Category: january 2017

The largest cathedral in the world is, of course, in New York. And it’s still growing

The Humble Fabulist5 Comments

Adjacent to the creepiest, most unsettling children’s sculpture garden in the city sits the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; the whole 121.000 sq ft (11.240+ sq m) of it.

Originally envisioned in a Romanesque-Byzantine style it was later changed to a Gothic Revival design with massive granite arches that support the building – which has no steel or iron skeleton – and a dome so high it could fit the Statue of Liberty underneath, made of Guastavino tile and intended as a temporary covering. The dome was supposed to be removed when the transepts were built, but so far only half of the north transept is constructed. For this 120-year-old gigantic church is, as yet, unfinished. 

St. John the Divine is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and, as such, the largest cathedral in the world. By some accounts, it is also the world’s third largest church – or is it the fifth?

But, size and grandeur aside, the cathedral is an active house of worship, a concert hall with excellent acoustics and an exhibition space, year-round.

On the day we visited, it was hosting ”The Christa Project: Manifesting Divine Bodies” with works by contemporary artists ”exploring the language, symbolism, art, and ritual associated with the historic concept of the Christ image and the divine as manifested in every person—across all genders, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and abilities.”

Edwina Sandys’ ”Christa”, the project’s centerpiece, was first displayed during the Holy Week of 1984, inevitably attracting mixed reactions: positive in general, there were also those who condemned it as a ‘blasphemy” for changing the symbol of Christ and ”sexualizing” it (by depicting it as a female figure). It seems this time the statue was welcomed unanimously, since it remained on display for several months.

Seeing Christa displayed prominently in this glorious setting it occurred to me that, had this been in an Orthodox church – let alone a cathedral – in my home country (Greece), there would have been riots, threats of excommunication – the full stereotypical drama!

The Poets’ Corner was created in 1984 in honour of American writers and literature. Located in the cathedral’s Arts Bay, it is modeled after a similar alcove for writers at Westminster Abbey in London.

Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Avenue, 112th Street

January 21st, 2017

 

The creepiest, most unsettling children’s sculpture garden in the city

The Humble Fabulist16 Comments

Sits next to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in Morningside Heights. It is adorned with little bronze statues, the “Animals of Freedom” created by children artists selected in a public competition in 1985. The statues are circling a larger bronze sculpture the “Fountain of Peace”, created by Greg Wyatt, sculptor-in-residence at the Cathedral. Laden with biblical symbols and connotations, some peaceful but mostly violent, such as a tranquil Moon and a joyous Sun, Archangel Michael, the Prince of the Archangels and Defender of the Faith, a decapitated Satan (defeated by the sword of said Archangel), a giant crab, giraffes and several other animals all sitting on a pedestal that resembles the double helix of DNA – the tree of life, while four sets of hands rise up from the ground.

Spectacular? Yes
Peaceful? Wouldn’t say so, what do you think?

Morningside Heights,
Manhattan

January 21st, 2017

(In)sanity

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Let’s make America sane again? I don’t know Mr Maher, perhaps we should have entrusted the guy next to you in the all-white dress, with the task: the Young Pope might have been totally insane but at least he was young, good looking, a helluvan actor and with a better dress sense…!

January 16th, 2017

Dialogos

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Not your average coordination meeting in the ECOSOC Chamber at the United Nations Headquarters! The Mission of Malta to the United Nations in collaboration with the Malta Arts Council organised an after-work concert to mark the launch of Malta’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.  A tenor and a pianist interpreted works from European (with emphasis to the Maltese) and American composers. An unlikely combination with fairly good acoustics but horribly strong lighting; and Dialogos, the vivid curtain by Swedish artist Ann Edholm, an excellent symbolic backdrop during negotiations, was rather overwhelming on this occasion.

Any criticism however was quickly dismissed, replaced by a quiet excitement when on our way out through the – by then – empty corridors of the General Assembly Building, we spotted these familiar, functional yet almost sculptural armchairs. I would totally arrange my living room around a couple of them!

January 16th, 2017

Beauty queens

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The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a black comedy by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh was premiered by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland in 1996.

20+ years later, Druid made its BAM debut with this first in the trilogy of plays set in the rural village of Leenane where forty-year-old Maureen Folan, a single and lonely woman lives with her mother Mag, trapped in a dry, loveless relationship. Until Mag interferes with her daughter’s first – and probably last – romance. Her cruel interference sets in motion a chain of events simultaneously funny and horrible, a narrative that leads to a tragicomic climax and leaves the audience with a bittersweet aftertaste that lingers long after the curtain comes down.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane, about to begin:

And the Beauty Queen of Solitaire, patiently killing time:

Aisling O’Sullivan played Maureen, the daughter.
Marie Mullen, was the devious mother; most interestingly, Ms. Mullen played Maureen back in 1996, as if to confirm Maureen’s realisation when she exclaimed: Oh Gosh, I’ve turned into my mother!
Marty Rea was Pato Dooley, Maureen’s first and possibly last lover.

BAM Harvey Theater

January 14th, 2017