Event | The Knockdown Center

Apr 19

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By Tyler Myers

Assemblymember Brian Barnwell, in collaboration with Titan Theatre Company, proudly presents, “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”. Brian Barnwell is the Assemblymember of Assembly District 30, which includes Maspeth, Middle Village, Woodside, Sunnyside, Astoria, Long Island City, Rego Park, and Glendale.

It has been Assemblymember Barnwell’s goal to promote the performing arts in our community and recognize local talent. We are pleased to announce that Titan Theatre Company, based in Woodside, will be putting on the production for our community.

Titan Theatre Company is also committed to breathing new life and clarity into classical works of theatre, exploring new and contemporary language plays, and delivering adventurous and visceral theatrical experiences for our audiences and community.

“A Midsummer’s Night Dream”, a comedy written by William Shakespeare, is an infectious comedy of sly sprites, rude mechanicals and confused lovers.

Apr 11

SummerZfest ’18

By Tyler Myers

Mar 30

Treatment: Panel Discussion

By wpengine

Join us for a conversation about the issues surrounding the exhibition Treatment: A Plan for Rain, a project by net-based artist Nicholas O’Brien. The artist will moderate a discussion with architect and urbanist Jillian Crandall, artist Ellie Irons, and engineer Paul Grogan. Topics to be discussed include biodiversity, urban planning, and maintenance, and participants will aim to unpack and sort through the interweaving disciplines that influence and affect the strategies and implementation of green infrastructure in the city and beyond.

Treatment: The Plan for Rain rethinks the NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) stormwater collection program by focusing on soil biodiversity, transparency, maintenance, and its impact on citizens.

Jillian Crandall
Jillian Crandall is a Registered Architect, urbanist, and researcher focused on local and global networks in infrastructure, mediated urban ecologies, and spaces of cultural and social production across time. She has worked on the design and construction of several civic projects in the New York City metropolitan region. As a writer she is focused on theory and analysis, as well as speculative and experimental fiction.

Paul Grogan
Paul Grogan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology. He leads the Collective Design Lab which develops and studies the use of information-based methods and tools for engineering design in systems with distributed architectures.

Ellie Irons
An artist and educator based in Brooklyn and Troy, New York, Ellie Irons works in a variety of media, from drawing to gardening, to reveal how human and nonhuman lives intertwine with other earth systems. She is currently researching the intersection of socially engaged art and urban ecology as an Arts PhD student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Mar 30

Treatment: A Conversation

By wpengine

Artist Nicholas O’Brien will guide a conversation with Margot Walker, the Managing Director of Green Infrastructure Planning & Partnerships for NYC’s Department of Environmental Protection. The conversation will walk through some of the policy decisions the city has put in place to help water treatment via green infrastructure projects in the city.

About Margo Walker
Margot Walker has worked in environmental and stormwater management planning at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection since 2008 and with DEP’s Green Infrastructure Program since its inception in January 2011. Previously, she worked on stormwater related projects at the Pratt Center for Community Development while attending graduate school at Pratt Institute. She is currently the Managing Director of Planning and Partnerships in the Bureau of Sustainability, which is responsible for implementing the NYC Green Infrastructure Program.

This event is a part of the exhibition Treatment: The Plan for Rain, a project by Nicholas O’Brien that rethinks the NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) stormwater collection program by focusing on soil biodiversity, transparency, maintenance, and its impact on citizens.

Mar 30

Treatment: Water Toxicity Workshop

By wpengine

Environmental advocate and educator Willis Elkins leads a workshop about water toxicity levels in Newtown Creek and his research as a founding member of the North Brooklyn Boat Club. Participants will meet at the Knockdown Center to talk about Elkins’ current research and then venture over to Newtown Creek and the English Kills (10min walk) to inspect some of the current sites affected by the current water treatment plans in the city.

Willis Elkins is the program manager of the Newtown Creek Alliance where he oversees a number of projects ranging from water quality testing to habitat restoration, advocacy and environmental education. Willis is co-chair of the Newtown Creek Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG), member of Brooklyn Community Board 1 and a founding member of the North Brooklyn Boat Club.

Mar 29

Couples Counseling for Artists and Institutions Workshop

By wpengine

This workshop is a part of Chapter Six of The Book of Everyday Instruction, What is shared, what is offered. This chapter explores the relationships of love between individuals and institutions. For the workshop, Chloë Bass leads a one-hour session engaging in couples therapy techniques to mediate relationships between artists and the institutions they work with and/or manage.

Artists and institutional partners are encouraged to attend together, however you may also attend as an individual. Please send your RSVP to alexis@knockdowncenter.com.

