“On March 25, when Lawrence English brought Cruel Optimism to New York venue The Knockdown Center, located on the blurred edge where Brooklyn and Queens meet, for its American debut, he opened the concert with an instruction. He asked everyone to lie flat. ‘Don’t just sit down — lie down. It may be a little cold, but you need to feel it all.'”
–Sasha Frere-Jones, WUXM
“BARDO POND at Knockdown Center (April 1, 10 p.m.). Noise rock has an inherently limited audience — few music fans find pleasure in the sonic assault of guitar feedback — but the Philadelphia-based quintet Bardo Pond has remained steadfast in its pursuit of sprawling, guitar-powered psychedelia for nearly three decades. That creative mission has earned the group fans including luminaries like Lou Reed, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Bardo Pond is performing to promote its new album, “Under the Pines,” a 41-minute opus of loping, distorted guitars; clattering drums; and the singer and flutist Isobel Sollenberger’s ghostly, reverb-soaked vocal melodies (and, yes, they are quite melodic). With M Ax Noi Mach and Eric Arn.”
–Giovanni Russonello, New York Times
“Works by fifteen artists in this sprawling, entertaining group show, curated by Nikita Vishnevskiy, suggest the bait-and-switch disappointments of our consumerist techno-utopia. The standout is Tom Butter’s sculpture, “Rope Trick,” a nine-foot length of paint-stained rope, attached to rotating motors by two steel poles. Press a foot pedal, and the horizon line shimmies—the effect is absurdly pathetic. Providing a warmly nostalgic counterpoint is William McMillin’s series of photographs “Migration Found Nesting in Nikon,” which he discovered undeveloped in his late father’s camera. The pictures themselves are humdrum, but their eerily beautiful violet discoloration suggests the mystery lurking in the mundane.”
–New Yorker
“Parquet Courts‘ threw quite a holiday party, complete with a crowdsurfing Douglas Fir. Bassist Sean Yeatons wanted the crowd at the Knockdown Center to keep it afloat the show, but it only lasted a few songs, at which point actual people took to surfing. Saturday’s event (12/10), called ‘Knock! Knock! Down! Down!‘, was at massive Queens space Knockdown Center and the band brought together art — including singer and Grammy nominee Andrew Savage‘s paintings — and a mix of performers they dug, including DC’s Flasher (which features Taylor Mulitz of Priests), first-gen Cleveland punks X___x, glammy punk-n-roll act Vanity, Lee Ranaldo (who played a lot from his new album due in 2017), party-starters Guerilla Toss, and the awesomely awkward comedy stylings of host Joe Pera. (It was he who brought the pine tree.)
With people all over Knockdown Center’s sprawling space, it didn’t seem all that packed…until Parquet Courts went on, filling the main performance space as they played a favorites-filled set. Pictures from the whole night are in the gallery above.”
–Bill Pearis, Brooklyn Vegan
“The Monday after the election, artist Roxanne Jackson posted her first Facebook message to ever go viral: ““Hello female artists/curators! Let’s organize a NASTY WOMEN group show!!! Who’s interested???”
Unlike most communications of this sort, which quickly fade from public consciousness, the post has only gained momentum. A massive exhibition looms—on January 12, NASTY WOMEN will open at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth, Queens, with around 1,000 works by nearly 700 female-identifying artists from around the globe. Accompanying musical programming includes a DJ set by English artist Genesis P-Orridge on the 14th and shows presented by publications FADER and AdHoc, the details of which are pending.”
–Alina Cohen, Observer
“Yesterday, while the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was sipping coffee at Trump Tower, volunteers gathered at a converted factory building in Queens to put the finishing touches on the Nasty Womeninstallation, an art exhibit staged as a visual protest. More than 700 female-identifying artists contributed works to the show, which was named after the slur that Trump called Clinton in the third presidential debate. It’s a powerful callback to the misogynistic messaging of Trump’s campaign, and a demonstration of solidarity among artists worldwide.
The project came into being several days after the presidential election, when the Brooklyn-based sculptor Roxanne Jackson posted a Facebook status that went viral. It read: “Hello female artists/curators! lets organize a NASTY WOMEN group show!!! Who’s interested??? We need a venue!!!!!” Jessamyn Fiore, a curator on the advisory board at the Knockdown Center, eagerly joined in to plan the ambitious, cross-country recruitment effort and, finally, on-site installation.
“This exhibition has been put together in a kind of egalitarian spirit,” Fiore explained. It was an open submission process, and 100% of the money raised is going to Planned Parenthood. The organizers are proud to feature artists’ works from 40 different countries and over 42 states.”
–Anna Furman, The Guardian
“On Friday, Jan. 13, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, along with Councilwomen Elizabeth Crowley and Margaret Chin, came together at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth to explain the “21 in 21” initiative.
The New York City Council is the largest municipal legislative body in the United States, representing 8.2 million New Yorkers, and more than half of those represented are women. Yet, there are currently only 13 women serving in the City Council, which is down from 18 in 2009.
However, because four of the seven current members who will be term-limited out of office this year — including Mark-Viverito — are women, that number is in danger of decreasing.”
–Anthony Giudice, QNS
“As you approached the entrance to the massive reclaimed warehouse that is Brooklyn’s Knockdown Center, you couldn’t miss them: Ten wood-framed letters, each about ten feet high, spelling out the phrase “Nasty Women.” Each letter was crisscrossed with mesh, and on the mesh hung paintings and sculptures and collages and embroidery and ceramics made by women and female-identifying artists from as close as Manhattan and as far away as Hong Kong. Six hundred and twenty-two works in all, and on Thursday night they were snapped up one by one by buyers eager to support their cause — every dollar of every work sold was donated to Planned Parenthood.
Like many forms of political expression these days, the exhibition was born in a Facebook post. The day after the presidential election, Roxanne Jackson — a New York–based ceramicist and sculptor — posted a status that read, in part, “Hello female artists/curators! Let’s organize a NASTY WOMEN group show!!! Who’s interested???” She received dozens of responses, and she quickly teamed up with curator Jessamyn Fiore and studio manager Carolina Wheat. Just a few days later they’d finalized a logo and a website, secured a venue, and posted a call for submissions. And the work came flooding in.”
–Claire Landsbaum, NYMAG
“Seeing that racism and sexism are apparently permissible for a presidential platform, nearly 700 artists and activists banded together in opposition for “Nasty Women,” a group exhibition at Knockdown Center that showcased work by females and gender-non-conformists in a hub of action, education, and solidarity. The sprawling event—housed beneath the high ceilings and wooden beams of what was previously a door factory in far out Maspeth, Queens—started with an online post in which Roxanne Jackson and Jessamyn Fiore asked if anyone might be interested in a “Nasty Women” group show. The post went viral, and the premise took on a model that could be easily replicated in other locations. (For related shows in the weeks and months to come, a running list of confirmed venues, nearly 30 so far, can be found here). Participating artists submit work to be sold for $100 or less, and all proceeds go to organizations that protect women’s rights. At the Knockdown Center between January 12 and 15, more than $42,000 was raised for Planned Parenthood.”
–Angela Brown, ARTNEWS
“Inauguration season has surely seen a rise in group art exhibitions addressing Trump’s controversial history of degrading and objectifying women. Last week, the “Nasty Women” show in New York City featured the work of 700 women artists responding to Trump’s infamous debate insult. (Organizers donated $42,500 in proceeds from art sales to Planned Parenthood.) Another ongoing show, “Uprise aka Angry Women,” features “the work of female contemporary artists responding to the current social and political climate in America in light of the recent presidential election.” (It will channel a percentage of proceeds to Era Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality.)”
–Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post
