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R VOLUME 15, ISSUE 12
NOVEMBER 14, 2013
People Get Ready Specific Ocean redefines boundaries, pg. 4
About Time Film review, pg. 6
Legendary Photos of house ballroom scene, pg. 8
EVGENIA ARBUGAEVA
ess recess editor’s recess note r ss recess
R recess editors Oh, the weather outside is...
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Just over a week ago, Entertainment Weekly posted NCAA bracket-style matchups of young adult fiction on their website for its readers to vote on. The pairings elicited from me an unexpected wave of emotion, stemming both from my anger at certain books being set up to fail (“Harry Potter” versus “Holes”—really?) and my embarrassment at the number of them that I hadn’t read. I was also surprised at the wide range of books labeled as “young adult.” From a sample stretching from “Twilight”— a book I’m proud to have kept a promise to my sixth grade self not to read—to “The Princess Bride,” I was curious about what really constituted the genre of YA fiction. After speculation and baseless conclusiondrawing, I have discerned four simple rules for young adult fiction. 1) Three is never enough. One sequel is lazy, and a trilogy is too conventional. Therefore, the young adult writer’s only choice is to push as many books as possible out to their voracious readers. Teens and tweens don’t give up nearly as quickly as adults do. They commit. There’s a reason I read the rest of Madeleine L’Engle’s littleknown Kairos series, and it’s not because I understood it. What I understood was that the books were meant to (kind of) logically follow “A Wrinkle in Time,” a novel with an opening paragraph that swept me up with its purple prose and the novelty of a character
Lauren Feilich.............................................................................................weather Jamie Kessler.....................................................................dennis quaid rescue me MC Bousquette...............................................................................................HAIM Megan Rise..................................................................................................spiteful Kathy Zhou...............................................................................................polar bear
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Eliza Bray....................................................................................walking on the sun Minshu Deng..............................................................................much like this place
NASHER MUSEUM OF ART AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
possessing my name. Though perhaps I should look to more read and more anticipated sequels, like those to “Twilight,” the “Harry Potter” series or the “Inheritance Cycle.” Whether seemingly endless sequels are a money-making scheme or based on a desire to keep a story going, it’s doubtful whether Hogwarts really needed to mold wizards for seven years or that Bella and Edward couldn’t have wrapped up their romance sooner. Regardless, people—especially young people—will keep reading. I’m equally guilty. If there’s even a hint of more story to tell, I’ll eagerly await it. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be told. 2) Girl probz R 4 girls. Sex. Dating. Friendships lost. Mother-child relationships. In the young adult world, these are problems that obviously affect only women, and they must be described for women, by women. Just ask Judy Blume. I admit that I studied these types of books like the gospel. OK, maybe Judy Blume wasn’t really my speed, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve read “Little Women” or sung the praises of Betty Smith’s “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” But I also can’t ignore that there seem to be definitive “girl books” and “boy books” in the young adult world, and the former outnumber the latter. If a book is centered around a boy, there’s rarely any stigma about it being a “boy book.” However, if you write a book with a female main character, you run the risk of alienating half your audience. It’s a rare gem like “To Kill a Mockingbird” that avoids the curse of girlishness. Many books have been ignored or cut from middle and high school reading lists for fear of alienating their male readers, perpetuating the idea that novels like “I Capture the Castle” and “Anne of Green Gables,” among hundreds of others, have little to provide or relate to their male readership. 3) Outcasts have more street cred. They may not be “cool” in the novel, but at the very least they’re “cool” to their readers. In young adult fiction, outcasts are generally portrayed as one of two distinct archetypes:
the tortured soul or the misunderstood free spirit. The former is best understood using the model of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Young readers connect with the protagonist and empathize. “Wow, he feels like I feel sometimes,” they lament. But he gets friends, proving that the shy, “damaged” kid really can fit in, in some group that lives outside the realm of traditional cool. Then you have the eponymous heroine of “Stargirl,” the epitome of the manic pixie dream girl. She’s so different, unique, quirky. She lives outside the norm. She meditates. She has a rat. She doesn’t need friends. I confess, I wanted to be her. 4) Create a dystopian world. Bonus points for child labor. Admittedly, dystopias are not solely a trope of the young adult genre. But a specific facet of YA dystopia is the abuse or excessive reliance on young people from an early age. You have a novel like “The Hunger Games,” which depends on children both to provide murder-fueled entertainment and to support their families. Then there are novels like “The Giver,” in which children are assigned critical societal roles before they even reach their teens. Even “Harry Potter” follows this model to some extent. The expectation that 17-year-olds (or younger) should be held responsible for saving an entire way of life seems unfathomable outside of a literary context. I’m almost twenty and I can barely imagine preparing my own meals, let alone taking down systemic evil infiltrating a government. Are authors perpetuating a sick fascination with child exploitation? Or is putting such responsibility on young characters in novels helping illustrate the burden young people bear in changing a society? Based on my own rules, I would probably write the most cliché YA series of all time: five books about a 14-year-old boy with no friends on a future earth governed by a tyrannical dictator. So trust me, they are no guarantee of success. —Megan Rise
DUKE PERFORMANCES IN DURHAM, AT DUKE, THE WORLD, JUST OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR.
