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Dec 11

Time + Space New Years Eve

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Let 2019 collapse and shimmer into stardust as you begin anew. Over the span of one transcendent evening, hypnotic performances will warp and bend around a century-old warehouse while celestial aerialists and installations ripple across time and space itself. This is a cosmic call to glimmer, gravitate, and emerge reborn.

FEATURES //

– A trio of stages

– Orbiting planetarium

– Room of infinite mirrors

– Psychedelic installations

– Pirate ship and art cars

– Transcendent aerialists & performers

– Festival vendors

Dec 02

The Story Collider Presents The Ocean Around Us

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This December, Story Collider presents a very special immersive storytelling experience. Using 360-degree video footage and soundscapes, we will transport you to the high seas as four storytellers share powerful stories from their lives and work. We invite you to join us on this thrilling journey from the shoreline to the depths of the ocean floor!

Doors will open at 7:00 pm for a reception with beer, wine, and light snacks, as well as a gallery featuring artist James Allister’s work and secret ocean installations.

The show will take place from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm and will be hosted by Story Collider’s artistic director, Erin Barker. Afterwards, join us for a post-show reception featuring a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the technical aspects of how we transported an entire audience under the sea.

Stories by:
Keith Ellenbogen, underwater photographer
Latasha Wright, BioBus chief scientist
Prof.Ound, spoken-word artist and environmentalist
Skylar Bayer, marine biologist

For more information, see our web page: https://www.storycollider.org/shows/2019/11/17/new-york-ny-the-ocean-around-us

This show is made possible with the support of the Tiffany & Co. Foundation, which seeks to preserve the world’s most treasured landscapes and seascapes.

Nov 26

ZERO Presents: Winter Wonderland

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7th annual Winter Wonderland celebration returns to the Knockdown Center on Saturday, December 14th.

ARMEN MIRAN

BRYANT JENSEN B2B SAQIB

DANIEL COWEL

JACOB GROENING

KORA

LOVECRAFT

MADOTA

ROBIN DEY

Nov 25

Unsound New York presents Soft Power and Speaker Music

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Soft Power is a performance that combines traditional Polish dance and experimental music by Felicita. The evening will begin with a performance by Speaker Music (DeForrest Brown, Jr.), titled a Black rhythm happening to fill a crease.

Originally from London, Shanghai-based Felicita works with fractured sounds. Soft Power was originally commissioned by Unsound, in collaboration with traditional dancers from Śląsk Song and Dance Ensemble, the oldest and most renowned company of its kind in Poland. This unique work synthesizes traditional choreography and costume with new music to create a hypnotic multimedia experience. The concept stems from Felicita’s childhood education in traditional dance, and explores folk culture, national identity, tourism, branding, illusion, and farce. The music itself is a fusion of Polish folk, noise, trap and chamber music, and was released last year by PC Music, fitting beside releases by the likes of SOPHIE and Danny L Harle.

As Ben Ben-Beaumont Thomas wrote in The Guardian: “Folk dances, involving lots of twirling around and dramatised romance, are paired with plangent piano melodies, scorched ambient noise and, most incongruously, wild synthetic pop. Despite (or rather because of) the aesthetic clashes, it hangs together in a supremely atmospheric whole. Devised in the wake of Brexit, it’s a stirring affirmation of how cultures can coexist while retaining their own voices.”

The evening will begin with a set by Speaker Music (DeForrest Brown, Jr.) titled “a Black rhythm happening to fill a crease,” a new improvised composition expanding on the lush ensemble energy music found in his debut album of desire, longing (Planet Mu, 2019). Referencing free jazz trumpeter Eddie Gales’ culturally noteworthy 1969 album Black Rhythm Happening, Speaker Music probes further into the sonic narratives of African American expression towards a novel rhythmic and romantic abstraction of vibration and frequency.

Speaker Music is a digital audio and extended media praxis by New York-based rhythmanalyst DeForrest Brown, Jr. His work is concerned with speculative futures in performative contexts and programmatic intersections of technology and thought. He is a representative of the Make Techno Black Again campaign, and his most recent writing can be found in Artforum, Hyperallergic and Afropunk. In 2020, Brown, Jr. will publish a book related to a talk given at Unsound Kraków, entitled “Assembling a Black Counter-Culture” with Primary Information.

