Calling all ballers! It’s summer in the city, and everyone is flocking to the public parks. We are following their lead. On 27 July, artist Carlin Wing is organizing a day of handball and related activities in Gowanus, Brooklyn. New York Citys public parks are home to the greatest collection of one-wall handball courts in the world; come spend a sunny Sunday as we take the citys quintessential game as the starting point for a day of playing, making, learning, spectating, and speculating. 2–6 pm Play in the Gowanus Open, an amateur handball tournament that will take place at the Thomas Greene Playground. The sun will be shining, and there will be lemonade and loud cheering. Trophies and prizes will be awarded. The tournament is limited to 32 players and has an entry fee of $5; sign up here: cabinetmagazine.org/shop/product_info.php?cPath=38&products_id=126. Novices welcome! If you are more of a crafter than a competitor, come join the free Ball-Making Workshop, which will run from 3 pm to 5 pm. We will make balls out of old sheets, liquid latex, vinegar, medical tape, punctured bicycle inner tubes, packing materials, rubber bands, wine corks, bits of string, and other unlikely stuff. Materials will be provided but you are also welcome to bring old t-shirts, rubber doodads, yarn, socks missing their mates, and things lying around the back of drawers that you have been meaning to get rid of. Children are welcome. Cabinets offices will function as the locker room for the day and will host a small exhibition of handball photographs by Keith Thode and Holly Koffler, alongside historical images of the game. An artist project by Max Warsh will be on view along the route between the courts and Cabinet. The handball courts are right next to a public swimming pool; participants are encouraged to come prepared to cool off. 6–8 pm The sun-shy and spectatorially inclined can arrive at 6 pm to watch an Exhibition Match between two of the city’s top players. After the match, we will retreat to Cabinets venue to hear from the players, view the exhibit, and listen as Wing takes us through some highlights of the history of handball to close out the day. About Hitting Walls This event is the twenty-seventh installment of Hitting Walls, an iterative project started by Carlin Wing in 2008. Hitting Walls consists of works made in a variety of media and forms—large-format photographs, appropriated internet material, experimental videos, sound sculptures, installations, performances, participatory events, and written texts. All of the works engage ball-wall sports, tracing new arcs through their long, globalized histories and advocating embodied, material ways of describing the world through bounce, rebound, and ricochet. Refreshments courtesy of Sprizz-O.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:31:59 +0000