THIS FRIDAY & SATURDAY!!! ELECTRIFYING INDIE ROCK + CONTEMPORARY DANCE
PEOPLE GET READY SPECIFIC OCEAN
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15 & 16 8 PM • REYNOLDS THEATER
SOLD OUT!!!
LEGENDARY IRANIAN MUSICIAN
KAYHAN KALHOR & ALI BAHRAMI FARD
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 8 PM • NASHER MUSEUM AUDITORIUM AUDACIOUS CONTEMPORARY CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
EIGHTH BLACKBIRD
ABOVE: Iranian (Isfahan), Lunette (detail), 1938-39. Stonepaste: monochrome-glazed, assembled as a mosaic; 11¼ x 22 ¾ x 3½ inches (28.6 x 57.8 x 8.9 cm). © 2011 Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Photo by David Franzen.
BRYCE DESSNER, GYÖRGY LIGETI STEVE MACKEY, RICHARD REED PARRY, BRETT DEAN SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23 8 PM • BALDWIN AUDITORIUM
Doris Duke’s Shangri La Architecture, LAnDScApe, AnD iSLAmic Art
WORLD RENOWNED UKE GROUP
UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN
An intimate look at Doris Duke and her Honolulu estate, Shangri La. The exhibition features selections from the Islamic art collection amassed by this stylish American heiress and philanthropist.
ST
UDEN
EVERY SHOW. ALL SEASON. TAKE ADVANTAGE.
GET TICKETS: DUKEPERFORMANCES.ORG | 919-684-4444
TS
2001 Campus Drive | Durham, NC 27705 | 919-684-5135 | nasher.duke.edu/shangrila
UKE
TIX $10
D
On view August 29 - December 29, 2013
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24 7 PM • PAGE AUDITORIUM
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Marketing the Chekhovian experience As I prepare to open in the Theater Studies Department’s production of “Uncle Vanya,” I’ve realized that Chekhov is astonishingly difficult to market. I’m often bombarded with the question, “What’s it about?” Knowing that we students are harassed with opportunities from every direction, I understand that what many really mean to ask is: “Why should I see this show?” Though I have heretofore held no qualms luring unsuspecting victims into the darkened auditorium with a carefully devised pitch, these days I’ve found myself unable or unwilling to respond with more than an embarrassed stare and some open-mouth breathing. Don’t get me wrong; these plays are unrivaled. The problem is that one needs to know what to expect of the plays in order to enjoy them. The generic summary of a Chekhov play simply wouldn’t sound appealing. Chekhov doesn’t have indulgent song-and-dance spectacles; he doesn’t have Jabari Parker. And yet his plays transcend time and space to delight audiences time and time again. There’s a disconnect between his plays as marketable entities, and his plays as charged, humanistic organisms. What follows is my attempt to reconcile this conflict. Even if you think you already understand “what it’s about,” I invite you, especially, to entertain for a moment my notion that you don’t. Not yet. Let’s make this exercise most difficult and assume we’re converting the unfortunate souls who have, at some point in their life, developed a negative impression of Chekhov. For many of us (yes, even myself) this begins with our first reading of Chekhov in high school: foreign names, complicated familiar relations, the misreading of humor and a perceived lack of action all play into the deadly half of Chekhov’s reputation. On top of that, it’s an easy reputation to perpetuate when we consider amateur productions that miss their mark and Chekhovian jokes. I can’t argue that I am above the occasional harmless Chekhov-bashing, either: “In a dramatic reading of phonebook, at least we’d recognize the names.” Even if you yourself find that your deep-seated distrust of Chekhov began in
