in Mannheim and Senior Director at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, than as an independent director on productions at the Schauspiel Cologne. During his 15-year tenure, from 1985-2000, the Thalia became one of the most prominent centers for theater in Germany. Important productions he created during that time included: Chekhov’s Latonov, Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters; Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and The Wild Duck; Schnitzler’s Liebelei and Das weite Land; and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, King Lear and As You Like It. Flimm’s first opera production was Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore for the Frankfurt Opera in 1978. In 1981, he created Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Hamburg State Opera. His 1990 Così fan tutte for the Amsterdam Opera was the first of many collaborations with conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He has directed and created productions for La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Berlin State Opera, Zurich Opera and the Vienna State Opera. Jürgen Flimm was appointed artistic director of Salzburg Festival 2007.

About Park Avenue Armory
Park Avenue Armory is a newly launched arts organization whose mission is to revitalize one of New York’s most important landmarks as a dynamic center for the arts unlike any other in the city, unique in its non-traditional programming and for the splendor of its restored interiors. Its programming will use the vast space in its Drill Hall and the array of exuberant period rooms to present performing and visual art that resists the confines of formal single purpose halls and galleries. Filling a crucial niche in the cultural landscape of New York, Park Avenue Armory catalyzes works of contemporary art that cannot be realized at existing venues. Recent collaborations include Aaron Young’s Greeting Card, a 9,216-square-foot painting created by the burned-out tire marks of twelve motorcyclists that was performed and exhibited in the vast Drill Hall. In March 2008, The Whitney Museum of American Art in association with the Park Avenue Armory and the Art Production Fund will host large-scale artworks, performances, and installations as part of the Whitney Biennial.

History of the Park Avenue Armory
Built between 1877 and 1881, the landmarked Park Avenue Armory is one of New York City’s most important historic structures, occupying a full city block on the Upper East Side. The Armory’s Drill Hall, reminiscent of a 19th-century European train shed, measures approximately 200 by 300 feet, with an 80-foot-high barrel vaulted roof, and is one of the largest unobstructed spaces in the City. The adjacent Administrative Building includes interiors by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, the Herter Brothers, and other prominent designers of the period, constituting what the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission described as “the single most important collection of 19th-century interiors to survive intact in one building.”
About Lincoln Center and the Lincoln Center Festival
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of superb artistic programming, national leader in arts and education, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. As a presenter of more than 400 events annually, LCPA’s programs include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Live From Lincoln Center. In addition, LCPA is leading a series of major capital projects on behalf of the resident organizations across the campus.
Since its inaugural season in 1996, Lincoln Center Festival has received worldwide attention for presenting some of the broadest and most original performing arts programs in Lincoln Center’s history. In twelve seasons, the Festival has presented more than 1,000 performances by artists from more than 50 countries, commissioning nearly 30 new works and offering more than 110 world, U.S., and New York premieres. It places particular emphasis on showcasing contemporary artistic viewpoints and multidisciplinary works that push the boundaries of traditional performance.

Performance Information
Die Soldaten will have five performances, July 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12 at the Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, between 66th and 67th Streets, Manhattan, as part of Lincoln Center Festival 2008.
Additional information will be available, and tickets may be purchased, in mid-March 2008 when the complete schedule of Lincoln Center Festival 2008 presentations will be announced.
Visit Lincoln Center’s website, www.LincolnCenter.org for details.
The Ruhr Triennale production of Die Soldaten is presented by Lincoln Center Festival in association with the Park Avenue Armory.

Removal of Over a Century of Dirt and Grime Reveals Much About Original Artists and Materials
 
New York, NY, TK, 2007—The Park Avenue Armory announced today that after nine months, its first restoration project has been completed, revealing much about the building’s original design and character. It was discovered during conservation that the 1,600 lbs., six-inch thick wooden entryway doors were not made of a dark finish as they appeared, but rather a light blond oak finish. Similarly, the building’s soiled granite trim was cleaned and restored to its original creamy white. The cleaning of the historic gates restored their original bronze surface and uncovered the prominent copper plaque signature of Mitchell Vance and Co., one of the premier manufacturers of ornamental metalwork at the turn of the century.
 
“The most innovative artists and designers of the late 19th century developed the Armory. New Yorkers who know this building will be surprised to see that its original design was not heavy and gloomy, but light and colorful, and in keeping with the highest aesthetic principles of its time.” said Rebecca Robertson, President and CEO of the Park Avenue Armory.  “This project is the first step toward restoring this landmark to its original splendor.”
 
In January 2007, the wooden entryway doors were removed to be studied and conserved. A slow and painstaking process removed over 25 layers of stain, varnish, dirt and grime to uncover the original blond oak finish. As there were no archival records to indicate the original appearance of the doors, conservators had to rely on physical evidence to uncover the original surface.
 
