This Weekend: Conflux Festival at NYU
The Conflux Festival is here again..in fact, it's this weekend, October 20-21. Right off the bat we'll say that we haven't been to any of the previous nine Conflux Festivals, so we don't know what to expect. But it SOUNDS like something we'll enjoy. The festival is an annual gathering of urban adventurers, artists, musicians, writers, planners, pranksters, philosophers, photographers and anyone and everyone interested in "psychogeograophy," which artist Joseph Hart once described as being "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities…just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape." And that certainly is us.
Conflux Festival 2012 Focus: How We Move in NYC
With a full slate of free events, The Conflux Festival 2012 features talks, panels, movies, and interactive exhibitions at NYU's Barney Building Gallery and off-site in various locations all over town. Because we're always looking for something new to do and see and think about, we definitely plan on checking it out. The focus of Conflux Festival 2012 is "the astounding plethora of ways we move in NYC, taking subways, buses, trains, bikes, taxicabs, cars, boats, ferries, planes, by running, by dancing, by swimming and more"–and how we, and "the city" itself, can employ these options to push and redefine the boundaries of public urban space.
Jason Eppink, Matt Green and Marie Lorenz Among Festival Highlights
The Conflux Festival 2012 website does a good job of detailing all of the events and offering of all the participants. It seems like the sort of thing where we'll just pop in when we have a chance and see what's going on. We will make a point of getting there for anything involving Jason Eppink (above), who is funny, smart and always does interesting street-theater/art. Wealso want to hear what Matt Green has to say because he's in the midst of an 8,000-mile journey, walking down every block in New York City. Another person we'll seek out is Marie Lorenz (below), who has incredible handmade boats. Amdist individual talks and panels, Conflux Festival 2012 also promises a "massive exhibition showing documentation of transit-oriented works that range in temperament and intention – from practical and functional to poetic and absurd." Again, who knows how well they pull all of this off, but we're game to give it a try.
Conflux Festival 2012 details
The Conflux Festival 2012 is being held at NYU's Barney Building Gallery, at 34 Stuyvesant Street in the East Village, between Third and Second Avenues, as well as in off-site locations throughout the city. The Festival will going on from 12:00 noon until 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, and from noon until 5:00 on Sunday. Admission is free. You can find out lots more about everything at the nicely-done Conflux Festival 2012 website, here.
Posted in NYC Events | Tagged Art in New York • Conflux Festival 2012 • Jason Eppink • Marie Lorenz • Matt Green • NYU events • Performance art festival • Things to Do in NYC