high school, do not fear! We can all come to terms with this trauma and finally move on because these plays aren’t meant to be read. Leave it to the performance professionals. If only the characters in Chekhov’s plays could find therapy this good… The experience of a live production is fundamentally different from a literary reading; we preserve dialogue in scripts merely out of necessity. Take my word for it: when a play is staged, suddenly we care minimally about someone’s name and much about her manner, her appearance and her choices. Relationships are more clearly reinforced by the characters’ interactions and physical connections to one another. Action is discovered between the lines. Don’t let me fool you into thinking performance solves all the problems of a Chekhov play. Chekhov is difficult to perform, but I’ll argue that this difficulty is as much a virtue as it is a danger. In this, Chekhov is like Shakespeare. When their plays feel long, it’s because the playwright has left his players with more opportunities to work their magic. When their plays are flops, it’s because the players realized too few of those opportunities. Yet when their plays achieve their full potential, the experience is one of the most rewarding one will find in the theater. Though their complexity makes these plays impossible to describe in brief, the greatest difference is that Shakespeare offers us a world of battles and clowns, while Chekhov confines us to a provincial Russian estate. Before I scare off the rest of you, I had better address Chekhov’s subject matter. Chekhov wasn’t doing the marketing department any favors when he bestowed upon “Uncle Vanya” the subtitle “Scenes from Country Life,” which sounds more like a pastoral documentary than a universally resonant play. Though the description applies in the technical sense, perhaps Chekhov was exercising a dry sense of humor with this ironic subtitle; the play does not represent a sampling of average country life as we would imagine it. Instead, it is masterfully constructed, examining with careful attention latent components of human character, desire
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and interaction, transcending any particular location or time period. If we say Shakespeare could take a whole world and put it on his stage, then we might say of Chekhov that he was able to put a character on stage, and reveal within her an entire world. Watching Chekhov, then, requires us to tune our gaze to subtlety. This is problematic given how we’re used to entertainment. Blockbusters spoon-feed us action that we hardly need to follow, much less subject to subtle analysis, and sports entertainment provides us with clear signals to keep us informed of scoring changes, fouls and the like, in case we missed them during our trip to the fridge. Simply put, we’re not used to paying attention, so we confuse high-frequency vibration with stillness. Certainly there are productions of Chekhov that fail to realize this vibrancy. I won’t claim here that our production does or doesn’t. I won’t even assuage your fears that this could be just another lugubrious Chekhovian naptime. As with all theater, I want to argue that a single transformative performance is worth wading through a good deal of rubbish; even within a performance, a few magical moments can make it all worthwhile. And we need to tune in. I personally believe the spectator’s attitude greatly influences her reception to a play. I wouldn’t blame a spectator for “missing the point,” but I think knowing what to expect, what to look for and how possibly to engage with the activity on stage will greatly improve anyone’s enjoyment of “Uncle Vanya” and Chekhov’s other masterpieces. If you come looking for Jabari Parker, you’re going to wonder where the scoreboards are; but if you bring a tuning fork, you’re going to hear sweet, sweet music. Mike Myers appears in “Uncle Vanya,” produced by Duke Theater Studies. The performance runs Nov. 14 through Nov. 24 at the Sheafer Theater. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or online. For more information, visit http://theaterstudies.duke.edu/. —Mike Myers
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People Get Ready melds conte First Specific Ocean performance outside of NYC
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
It can be difficult to characterize People Get Ready, as some audiences call it a unique dance company while others call it an inventive indie rock band.
