Gallery Hours: Thursday and Friday 3 - 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday 12 - 6 pm, or by appointment

Proteus Gowanus develops workshops and events for adults and children from its interdisciplinary exhibits, and from the resources of its non-profit partners. Programs also incorporate the artistic, historical, and ecological resources of the Gowanus/Redhook neighborhoods from the site of the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn, to the Redhook Civil War Piers. Contact Proteus Gowanus at 718.243.1572 or at info@proteusgowanus.com to make reservations for any of our programs or for further information.

A presentation by Rick and Megan Prelinger of the Prelinger Library
Upcoming events for the 2007/8 "Play" theme

Unless otherwise noted, all events will take place at Proteus Gowanus
Seating is limited for all events.
Please email your reservations to info@proteusgowanus.com
or call 718-243-1572.

Ongoing at Proteus Gowanus:

The “PLAY” Video Loop Series programmed by filmmaker Jeanne Liotta.
The series features one artist’s video loop per month throughout the yearlong exhibition. Videos play on our new monitor installation – one in the alleyway and one in the PG gallery space.

VIDEO LOOP ARTISTS
April/May Michelle Handelman, Folly & Error, 2007

Also featured in the gallery:
An Animation video loop programmed by artist/animator Pahl Hluchan.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sunday, May 4th, 3:00 p.m.
A Dance Around the Maypole: proto-speed-dating and the ancient rite of spring.
A sculptural performance /performative sculpture, conceived and coordinated by artists Janice Everett & Karolyn Hatton (Rain date: Sunday, May 11, 3:00 p.m.)

It is spring, and summer is fast approaching. The blossoms burst their winter bodices; green shoots erupt. A heady fragrance fills the air. Please join us to celebrate this moment of renewal. A maypole has been erected on the village green at Proteus Gowanus. Music begins. The men and women assemble. Each begins to dress for the occasion, putting on a T-shirt, a waistcoat, or maybe a dress, which extends to the pole at the center, physically and materially connecting him or her to the pole like an elongated umbilical cord. These extensions, rising from the belly or sleeve, will determine how the dancers move round each other, negotiating each encounter to weave their cords together into a central whole. With each revolution they are drawn closer to the center - and to each other. At some point they may stop, turn back, retreat, then re-weave in a new sequence of turns. The resulting sculpture will be placed in the gallery, a trace of these encounters, a totem of their moments together.

OuLiPo, “the workshop of potential literature,” applies mathematical and other forms of patterning to verbal composition.  Its members (Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Italo Calvino, Harry Mathews) chose to write within constraints because these allow you to say things you hadn’t expected to say in ways you would never have chosen. For example, the lipogram limits the set of letters you can write with. N+7 requires you to replace every noun in a text with the noun seven places after it in some dictionary.  In composing perverbs, you attach the first half of a common proverb to the second half of another and then write a story to illustrate the result. WENDY WALKER and TOM LA FARGE are writers who use and teach these and other practices, and they invite you to come explore them.

Sunday, May 18th, 3 p.m. $5 per person.
An afternoon of magic lantern slides and arcane media coordinated by various “Lanternists,” including:

Zoe Beloff is a media artist who works with film, stereoscopic projection performance, interactive media and installation. She will introduce and demonstrate her "Nic Projector."

James Walsh lives in Brooklyn, works mainly in video and artist's books, and has a keen interest in natural history. He will present a video of lantern slides images from the archives of the American Museum of Natural History. The lantern slides document the later years of the American naturalist and nature essayist John Burroughs (1837-1921), who was influential in the beginnings of the conservation movement and was friends with Walt Whitman, Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other leading writers and industrialists of his day. Through the medium of video these images are brought to life and set to a soundtrack inspired by his writings, creating an intimate portrait of this enigmatic, contradictory, and once-popular figure.

R. Munn and Sara Cook A PRESENTATION OF STEREOSCOPIC IMAGES OF WORLD WAR 1
A selection of rare glass plate three dimensional slides will be presented utilizing polarized projection. Over 90 years old, these stereo photographs display an uncompromising view of WW1. With electronic Theremin accompaniment and 3D glasses provided for the audience.

Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn based graphic artist and photographer. Much of her work is about fascination with antique forms. She organized this night so that she could finally see magic lantern slides projected; it took on a life of its own.
She is the curator of the event, and will give a brief introduction.

A second magic lantern/arcane media event is being planned. Check this listing for details.

Saturday, June 7th, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
A contemporary printmaking event in conjunction with the Atlantic Avenue ArtWalk.

Please join us for a contemporary printmaking event at Proteus Gowanus in collaboration with our non-profit partner Kentler International Drawing Space. Contemporary printmakers will be on hand for an informal discussion of their work, and to describe various printmaking techniques that they use. The event will highlight contemporary prints in the Kentler Satellite Flatfile located at Proteus Gowanus. The event is sponsored in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

Past Proteus Events (PDF)

Proteus Gowanus
543 Union Street at Nevins
enter through large black gate on Nevins
718-243-1572
www.proteusgowanus.com

Contact us for more details.