Janette Beckman’s photography exhibition marks the third artist installment at Project Space. For “Archive of Attitude”, Beckman culls works from her time in London during the punk era through the hip-hop decade in New York and Los Angeles. The show will feature artifacts and photographs of musicians, their fans and youth culture. The exhibition at Project Space runs from August 13th through September 5th.

Beckman is an English documentary photographer who has worked with some of the most influential musicians of the modern era. She began her photography career at the dawn of the punk movement, shooting the top acts of the day: The Clash, The Jam, The Sex Pistols and Boy George, as well as three album covers for The Police. In 1982, Beckman moved to New York City, where she immersed herself in the burgeoning hip-hop scene, photographing pioneers such as Afrika Bambaata, Run DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Grandmaster Flash and EPMD. Her powerful portraits have been collected in two books: Made in the UK: The Music of Attitude, 1977-1983 and The Breaks: Stylin’ and Profilin’ 1982-1990, both published by PowerHouse Books.

Project Space
603 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038

View more images after the jump (more…)

Cycling, the biggest thing to hit personal transportation since the horse, is redefining the way urbanites everywhere commute, shop, exercise, accessorize, and recreate. In this wickedly funny rant and rave, blogger and cyclist BikeSnobNYC (a.k.a. Eben Weiss) offers a unique look at the ins and outs of cycling, from its history and hallmarks to its wide range of unique practitioners. He spares no one, not even himself, as he lampoons the missteps, pretensions, and absurdities of “bike culture” all the while maintaining a contagious enthusiasm for cycling itself. Eben Weiss is the blogger behind bikesnob.blogspot.com. The Bike Snob book tour is brought to you by KNOG. Join BikeSnobNYC at The powerHouse Arena for a chance to win a bike lover’s prize pack! Featuring cool products and cycling gear from KNOG and other companies.

Check the flier behind the jump for the more information (more…)

What would New York City look like if it were made out of LEGO pieces? In I LEGO N.Y. author and award-winning illustrator Christoph Niemann takes us on an imaginative journey through the five boroughs, stopping to sight-see and grab a bite to eat along the way. This will be Niemann’s only I LEGO N.Y. event in New York!

Niemann’s inspiration to create a series of miniature New York vignettes came from his sons’ toys during a few cold and dark winter days in Berlin. The ex-pat New Yorker then posted photographs of his creations along with his handwritten captions on his celebrated New York Times blog. Resident and honorary New Yorkers around the world responded enthusiastically to the clever and minimalist inventions, which captured both the iconic (the Empire State Building) and the mundane (man standing on a subway platform) in fewer pieces then one might think possible. (more…)

powerHouse Books is pleased to celebrate the publication of The Brooklyn Navy Yard, the first monograph by photographer John Bartelstone, with an accompanying exhibition of photographic prints at The powerHouse Arena. On Wednesday, March 24, from 7-9PM, our opening reception and book launch party will feature a discussion between Bartelstone and Thomas Roma, Director of Photography at Columbia University. The exhibition runs March 18-April 25, 2010. (more…)

ALIFE PRESENTS and KINZ + TILLOU FINE ART are proud to announce CLAYTON PATTERSON, L.E.S. CAPTURED, a co-produced exhibition that focuses on Patterson’s 30-year documentation of the dramatically transitioned Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. The exhibition features select photographs; a digital showcase of Patterson’s Front Door portraits; “The Documentarian”, a short from the widely acclaimed recent feature-length documentary, Captured, a film by Ben Solomon, Dan Levin, Jenner Furst. (more…)

powerHouse Books is pleased to launch The Taqwacores: Muslim Punk in the USA by photographer Kim Badawi, and The powerHouse Arena is opening an accompanying exhibition in conjunction with its publication. Our opening reception and book launch party on Thursday, September 17, from 7-9PM, will feature a live performance by Boston-based Punjabi-taqwacore punk band The Kominas.