The restoration work also revealed:

• The lines of the buildings original more slender tower were revealed during cleaning.
• The gates that have been black for decades were originally bronze.
• The ceiling of the outer vestibule, most recently a dirty peeling gray-white was revealed to be originally a sky-blue tinted plaster.
• The Insignia of the Seventh Regiment placed over the gateway may actually have been from another site. Future research will determine its age and original finish.

 
Work was also done on the exterior lighting and landscaping by the Horticultural Society’s Green Team and Lynden Miller. Also underway is a project to install air conditioning systems in the Drill Hall which will be completed in May 2008, eliminating the trucks and generators that provide air conditioning to the art and antique fairs from outside on Lexington Avenue.

Park Avenue Armory
Built between 1877 and 1881, the Park Avenue Armory is one of New York City’s most important historic structures, occupying a full city block on the Upper East Side.  For more than a century, the Park Avenue Armory hosted significant and varied events, including concerts, galas and benefits, and athletic competitions.  The Armory’s dramatic and expansive Drill Hall, measuring approximately 200 by 300 feet, with an 80-foot high barrel vault is one of the largest indoor spaces in the city, and the adjacent Administrative Building houses one of the most significant sets of 19th century interiors in the United States.  The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission described the Park Avenue Armory’s rooms, representing work by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, the Herter Brothers and other prominent designers of the period, as “the single most important collection of nineteenth-century interiors to survive intact in one building.”
 
The Conservancy for the Park Avenue Armory
The Conservancy is dedicated to weaving the Park Avenue Armory back into the fabric of New York, renewing its historic role as a center for culture, learning and innovation.
 
The Conservancy is currently restoring the Park Avenue Armory’s historic rooms and upgrading its facilities to make this unique resource an accessible and lively destination for the people of New York, and is committed to reviving the tradition of innovation upon which it was founded.
                                                           
Restoration Support
The front entrance restoration was made possible by the generous support of the Susan and Elihu Rose Foundation, the American Express Historic Preservation Fund, the Achelis & Bodman Foundations and Enid and Lester S. Morse, Jr.

Additional support was provided by contributions through The Avenue Association, The Felicia Fund, Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc. and Edith C. Blum Foundation, Inc.

For his first ever public exhibition in NYC, Young will paint 288 panels of plywood in alternating colors of red, pink, orange and yellow fluorescent, finishing with an opaque coat of black paint to conceal the bright layers underneath. These boards will then be laid out on the massive Drill Hall floor, forming a 128 x 72 foot canvas. Twelve motorcycle riders will perform on this platform, following specific directions by Young, their synchronized movements forming a pattern of burnouts on the wood. This pattern will be allowed to disintegrate over the course of the performance, based on riders’ individualized actions. When the exhaust clears, the gestural residue of the performance will remain - streaks of burnt rubber, worn away layers of paint, and newly revealed neon colors. This huge 9,216 sq. foot painting, inspired by the 1943 Jackson Pollock action painting, Greeting Card, will be on view along with a video documentation of the performance beginning September 18th.

Aaron Young’s work records and reflects the traces of performance and actions, combining references to the history of post-minimal performance art with an interest in social issues of marginalization. Through video, sculpture, drawing and photography, Young repositions physical and social boundaries, using his work to aestheticize questions of power. Aaron Young was born in 1972 in SF CA and lives and works in NY. He graduated in 2004 from Yale University (MFA) and 2001 from San Francisco Art Institute (BFA). Past shows include group exhibition Goodman Gallery, Paris, 2007; Last Attraction/Next Exit, curated by Neville Wakefield, Mag Wigram gallery, London, 2007; Beneath the Underdog, curated by Nate Lowman and Adam McEwan, Gagosian Gallery, New York; Art Positions, Art Basel Miami Beach, Florida, 2006; and Whitney Biennial 2006, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Kick the Dog, Herzilya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzilya, Isreal (catalogue) 2005.

Art Production Fund (APF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art. Projects include: SHOW, Vanessa Beecroft, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1998; FISCHERSPOONER: LA, performance, 2001; Keith + Farrah, collaborative exhibition by Keith Edmier and Farrah Fawcett, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Andy Warhol Museum, 2003; PLAN B, Rudolf Stingel summer 2004, Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall and The Walker Art Center; Prada Marfa, Elmgreen & Dragset, Valentine, TX, 2005, permanent. Future projects include works by Tim Noble & Sue Webster and Terence Koh.

APF: Co-Founders : Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen, Director of Operations: Casey Fremont.

The Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armory is proud to host ground breaking work that pushes beyond traditional limits in an extraordinary setting.

For more information please contact Danielle Oteri 212 671 5165 or doteri@resnicowschroeder.com.

Thank you to APF benefactors for making this project possible:

Annual Support: Creative Link for the Arts, Target and all participating artists for supporting the WOW (Works on Whatever) series, Soho Mews.

