Category Archives: News

New York City’s public pools open June 27, 2015

,
Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Works, Inc.
Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Works, Inc.

In the summer of 1987 Keith created a mural on one of the walls surrounding what was then known as the Carmine Street pool. Completed in one day, the mural was done while the pool was open to the public, with Junior Vasquez bringing speakers and equipment to deejay, creating an event Keith described as a “dance party at the pool.” He continued,

“it was one of the hottest days in the summer and it was full of people, and it was one of the most incredible situations I have ever been in.”

The Carmine Street pool is now the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, and is located at 1 Clarkson St at Seventh Ave South in Greenwich Village. New York City’s public pools are free to all.  Visit nycgovparks.org for information regarding hours and access.

And read a review in Gothamist which names the pool at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center one of the top 9 swimming pools in the city.

Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Works, Inc.
Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Works, Inc.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta Named Recipient of the 2015 – 2016 Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism at Bard College

,
Shuddhabrata Sengupta
Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Courtesy Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.

Congratulations to Shuddhabrata Sengupta, recipient of the 2015 – 2016 Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism at Bard College.

Sengupta, an artist, curator, and writer based in Delhi, has been selected as the second winner of the Keith Haring Fellowship in Art and Activism. Made possible through a five year-grant from the Keith Haring Foundation, the Haring Fellowship is an annual award for a scholar, activist, or artist to teach and conduct research at CCS Bard and the Human Rights Project. Sengupta’s one-year appointment will begin in September 2015. He succeeds the Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, who has held the Fellowship during its inaugural year.

For more information about Shuddhabrata Sengupta and the Center for Curatorial Studies and the Human Rights Project at Bard College, please see the full CCS Bard announcement here.

 

Sing for Hope Pianos

,

Sing for Hope pianoBe sure to visit (and play!) the Keith Haring piano located at 62nd St and Columbus Ave, part of the Sing for Hope Pianos project.

From June 5 – June 21, Sing for Hope places pianos throughout NYC’s parks and public spaces for anyone and everyone to play. Each piano is a unique art piece created by a different artist or designer and becomes host to impromptu concerts by professionals and amateurs alike in an open festival of music for all of New York City.  At the close of the two week event Sing for Hope donates the instruments to NYC schools, healthcare facilities, and community organizations in need, allowing the pianos to enrich lives for years to come.

To learn more about the project and find locations for all 50 pianos visit the Sing for Hope website here.

 

 

Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera

,
Tseng Kwong Chi
Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc.

We are so excited for the opening of Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera at NYU’s Grey Art Gallery. Tseng Kwong Chi was an amazing photographer and great friend of Keith Haring.  Tseng extensively documented the vibrant downtown art scene of 1980’s New York City, and also created a fascinating and complex body of performative self-portraits addressing themes of social and political identity.  Visit the exhibition website for more information, and be sure to see the show!

If you can’t see the show in New York, the exhibition is traveling to additional venues, see the list here.

Tseng Kwong Chi and Keith Haring
Keith Haring and Tseng Kwong Chi

 

 

May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990

youngkeith

Image Courtesy of Mr & Mrs Allen Haring

“Now with AIDS I don’t really have any dreams any more. Whatever dreams I did have, because of having a completely different view of the future because of being sick, there’s nothing I want to do that I haven’t done. I won’t be disappointed if there’s some things that don’t get done. Inevitably, no matter how long you work, it’s always going to end some time. And there’s always going to be things left undone. And it wouldn’t matter if you lived until you were seventy-five, there would still be new ideas. There would still be things that you wished you would have accomplished. You could work for several lifetimes. If I could clone myself there would still be too much work to do, even if there were five of me. And there are no regrets, really. Part of the reason that I’m not having trouble facing the reality of death is that it’s not a limitation, in a way. It could have happened any time and it is going to happen to someone any time. If you live your life according to that, death is irrelevant. Everything I’m doing right now is exactly what I want to do.” – Keith Haring. May 3, 1989