by Katie Fernelius THE CHRONICLE
In an episode from IFC’s “Portlandia,” a Pitchfork writer reviews an independent rock band called Catnapped composed of two Portland citizens, their cat and their kidnapper. The writer claims, “This reviewer couldn’t discern exactly what was happening that night, he just knows that it transcends music on literally every level.” Although the review is clearly intended to be humorous, it reveals a truth about the landscape of music today: despite clear talent, many musical artists resort to gimmicks in order to make themselves more marketable. Understandably, it can be refreshing when a band is genuine in their eccentricities, embracing their unique talents to create a compelling performance rather than commodify their image. No modern group exemplifies this better than People Get Ready, who will be presenting their performance, “Specific Ocean,”
this weekend at Reynolds Industries Theater. The performance melds contemporary dance and indie rock music in a new and engaging way that defies the rampant gimmickry in today’s musical landscape. “We play as a band and we invite movement into
the framework of being a band,” said Steven Reker, frontman of People Get Ready. “It’s the mix of being a band and being re-contextualized through choreography.” It can be difficult to characterize People Get Ready, as some audiences call it
a unique dance company while others call it an inventive indie rock band. During the performance, People Get Ready is not just a group of musicians, but also actors, movers and artists. It is a performance in which bodies are celebrated as instruments and instru-
ments are celebrated as bodies. The guitar becomes a hula-hoop that plays itself, the microphone an anchor that drags the singer and the floor the percussive rhythm that bends around the dancers. “In ‘Specific Ocean,’ People Get Ready has made
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
People Get Ready has been together since 2009 when Reker and Goma, along with Luke Fasano and James Rickman, joined together for a run of shows at New York’s popular art house, The Kitchen.
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emporary dance and indie rock a piece that is simultaneously really smart, really inventive and really accessible,” said Aaron Greenwald, Director of Duke Performances. “I think it is an unusual look into movement and dance. It is an example of how people can make more compelling performances from multitalented individuals.” “While we had our residency together, there was a riff that Steven was playing with while I was concentrating on movement stuff,” said Jen Goma, another member of People Get Ready. “A year later, that riff had been transformed into a song on the record and then we translated that into a new performance integrated into ‘Specific Ocean.’” “Specific Ocean” premiered at New York Live Arts in Oct. 2012 to both popular and critical acclaim, but People Get Ready has been together since 2009 when Reker and Goma, along with Luke Fasano and James Rickman, joined together for a run of shows at New York’s popular art house, The Kitchen. The collaboration was born out
of different tours and residencies. People Get Ready’s performance at Duke University will be the first time that “Specific Ocean” is staged outside of New York City. “Sometimes the song comes first, sometimes the choreography and sometimes they emerge simultaneously. It’s a long process,” said Reker. “We are creating a sonic landscape for movement, which involves the guitar—which involves our bodies. We want to create a union between the movement and the sound.” “My experience as a performer has always been more about conversation than about union. It’s a very natural process,” said Goma. “It doesn’t feel like we are breaking any boundaries; it feels boundless.” The future of People Get Ready also seems boundless, as the group plans to come out with a new record next year and are already designing their next performance. They are also considering the production of a concert film. For now, the band is grateful for the opportunity to share their performance outside of
New York City. “We feel really lucky and appreciative,” said Reker. “A lot of things inspire us, but more than anything else, pleasure inspires us. We just want to cultivate pleasure in our every performance, and the same holds true for our performance at Duke.” Greenwald is hopeful
that the performance will be popular in Durham, but he is also invested in bringing audiences to contemporary dance who may not be exposed to it otherwise. “We shouldn’t establish boundaries between dance and theater and music. These boundaries can prevent audiences from engaging in new work,” said Gre-
enwald. “People Get Ready crafts at the intersections and creates a show where the process informs the product.” People Get Ready will perform “Specific Ocean” on Friday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. in the Reynolds Industries Theater. For tickets and more information, visit http://dukeperformances.org.
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
The future of People Get Ready seems boundless, as the group plans to come out with a new record next year and are already designing their next performance.
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Director of Duke performances Aaron Greenwald is hopeful that the performance will be popular in Durham, but he is also invested in bringing audiences to contemporary dance who may not be exposed to it otherwise.