Note: this show was originally part of the Unsound New York 2019 lineup, and had to be moved to this date due to unforeseen reasons.

Organized in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music program and POLSKA 100, the international cultural program celebrating the centenary of Poland regaining independence.
Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual programme NIEPODLEGŁA 2017–2022

Nov 22

Chus & Ceballos, Boris, Oscar G – LGNDS

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They have been a driving force of nightlife for decades, but have never played together. Friday Dec 20, 2019 – an event that has been discussed, dreamed of and hoped for…is finally happening! CHUS & CEBALLOS, BORIS & OSCAR G together for one night only at Knockdown Center.

Tables service contact – Jonpaulpezzo@icloud.com

CHUS + CEBALLOS
As pioneers and creators of the underground movement known as the “Iberican sound,” Chus & Ceballos have established themselves as one of the world’s elite DJ Duos, and never fail to bring “la fiesta” in each and every performance. Touring consistently since 2000, the pair have appeared at most of the world’s elite clubs, including residencies at Space Miami, Stereo Montreal, Ageha Tokyo and Pacha NYC. Chus’ record label Stereo Productions is highly respected by DJ’s as one of the industry most reliable sources of top quality, peak hour House Music.

BORIS
Boris is amongst a select few born and bred New Yorker DJ’s who have managed to remain A List headliners through multiple generations of nightlife. From the infamous Roxy to Crobar to Pacha NYC, Boris has maintained a loyal following that has followed him during his journey thorugh all of New York’s premier venues, and have shown such devotion that they even coined the term “Believers.” Ultimately Boris released a series of high successful Believe In Boris CD’s, and his “Believe” parties even to this day are guaranteed sell-outs. Currently his Transmit record label imprint is a go-to source for DJ’s from Carl Cox to Dubfire to Paco Osuna, all of whom support his music and also frequently reach out to him for tracks for theie own labels.

OSCAR G
With over 25 years as one of the world’s premier DJ / Artists, Oscar G has made his impact both through his productions and his deejaying. As one half of the Murk production team, he has been a force along with Ralph Falcon behind worldwide chart-topping dance hits including Fired Up, Dark Beat and Some Lovin’ along with many more. As a solo artist his album releases are essential additions to music collections of house music fans worldwide, as are his two DVD’s recorded live from the Club Space Terrace. As a DJ he has had residencies at Liquid, Club Space and Heart in Miami, and Pacha, Space Ibiza New York and Output in New York, all of which were defining moments in the history of those two mecca’s of American nightclub culture.

Nov 22

The Smoker’s Club w/ Benny the Butcher, A$AP Twelvy, Smoke DZA & Friends

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Move Forward Music presents an epic holiday show with a smokin’ line-up and a really lit vibe. The Smokers Club will feature full live performances by Benny the Butcher, A$AP Twelvyy, Flipp Deniro, XanMan, Slayter Odalys, and LowFi. Be part of the cipher, and don’t miss your spot in the rotation! Get Your Tickets Now.

Nov 06

Christina Ko, Catalina Ouyang, and Larissa Pham in Conversation

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Join us Saturday November 16 for a program in conjunction with the exhibition Jia Sung: Chaos, Whims, Lust with Christina Ko, Catalina Ouyang, and Larissa Pham. Each artist will present a piece of writing or body of artwork that expands on themes within Chaos, Whims, Lust, followed by a conversation with Sung.

Catalina Ouyang will read a lyric essay that takes up Journey to the West as a framing conceit. Christina Ko will discuss her body of artworks as they relate to themes in the exhibition such as a hero’s journey and the role of the female figure, subversive space, and the title Chaos, Whims, Lust. Larissa Pham will read from Fantasian, her 2016 novella dealing with themes of identity formation, Asian-American womanhood, and duplicity.

About the Exhibition
Chaos, Whims, Lust is an exhibition by artist Jia Sung that examines the role of the female trickster figure, replacing canonized patriarchal motifs in folklore with narratives of sisterhood, matriarchy, and rebellion. Comprised of over fifty figurative ink and gouache drawings accompanied by handwritten verse and prose poetry, the exhibition takes the form of a spatialized book that reads from right to left around the gallery space.

