Inside The LongHouse Talks with Bjorn Amelan, Lee Skolnick, Alexander Polzin

Conversations with artists and thinkers have a long history at LongHouse Reserve – its founder Jack Lenor Larsen was a great conversationalist -- and a new series entitled LongHouse Talks continues this tradition. Over the 2022 season, Director Carrie Rebora Barratt leads conversations with artists, architects, designers, dancers, musicians and other thought partners in living with art in all of its forms.

Artist Bjorn Amelan discussed his sumi ink pictograph pictures which hung like tapestries in the LongHouse Pavilion, some of which were painted at LongHouse.  As Creative Director of New York Live Arts,  Bjorn's shapes often reference bodies in motion, suggestive of archaic writing, seemingly both real and symbolic. His partner, Bill T. Jones, pointed out how “Bjorn’s pictographs are so often phallic” and joined in a lively q + a. 

German sculptor Alexander Polzin presented a chamber concert as well as a discussion of his sculpture Parthenope, an enigmatic bronze tree trunk with a secret gold-plated interior, an homage to the siren, on loan to LongHouse for the next two years. Well known in Europe as a director and designer of major opera productions, he presented the chamber concert as part of his program featuring the American quartet, Hammermusik, who premiered new music by Greek composer Konstantia Gourzi, who flew in especially for the occasion.

Still to come this season are Talks with Michele Oka Doner on July 9, Glenn Adamson on July 10, Cheng Tsung Feng on July 13, Moko Fukuyama, Edwina von Gal, Marren Hassinger, Fitzhugh Karol, and Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner on August 5. Macari Vineyards is the presenting sponsor for LongHouse Talks. Tickets are available at www.longhouse.org.

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