FILM
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SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
THOR: THE DARK WORLD Walt Disney Studio Directed By Alan Taylor
by Adam Schultzman THE CHRONICLE
Marvel has undoubtedly created a superhero universe unmatched by any other studio. Their second post-Avengers movie (following the success of “Iron Man 3”), “Thor: The Dark World,” follows as a lesser triumph for all of the superhero fanatics out there. “Thor: The Dark World” centers around the conflict between the people of Asgard and the dark elves led by Malekith, played by a daunting Christopher Eccleston, whose people once attempted to turn the ‘nine realms’ into darkness. Though initially defeated thousands of years ago, they return to Asgard in search of the Aether, a powerful gem with the ability to cause mass chaos. A majority of the first half of the film can be quite confusing. With all of the Thor mythology relating to the dark elves, the audience can’t help but wonder if it really matters or even makes sense. Nonetheless, the fight scenes are as intense and enjoyable as ever, especially Thor’s final battle with Malekith, which spans all nine realms. In all honesty, though, the use of 3-D in the film
adds next to nothing to improve these scenes. The film’s most popular character, as well as the Marvel universe’s greatest asset, is Loki (Tom Hiddleston). In his third go at the role, Hiddleston is as fresh as ever with constant wit and a devilish grin that reads, “I’m always one step ahead.” Thor’s banter with Loki is also loaded with Avengers references that will make any fan geek squeal. Humor is the film’s greatest strength. In spite of the world teetering on the edge of collapse, the clever repartee between characters keeps the tempo upbeat and positive, avoiding the gritty path that DC movies tend to follow. Marvel thrives when its characters are amusing (think Iron Man, Captain America and even the modern version of the Hulk). “Thor 2” capitalizes on this brighter aspect of the Marvel universe. The runtime feels longer than its just-short-of-two-hours because of the amount of time it takes to set up the plot. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster again have their romantic setup, which seems more like an unnecessary subplot than a major theme it once was in the original “Thor.” Jane’s fish-out-of-water sequence in Asgard does not nearly compare to Thor’s sequence on Earth in the original. It’s Jane’s friend Darcy, played by Kat Dennings (“2 Broke Girls”), who retains her comical edge throughout. “Thor: The Dark World” is not the best in the Marvel series, but it packs exhilarating action with an amusing tone. It is a sign that Marvel still knows how to breathe fresh air into its characters. Oh, and by the way, as with any Marvel movie, stay after it ends for mid-credits and postcredits scenes.
18, 19, 20
FILM
About Time
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Translux Directed By Richard Curtis
by Jamie Kessler THE CHRONICLE
Well it’s about time Rachel McAdams broke out of her typecast and starred in a romantic comedy. It’s been a whole two movies since “The Vow” disappointed audiences everywhere. However, her latest project “About Time” looked promising. From the writer of “Notting Hill,” “Love Actually,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and so many more, I was expecting a home run—especially with the hilarious Bill Nighy serving as a supporting player. Unfortunately, the movie was great until about halfway through. It may have had something to do with the baby—babies ruin everything—or the cancer. But somewhere around the climax, everything slowed down. “About Time” focuses on the love life of Bill Weasley, excuse me, Tim, played by Bill Weasley, I mean Domhnall Gleeson. Anyway, Tim, his father (Nighy), and his father before him all can travel through time. They need only find a dark place, focus on a memory, squeeze their fists and lo and be-
hold they’re there. The first half stays true to the film’s genre: Rachel McAdams brings the “rom” and the writer’s amazing grasp of quirky British humor provides the “com.” The audience goes on a fun-flirty roller coaster ride of love, but right as we’re about to hit that third loop-de-loop, the ride loses power and we’re all stuck upside down with our arms dangling. Suddenly, the main relationship is very secure and the focus shifts to the father-son relationship. There’s nothing wrong with Bill Nighy getting extended screen time, but this is where the sap kicks into high gear. I shed some tears, which I’m more than happy to do in Rachel McAdams’ movies (i.e. “The Notebook”), but I expect to be crying over the tumultuous love affair. I’m even happy to cry if the love interest is dying of cancer (i.e. “A Walk to Remember”). But if every tear is spilt over daddy dearest, I feel that the rom-com has gone amiss. It wasn’t that this part of the movie was bad, it just got to the point where it was about time it ended. Nothing new was happening. It was like the writer decided he had a message. It was something like “time is precious.” Well, he gave us the movie we all wanted for an hour and then he’s like, now to the point. To reiterate, this is not a bad movie. This is a good movie. It’s just not as good as you want it to be. It’s not Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts or Hugh Grant and Renee Zellweger or Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell. Hmm… maybe the problem is that we’re missing Hugh Grant. “About Time” wraps up the romance a little too quickly, forcing the film to substitute Nighy for McAdams, making for one weird long rom-com.