Project Patrons: Shelley Fox Aarons & Philip E. Aarons, William A. Ackman, Adam R. Flatto, Mark Fletcher, Holzer Family Collection, Kanbar Charitable Trust, Ninah and Michael Lynne, Barbara & Howard Morse, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Beth Swofford. Design Sponsor: Pandiscio Co.

Major funding provided by: Sotheby’s and Tom Ford

For more information please contact Art Production Fund 212 966 0193

State Moves to Preserve, Protect and Restore Historic and Cultural Landmark

Reprinted From The Press Release

Governor George E. Pataki today announced the release of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the creation of a public/private partnership to restore, preserve, operate and maintain the historic Seventh Regiment Armory in Manhattan.

Empire State Development Corporation (ESD), the Division of Military and Naval Affairs, the facility’s current administrator, and an Armory Advisory Council created by the Governor, worked with E & Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group (Ernst & Young) to craft an RFP that would attract an appropriate developer to preserve, rehabilitate and finance necessary capital improvements at the Armory. Responses to the RFP are due on October 16, 2000.

“The Seventh Regiment Armory is a cultural and historic gem, a valuable part of our State’s great heritage,” Governor Pataki said. “By creating a public/private partnership, we can ensure the preservation, protection and restoration of this architectural, historical and cultural jewel.”

In developing the RFP, local residents, the City and the Armory Advisory Council — consisting of State department and agency heads, representatives from art and cultural organizations and community group — all had a voice in how this landmark is to be preserved and continue to serve the community.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said, “The commitment to the redevelopment and revitalization of this prestigious armory as a cultural center is a great decision for the City. Business is booming and new construction is going up at a record pace in all five boroughs, but it is also important that we retain the significant landmarks that represent our great heritage. And I applaud Governor Pataki for involving the private sector to make the project fiscally sound.”

The Seventh Regiment Armory, located at 643 Park Avenue in New York City, was built between 1877 and 1880 for the Seventh Regiment of Manhattan. The regiment was originally dubbed the “Silk Stocking Regiment” because of its socially prominent members.

Senator Roy M. Goodman said, “The plan to convert the Seventh Regiment Armory into a cultural center in the heart of Manhattan’s East Side provides a superb opportunity for all New Yorkers interested in the arts. I congratulate Governor Pataki, Commissioners Gargano and Castro and Mayor Giuliani for their initiative and look forward to working with them to implement their superb plan.”

Assemblyman John A. Ravitz said, “I want to thank the Governor and his Administration for their commitment to restore and preserve this landmark building in my district that has been part of the incredible history of New York City.”

The Armory is home to the New York National Guard. In addition, the facility hosts many groups and accommodates many uses. The main hall is rented out to antique, art and antiquarian book shows from Labor Day to Memorial Day. The period rooms are sites for corporate-sponsored events and social functions. The main, one story drill hall measures 55,000 square feet, with an 80 foot-high roof supported by a truss system. It is one of the largest non-columned spaces in New York City.

ESD Chairman Charles A. Gargano said, “Governor George E. Pataki has led New York to the forefront of privatization nationally and the Seventh Regiment Armory further reinforces the State’s prominent role. This RFP will command a great deal of attention from first class developers. Thanks to the Governor’s foresight, this landmark will be returned to the stature it deserves and thanks to the private sector, be self sustaining.”

Bernadette Castro, State Parks Commissioner and State Historic Preservation Officer, said, “The State Historic Preservation Office is proud to be collaborating with the Division of Military and Naval Affairs, the Empire State Development Corporation and others in the important effort to rehabilitate and put on a sounder fiscal footing this National Historic Landmark, the interior of which reflects the genius of Tiffany and other outstanding American artists and designers.”

Maj. Gen. Jack Fenimore, New York State Adjutant General, said “From the War of 1812 through Desert Storm, New York National Guard units based at the Seventh Regiment Armory have served with distinction and honor. Enabling the conservation of the armory, not just as a military installation, but as an historic landmark is yet another example of Governor Pataki’s unwavering commitment to preserving New York State’s rich military heritage.”

The Seventh Regiment Armory was designed by Charles Clinton, a regimental member. The smaller, public social rooms such as the library and meeting rooms were designed by Louis C. Tiffany, Stanford White and other well-known firms of the time and remain some of the finest surviving examples of American interior design of its era. The building is listed on the State and national registers of historic places, was designated as a National Landmark in 1986 and its exterior as a New York City Landmark in 1967. The interiors were designated New York City landmarks in 1994.

The RFP requires all proposals to include a management, maintenance and operations plan, a financial plan, and a restoration and preservation plan. All restoration and preservation efforts will be in accordance with all applicable historic preservation laws.

To receive a copy of the Seventh Regiment Armory RFP, please call Charles Shorter of Ernst & Young at 212-773-6093.

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