The return of MoMA PS1 in New York
- By Hazel Sheffield -
- Jul 12, 2012
An old man stumbled upon the first MoMA PS1 Warm Up session of the summer this weekend. He must have been nearly 80, in greenish trousers belted high on the waist and an open-necked grey shirt. He walked into to the concrete yard that is usually just the walkway up to the hipper branch of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, in Queens. But this time the yard was a destination in itself: a great reverberating stone box filled to the brim with people drenched in sweat and dancing to the most obnoxious 4 to the floor house music this side of the nineties.
We covered the MoMA PS1 Warm Up sessions last year on Virgin Red Room, but they deserve another mention – not least because Saturday’s event was the first session of their 15th season, which runs through to September 8. If you are anywhere near New York on a Saturday between now and then, this is a righteous way to spend an afternoon (and an equally worthy reason for resident New Yorkers to venture out of the comfort of their air-conditioned apartments).
Each year the museum invites young architects to design a sculptural structure to fill part of the yard. This year the winner presents Wendy, an enormous, multi-spoked blue star made of scaffolding and fabric that dusts those under its belly in mist and squirts fresh cool air out of the ends.
The afternoon runs from 2-9pm, just as it starts to get dark. Admission (free to MoMA members) is a measly $15 dollars, which includes access to the museum. Last year, in need of a break from the gravely dancefloor, I stumbled in with a friend to find mind-stretching work by Francis Alys, an iguana, a burrito on a windowsill and a ball-pool filled with unraveling balls of wool. What other rave gets you that for the price?
Beer is available via a ticketing system, and there is usually a BBQ too, but the evening comes to an end at the perfect time to head into Manhattan for dinner and cocktails (if you can cope without going home to shower first). On Saturday, at kick-out, we slipped into a booth in a chrome diner next door for burgers, and saw the headliner Todd Terry tucking into a family-size bowl of chicken salad. That’s indicative of the kind of spirit at PS1 – thoroughly unpretentious (but still slightly highbrow) mid-afternoon raving.
And the old gent? He stood there for a bit, watching the mayhem. Then he scratched his chin, and smiled.
Here is the MoMA PS1 schedule:
July 14th
Terrence Parker / Parker Music Works / Detroit, MI
D3 (Mark Flash, Jon Dixon, DeSean Jones) / Underground Resistance /
Detroit, MI
Ron Morelli / L.I.E.S. / New York, NY
Jeremie Delon / A1 / L.I.E.S. / New York, NY
Steve Summers / L.I.E.S. / New York, NY
Professor Genius / L.I.E.S. / New York, NY
July 21st
Matthew Dear (DJ Set) / Ghostly International / Spectral Sound / New York, NY
Sepalcure / Hotflush Recordings / Berlin / New York, NY
Le1f / Camp & Street / Greedhead / New York, NY
MikeQ / Fade To Mind / Qween Beat / Mad Decent / New York / New Jersey
JDH and Dave P / FIXED / New York, NY
July 28th
MJ Cole / Prolific Recordings / London
Sinkane (Live) / DFA / Brooklyn, Sudan
DJ Spoko / True Panther / Atteridgeville, South Africa
Slava / Software / Brooklyn, NY
Van Rivers
August 4th
Jamie xx / Young Turks / London
Pearson Sound / Hessle Audio / United Kingdom
Lemonade / True Panther / Brooklyn, NY
Sinjin Hawke / Pelican Fly / Barcelona
Zora Jones / Pelican Fly / Barcelona
Featuring a performance by Miguel / Bystorm / RCA Records Artist / Los Angeles, CA
August 11th
Photek / Photek Productions / United Kingdom
Evian Christ / Tri Angle / Ellesmere Port, UK
Shlohmo / Friends of Friends / Los Angeles / New York
Autre Ne Veut / Software / Brooklyn, NY
Howse / Tri Angle / Providence
August 18th
Floating Points / Eglo / London
Jacques Greene / Vase / Montreal
Secret Circuit / Beats in Space / Los Angeles, CA
Hieroglyphic Being / Mathematics Recordings / Chicago, IL
August 25th
Just Blaze
Nick Catchdubs / Fool's Gold / Brooklyn, NY
Danny Brown / Fool's Gold / Detroit, MI
The Stallions (Lovefingers & Lee Douglas) / ESP Institute / New York, NY
BAIO / Greco-Roman / Brooklyn, NY
September 1st
James Holden / Border Community / London
Kassem Mosse / Workshop Records / Leipzig
Om Unit / Civil Music / London
Silent Diane / Austin, TX
September 8th
Atoms For Peace (DJ set) / XL Recordings / London
Rustie / Warp / Glasgow
Holy Other / Tri Angle / Manchester
Maria Minerva / Not Not Fun / London
Justin Strauss / WhateverWhatever / New York, NY
Photos by Anna Codrea-Rado
By Hazel Sheffield. Blogs at HazelSheffield and tweets at @hazelsheffield
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