About the Presenters
Christina Ko is a Korean American artist living and working in Queens, NY. She received her BFA from Cornell University in 2013 and has since then shown her work in Los Angeles, CA, Washington D.C., and in around NYC. Selected exhibitions include: “Downloading Place”, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY (2019); “Fever Lure”, Selenas Mountain Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2019); “Crossover: East and West”, Korean Cultural Center, Washington D.C. (2018), and “Nightcall”, Public Address Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2017). Her work has also been featured in Gallery Gurls, the Arcade Project Zine, Hiss Magazine, The Fader magazine, The Washington Post, and Ballpit Magazine.

Catalina Ouyang is a visual artist and child of the Chinese diaspora by way of St. Louis, New Jersey, and a cul-de-sac outside of Chicago. Her non-disciplinary practice spans sculpture, text, installation, performance, video, and participatory projects, among other modalities, exploring the interstices of myth, desire, subjugation, and monstrosity. Ouyang has had solo exhibitions at Rubber Factory (New York, NY), Selena Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Make Room (Los Angeles, CA), Trestle Projects (Brooklyn, NY), the Millitzer Gallery (St. Louis, MO), and fort gondo compound for the arts (St. Louis, MO). Her work has been included in group exhibitions internationally, including at Helena Anrather (New York, NY), fffriedrich (Frankfurt, Germany), like a little disaster (Polignano a Mare, Italy), Anonymous Gallery (Mexico City, Mexico), projects+gallery (St. Louis, Missouri), No Place (Columbus, Ohio), and Gallery 400 (Chicago, IL). She holds an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University.

Larissa Pham is an artist and writer based in Brooklyn. She is the author of Fantasian (Badlands Unlimited 2016). Pham is the “Devil in the Details” columnist at the Paris Review Daily, and has published essays and criticism in POETRY, The Nation, Art in America, Guernica, Bookforum, Village Voice, and elsewhere. In 2017, Pham was an inaugural Yi Dae Up fellowship recipient from the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat. She has taught with the Asian American Writers Workshop and Kundiman.

Nov 04

Unsound New York

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Without resting much after Unsound Krakow, Unsound is set to return to New York on November 22nd and 23rd. Unsound New York 2019 is the first step toward a new Unsound future in the city, with the two-day event culminating with Knockdown Center as the main presenter and venue. The focus of the 2019 program is entirely on live shows and performances.

22nd November, free opening concert at St. Peter’s Church, Chelsea
Księżyc

23rd November 8pm-2am, Knockdown Center
Abby Echiverri & Leisure Muffin
Amnesia Scanner
Caterina Barbieri
Further Reductions
January Hunt + Octonomy
Nivhek (aka Grouper)
Pedestrian Deposit
rrao + Clay Wilson
Shredded Nerve + Jackson Pratt
The Bug + MISS RED
Tim Hecker + Konoyo Ensemble
Via App + Bookworms present: Asthyna

Resident Advisor: https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1336293

Unsound New York 2019 is presented by Unsound and Knockdown Center in partnership with Blank Forms, The Bunker and Quo Vadis.
Soft Power is organised in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music programme and POLSKA 100, the international cultural programme celebrating the centenary of Poland regaining independence. Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual programme NIEPODLEGŁA 2017–2022.
Księżyc is presented by Blank Forms and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.
Caterina Barbieri and Miss Red are presented with We Are Europe.

Oct 14

Facility Magazine Launch

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Join Facility magazine in celebrating the release of their inaugural issue — in the bathroom. Facility, the magazine that views society through the lens of the bathroom, is taking over one of Knockdown Center’s all-gender, wheelchair-accessible restrooms for a night of readings, installations, a special Facility-themed cocktail, and more.

Readings by:
Chloë Bass
Elizabeth Gumport
A.S. Hamrah
Heather Johnson & Svetlana Kitto
René Kladzyk
Jane Marchant
Erin Sheehy

Installations by:
Keenan Bennett
Tiffany Jaeyeon Shin

Facility treats the bathroom as a small but interesting window through which to view the world. Issue 1 includes: an interview with plumbers, bath riots on the El Paso-Juárez border, the origins of sex-segregated bathrooms, urine drinking, a history of fluorescent lighting, plus reviews of pills, ductwork, glycerin, and mirrors — and much more.

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