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MUSIC
LADY GAGA
ARTPOP Interscope records
by Andrew Karim THE CHRONICLE
Lady Gaga should have stopped making music after “The Fame Monster.” The album gave the pop genre a much-needed facelift and cemented Gaga’s place in the industry as a distinctive artist. Fast-forward to 2011 when ‘Born this Way’ spoiled what was once unique into a shambolic, patronizing mess of lazy dance songs tainted with Gaga’s unconvincing brand of manufactured theatricality. In 2013, Gaga is coasting on the thin ice that is her music career, frantically extracting from a withering supply of uniqueness to give us “ARTPOP,” her latest—and hopefully, last—interruption of Gaga radio silence. I guess I’ll start with ‘Aura,’ formerly known as ‘Burqa’ (I’d comment on the song’s vulgar appropriation of Islamic garb if it weren’t such low-hanging fruit). The opening’s off-putting spaghetti western guitar only worsens as it morphs into Arabic plucking layered with a trance-like buildup. Gaga’s awkward refrains (“ha-aa,” “aura-a-a”) make a bittersweet intervention, cutting through the “oriental” guitar at the expense of terrorizing listeners with eerily mediated vocal chants, as if someone forced Cher’s ghost to produce a crappy techno track at gunpoint. I won’t touch on
the lyrics so as not to beat a dead horse, but long story short: ‘Aura’ is four minutes of Gaga making her case for the veil as a choice and maybe even a beacon of a women’s personal freedom, but the end result trivializes an otherwise valid argument by reducing it to a shallow commentary on covering and sexuality. The title track’s slow-paced electronic beat recalls an early Kylie Minogue, but only enough to remind us how Gaga pales in comparison. The song addresses neither art nor pop, except for when Gaga carelessly inserts “artpop” into arbitrary moments of the cut: “We could, we could belong together (ARTPOP).” At the very least, Gaga seems to be self-aware of the vacuousness of her lyrics. What does artpop mean, you ask? “My ARTPOP could mean anything.” As such, Gaga cops out by endowing her art with infinite meaning-making potential instead of telling us what the hell she’s actually talking about. ‘Fashion!’ and ‘Donatella’ are backto-back on the track list. Without exaggeration, these cuts consist of Gaga yelling high fashion brand names while telling us how fabulous and thin she is. They vaguely recall moments when kids beg for attention before jumping into the pool, except Gaga’s analogue reads as a cheap, sadder solicitation of undeserved praise. They are surely one of the lowest points of an album that’s already pitted in incalculable mediocrity. More than ever, Lady Gaga seems to have conceptualized this album to push the definition of what a “pop album” could be. I understand Gaga’s task, but her execution draws from an uninteresting bag of tricks. Combining “art” and “pop” did about as little to bolster this record’s legitimacy as caps lock stylizing the final product as “ARTPOP” did. Anything can be aestheticized to be taken more seriously when you capitalize, right?