Just a few years ago the notion of “taqwacore,” a Muslim subgenre of punk rock, existed only as an inspired fiction. Writer Michael Muhammad Knight coined the term for his novel The Taqwacores, the story of a Muslim punk house in Buffalo, NY, which Knight initially distributed from the back of his car in DIY Xerox format. In time, the book found legitimate distribution and garnered supporters, even inspiring the first woman-led prayer of a mixed-gender congregation in the United States in 2005. But something far grander was in the works; unbeknownst to Knight, a real Muslim punk scene was starting to emerge, based on the one he had imagined for the book.  (more…)

“I had the immense opportunity to see this wonderful paper craft art installation by a genius of the name of Wataru Itou, a young student of a major art university here in Tokyo. The installation is hand made over four years of hard work, complete with electrical lights and a moving train, all made of paper! Clearly, this man must have created one of the most stunning examples of Paper Craft in the world? At the exhibition you will also have the chance to see a video showing Mr. Itou at work in his studio, cutting and folding piece by piece. The exhibition is called Umi no Ue no Oshiro (A Castle On the Ocean ), 海の上のお城. It is exhibited at Uminohotaru, a place which in itself is a major attraction: a service area in the middle of the ocean, right between Tokyo City and Chiba Prefecture. If you haven’t checked it out yet, use Google Earth for a close up of what is probably the weirdest parking lot in the world. Well, it’s more than a parking lot actually, but I am saving a more detailed description along with photos for another post. For now, enjoy this wonderful work of art!”

More pics after the jump (more…)

Thursday, June 4, 2009, 7-9PM
The powerhouse Arena
37 Main Street, Brooklyn
Readings by Jeff Yohai, Ruben Rivera, Mark Baker, & Brantly

Nightlife Connoisseur, Brantly Martin has been working in New York City nightlife for the past eight years, hosting weekly parties at various downtown Manhattan venues. Join New York nightlife heavyweights Mark Baker, Karim Amatullah, Rocco Ancarola, Shaun Rose, Pavan Pardasi, Scott Hockens, Matt Oliver, and DJ David Katz for a reception, reading and book signing to celebrate the release of Brantly Martin’s first novel, Pillage—a brutal yet hilarious look at the lives of Manhattan’s downtown elite at the dawn of the new millennium in Pillage, his first novel. (more…)

Thursday, April 9, 2009, 7 – 9PM
The powerHouse Arena
37 Main Street, Brooklyn
For more information: (718) 666-3049

Dealing with war in any context is always a difficult and often problematic venture. To celebrate the release of I.E.D., acclaimed photographer David Levinthal will be in conversation with noted photography critic Richard B. Woodward at the powerHouse Arena on April 9 to discuss his use of toy soldiers and plastic Humvees to explore and understand the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Why simulate a war with toys when it is already so familiar to us through daily news broadcasts, and so well documented by photojournalists and soldier-generated cell-phone imagery? In part is it because this book is not just a recreation of the war in Iraq; it is also a commentary about our society and how it is imaging and imagining a war through the use of such direct and immediate signifiers. Never before has there been an instance of such a massive production of toys directly related to a current and unresolved conflict. (more…)

Thursday February 5th
7 – 9pm
Powerhouse Arena
37 Main Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201

In the 1980s, the Burns Archive’s studies of derangement of the mind and body offered photographic histories of medicine and death. Deadly Intent: Crime & Punishment extends that study to crime.

The book is divided into four sections: crime scenes, police action, punishment, and executions. It is concentrated between 1890 and1950, a time when criminals often admitted their crimes and were quickly punished. Until the late 1940s, the period from arrest to execution for a capital offense averaged 33 days. The change in police attitudes and of the punishment prescribed for criminal behavior is documented here in iconic photographs.

Unlike many previous works on the subject, this compilation of crime scenes gives readers a forensic view; offering entire series of images used by detectives and criminologists. Other photographs reveal the evolving standards of the American criminal justice system, from water torture at Sing Sing prison, whipping posts, penitentiary life, and the notorious deadly work camps of the South, to executions: hanging, firing squads, and the electric chair. Only when all the evidence is presented can justice and humanity be properly served. This compilation of images, most published here for the first time, is a valuable new resource for historians and researchers.