This workshop is a part of the exhibition Chloë Bass: The Book of Everyday Instruction, an eight-chapter investigation of one-on-one social interaction, exploring an expanded understanding of pairing on view through June 17, 2018.

Mar 29

A Field Guide to Spatial Intimacy Workshop

By wpengine

Join us for a participatory event hosted by artist Chloë Bass in conjunction with her exhibition The Book of Everyday Instruction! This workshop investigates how varying social distances can shape the ways in which we relate to one another. Approaching Knockdown Center as a site of intimacy, Bass will lead participants through an interactive process to consider how measuring and understanding distance can allow us to read the environment in new ways and shape creative narratives about our own relationships in space. Participants should expect some instances of performance and participatory writing.

Measuring devices and other materials will be provided; the systems we design to use them will be all yours. The workshop is part of the fourth chapter of Bass’s ongoing project The Book of Everyday Instruction, which focuses on the accidental and incidental choreographies created by engaging with other bodies in space. The chapter’s title, “It’s amazing we don’t have more fights,” is a paraphrase from the artist’s mother about successful social behavior on New York’s subways and buses.

Mar 29

Protect & Preserve Lecture Performance and Closing Party

By wpengine

Join us for the closing event of artist Chloë Bass’ exhibition The Book of Everyday Instruction.

7:00pm: Protect & Preserve Lecture Performance
This lecture-performance is a part of The Book of Everyday Instruction’s fifth chapter: Protect & Preserve, which considers the idea of safety as the relationship between a person and their city. In the lecture-performance, Chloë Bass describes experiences of safety in St. Louis during the summer of 2016, compiled from interviews with approximately 20 diverse St. Louis residents, and material from the artist’s personal life. The lecture includes a visual presentation of images of people in safe spaces in St. Louis, shot by the artist, in contrast with iconic images from the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter movements.

8:00pm: The Book of Everyday Instruction Closing Party
Join us for a last, celebratory opportunity to see the exhibition!

This event is a part of the exhibition Chloë Bass: The Book of Everyday Instruction, an eight-chapter investigation of one-on-one social interaction, exploring an expanded understanding of pairing on view through June 17, 2018.

Mar 25

Jerry Drake and The Front Page Big Band

By Tyler Myers

At the Knockdown Center the first Friday of every month, starting April 6th through August 3rd:

Jerry Drake’s interest in music began in early childhood. Both of his parents played the piano. His dad played by ear, and his mother only played if the music was in front of her. When his parents realized that their son had an ear for music, they hired a piano teacher for 11-year old Jerry. Prior to that, as a young child, Jerry played in a park across the street from a trumpet studio. His love for the sound of a trumpet eventually influenced him to switch from piano lessons to trumpet instruction. During that time, he also sang in the chorus in school. According to Drake, “In my late teens, I began playing in local bands in New York City and Long Island. Most of the musicians in these bands were much older than I was, which gave me the opportunity to learn the tunes in the 30’s and 40’s. At 19, I added valve trombone to my performance. In 1961, the draft board caught up with me and I was drafted into the Army. I spent the next two years playing tuba and trumpet in the Army band.”

In 1998, Jerry kicked off “The Front Page Big Band”–a highly successful band playing mostly in the Manhattan area. The group has recorded 3 CD’s so far. “It is my intention is to present original material using the traditional big band setting (3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 5 saxes & rhythm). The lyrics must be understandable. The music and arrangements must be listenable and danceable. Most importantly, the music must contain all these elements while working to communicate ideas and emotional power to the listener.”

Mar 23

3rd Annual Maspeth Craft Beer Festival

By Tyler Myers

Kiwanis Club of Maspeth Presents: The 3rd Annual Maspeth Craft Beer Festival

Join us for the 3rd Annual Maspeth Craft Beer Festival presented by The Kiwanis Club of Maspeth. This festival will feature some of the finest beers from some of the best breweries from NYC as well as several from across the US and abroad. In addition to the great beers available, we will be featuring cider, wine tasting and live music. Several food vendors will be available offering tasty choices for an additional cost. All of the proceeds will go to charities supported by the Kiwanis Club of Maspeth.

Tickets:
$50.00 in advance will receive a tasting glass
$60.00 at the door will receive a tasting glass
$10.00 Designated Driver Ticket – A DD ticket holder will receive free water and soda. Designated drivers do NOT receive a tasting glass and are NOT permitted to sample any beer. Any designated driver seen drinking will be removed from the festival immediately. Designated drivers must be 21+ and present valid photo ID for entry.

21+ ONLY with valid, government issued photo ID
NO ID = NO ENTRY

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