cosmic ! cantina
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ART EVGENIA ARBUGAEVA
Tiksi
Center for documentary studies
by Andrew Karim THE CHRONICLE
Tiksi translates to “a moorage place” in the Yakut language spoken in Russia’s northeastern Sakha Republic, located on the Arctic coast of Siberia. It’s a fitting name for the remote town Evgenia Arbugaeva photographed as part of her collection, which is currently on display at the Center for Documentary Studies. Arbugaeva is presently an artist-in-residence at Duke through a program administered by a partnership between the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund and Duke’s Center for International Studies. The goal of the partnership is to connect international artists with the Duke and Durham community while exploring social issues through photography. Arbugaeva was born in Tiksi in 1985 and spent her childhood there. At age eight, she and her family moved to a larger city upon the Soviet Union’s collapse, but Arbugaeva never forgot the beauty she saw in her icy hometown. Arbugaeva studied art management at the International School of Moscow and later moved to New York where she graduated from the International Center of Photography’s photojournalism and documentary program in 2009. She returned to Tiksi
shortly after to rediscover her distanced birthplace. During the Soviet Union’s peak, Tiksi was a vital military and scientific hub that drew residents from across the vast state. Some sought employment opportunities, but Arbugaeva writes in her artist’s statement that others were attracted to a “romantic dream of the far North.” On one hand, the port town appears to be barren, post-industrial and perhaps even dystopic, especially in light of the pop culture-ridden context of binarizing the present United States with the former Soviet Union. Through this exhibit, though, Tiksi ends up looking like an endearing Arctic town (Iceland’s tourism board should take notes), teeming with a multitude of colors that naturally glow on its snowy canvas. Upon returning to Tiksi, Arbugaeva took on 13-year-old Tanya as her muse, guide and subject of many photographs. Though never made explicit, Tanya appears as an extension of Arbugaeva herself, something like a teenage analogue of the child that left the town in the ‘90s. Coincidentally enough, Tanya’s family moved away to a larger city in the fall of 2012, as they saw no future in such a remote town. Most captivating about this collection is that even the smallest amounts of color appear to pulse with animation, particularly when set against the abounding grays and whites, characteristic of Tiksi’s tundric landscape. This is especially apparent in shots featuring the town’s industrial-yet-quaint skyline. While the buildings’ paint jobs have faded with time, they strike a sweet, palpable contrast against the brutal cold. Other photographs in the series focus solely on human subjects. These pieces feature exaggerated and mismatched color palettes and warm, zoomed-in frames See TIKSI, page 8
Support Project Share
COSMO SAYS...
Help Provide Holiday Gifts to Durham Families
Make a donation towards the purchase of gifts
Adopt a family
After the tragic and unexpected death of their mother, these 4 children are now cared for by their grandmother. She works very hard to stretch her very limited income to provide the basics for her extended family. Your support will make a difference to this family during the holidays. SYC/CHRISTMAS# 594 This grandmother lovingly cares for her developmentally delayed grandson. With her small fixed income, though, she is unable to provide him with a gift this holiday. A Project Share sponsorship will change that. SYC/CHRISTMAS # 132
Meet the team: L-R Genaro (days and weekends) Leo (day manager), ‘Jorge’ (night manager) and Cosmos.
Menu Sampling
Old School Veggie Burrito Regular Chicken Burrito Cheese Quesadilla Chicken Quesadilla Veggie Nachos Chips & Salsa
$2.86 $5.65 $1.41 $3.59 $4.12 $2.06
Open til 4 am
1920 1/2 Perry St. at Ninth Street Just a block from East Campus Now served at JB’s hot dog stand
This mother of three growing boys makes just enough to cover the monthly bills. She would be most grateful for your assistance to provide some holiday cheer this year with gifts of clothes, coats and remote control cars. SYC/CHRISTMAS # 229 A house fire has displaced this family of 5. Your donations of household items, clothes, books, and toys will bring some joy to their temporary home. SYC/ CHRISTMAS # 589
For sponsor these or similar families please call 919-684-4377 or visit: http://tinyurl.com/projectshareduke
8 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013
ART GERALD H. GASKIN
LEGENDARY: INSIDE THE HOUSE BALLROOM SCENE Center for documentary studies
by Kathy Zhou THE CHRONICLE
In the world of underground house balls, extravagance and ‘realness’ reign supreme. And at the Center for Documentary Studies reigns “Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene,” the compilation of black-and-white and color photographs by Gerard H. Gaskin, winner of the 2012 CDS/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography. These are glimpses that focus on the groups and the individuals, bringing visitors into a distant and, until now, undocumented scene. The photographs are as captivating and diverse as their subjects: gay and transgender men and women, the majority of whom are African-American and Latino/a. Members compete in the late-night pageants by “houses,” themselves becoming works of art as they dance and flaunt vibrant makeup, grandiose costumes and fearless grace. A group of men pose together, wearing nothing but bright boxers, a couple of chains, sunglasses and bejeweled crowns. Across the room are different couples posing together. Jlin applies eyebrow makeup; Gerald models a tiny bowler
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recess hat with an enormous feather; Jennifer, wearing high hair and a red sequined dress, laughs; the audience is in rapt attention, some cheering, some heckling and some waiting in suspense. Two color portraits are staggering. Tez, covered in blue body paint, wears silver lipstick, turquoise contacts and a white and violet wig, covered in the crinkled folds of a golden costume. In another photograph, a lone figure wears white face makeup and pink sunglasses, posing in front of a mural depicting an armchair. Both are commanding in their singularity and both are relentless with stoic intensity. Most striking is the subtlety of the black-and-white photographs, interspersed among the more vivid works and focused on moments of stillness. The gazes are unwavering and quietly unapologetic. Some smile slightly and others remain blank. Although they seem candid at first, the portraits are guarded. Perhaps the most honest expression is that of ‘Gerard, Eric Bazaar Ball, Manhattan, 1998.’ Gerard, donning a plaid tie and a white, lopsided brimmed hat, regards the camera softly and imparts a feeling of depth—tragedy, even—while a fellow performer behind him, out of focus, smiles. In ‘Mother’s Day Ball, Manhattan, 2001,’ an audience waits in a well-lit room as the performer gazes at viewers to his side. With wiry glasses, mesh hat, pressed collared shirt and a hand looped through the belt buckle, he exudes a nonchalant confidence that challenges his audience. ‘Kelli, Legends Ball, Jersey City, 1995’ leaves viewers stunned. Kelli, wearing a black bra underneath an oversized blazer, is defiant in her beauty. She smokes a cigarette. Her eyebrows and eye makeup are immaculate, her hair is set in a short
finger wave and her hands are placed casually but suggestively. The photograph is black-and-white and uncluttered, yet viewers sense that somehow, they remain disconnected from Kelli and on the outside of her wild, thriving world. Gaskin has realized every documentarian’s dream: to be wholly welcomed into a community—here, one that celebrates the self, however many selves there may be. Gaskin’s search for beauty brings us “Legendary,” navigating through the electrifying house ballroom scene and its most thrilling and exquisite moments, people and spaces. “Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene” will be on display until Feb. 22 at the Juanita Kreps Gallery at the Center for Documentary Studies. For more information, visit http://www.cdsporch.org/archives/20374.
TIKSI
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that give the viewer a sense of closeness with the subjects. One photo shows Tanya dressed as Jacques Cousteau in her family’s kitchen. Dawning heavy snow gear and a blood-red beanie, Tanya aims a miniature telescope toward the sky and smiles. “Tanya in a tutu” shows the viewer just that: it’s one of the few photos in the series that allows the viewer to forget about Tiksi’s unforgiving landscape and climate. Wearing wool socks and the same smile, Tanya sits in bed as soft light floods the room, exposing its dated furniture and more inconspicuous features, like the wrinkled clothes drying on the radiator. “After school” highlights Arbugaeva’s ability to render Tiksi’s otherwise mundane happenings as gripping still lifes. The photo shows three children running in the snow, presumably on their way home from school. Their bodies are swallowed in thick black jackets, obscuring their deli-
HSA and JYOTI Present
Diwali The Indian festival of lights
Saturday, November 16 6-10pm @ Blue Express Puja and Dinner Performances by Raas and Lasya
GERALD H. GASKIN
The collection is by the winner of the 2012 CDS/ Honickman First Book Prize in Photography.
cate figures that are still acutely visible in opposition to the background’s eggshell yellow building. “A cemetery of old ships” is one of the grander photos in the series, showing Tanya with arms spread at the prow of an abandoned ship. Arbugaeva’s documentary technique gives the photo a surreal quality, but only because it presents something so astonishing in an unapologetic way. This matter-of-factness can be said for the collection as a whole. It shows us a place so radically distant from our everyday without romanticizing; instead, it simply captures Tiksi and its people in their most commonplace state. In some ways, this collection is about our everyday versus theirs. “Tiksi: Photographs by Evgenia Arbugaeva” debuts at the Center for Documentary Studies tonight, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. A reception and talk with Evgenia Arbugaeva will follow. For more information, visit http://www.cdsporch.org/.