MoMA PS1 presents Yayoi Kusama’s site-specific installation of Narcissus Garden as part of Rockaway!, a free public art festival in Fort Tilden in Rockaway, Queens. Consisting of 1,500 mirrored stainless steel spheres, Narcissus Garden is on display in a former train garage that dates back to when Fort Tilden was an active US military base. The mirrored metal surfaces reflect the viewers (do you see Joseph?) as well as the industrial and decaying surroundings of the abandoned building. First unofficially presented in 1966 at the 33rd Venice Biennale, Narcissus Garden was installed on the lawn in front of the Italian Pavilion where Kusama stood among the mirrored balls. She tossed the spheres in the air and offered to sell them to visitors for 1,200 lire (approximately $2) in an act of self-promotion as well as a critique of overly commercial contemporary art. This exhibition is free and open to the public Friday through Sunday, 12pm to 6pm, through Labor Day, September 3.
Narcissus Garden in Rockaway
National Foundation for American Policy: “H-1B Denials and Requests for Evidence Increase Under the Trump Administration”
H-1B denials and Requests for Evidence (RFEs) increased dramatically in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017 soon after President Trump took office, according to a report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) that used data from US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). The report by NFAP, a non-profit and non-partisan public policy research organization, includes data showing that H-1B petition denials increased by forty-one percent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of the 2017 fiscal year. Additionally, RFEs issued in the first three quarters of the 2017 fiscal year came to 63,599 combined, almost equaling the total number of RFEs—63,184—issued in the fourth quarter of the 2017 fiscal year.
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Wind Sculpture (SG) I
Wind Sculpture (SG) I, by the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, attempts to capture the invisible (in this case, the wind) in a moment of time. The fiberglass sculpture depicts a piece of fabric caught in a gust of wind, part of his “second generation” (SG) of artworks that explore the theme of making known the invisible. Resembling a painted West African fabric, the artwork "evokes a sense of freedom and possibility, which for the artist represents the originality of the hybrid." Shonibare, who split his childhood between England and Nigeria, regards himself as "a cultural hybrid, a product of complex and layered relationships forged by centuries of global trade, migration, politics, and cultural exchange." Through his artwork he invites us to "look beyond appearances and assumptions about identity." The beautiful piece is on view at Doris C. Freedman Plaza (in the southeast corner of Central Park) through October 14, 2018.
GQ: “Immigration Judges Are Rebelling Against the White House’s Efforts to Turn Courts into Deportation Machines”
After Attorney General Jeff Sessions removed an immigration judge from a case and reassigned the case to himself and then to another judge who consequently ordered the individual to be removed (i.e., deported), immigration judges and advocates have voiced their protest. The case involved Judge Steven Morley of Philadelphia who used “administrative closure” to suspend a case when a man named Reynaldo Castro-Tum failed to appear before him in immigration court. Administrative closure is used, for example, when the individual couldn’t make it to court for logistical reasons, including the summons being sent to the wrong address. Sessions responded by assigning the case to himself, issuing a decision that severely restricts the use of administrative closure, and instructed Morely to deport the individual if he didn’t show up again.
Read moreFight for Our Place
Gallow Green Summer Party!
Although we usually "hit the waters" for our annual summer Boat Dance, this summer we decided to stay on solid ground. Well, close to solid ground anyways. Last night we made our way up to the rooftop garden at Gallow Green at the McKittrick Hotel. This Hotel is best known as the home for the theatre experience Sleep No More, an immersive and interactive version of Macbeth. Intentionally creepy and set in a “secret garden” high atop the west-side of Manhattan, Gallow Green was the perfect mid-summer evening escape. With purple cocktails, we toasted to the summer and Michal’s impending maternity leave (she had water!), and said goodbye to Dana (our office manager) and to Nithya (our summer intern). And then, as if on cue, it started to rain and rain and rain. Happy Summer 2018!
Bloomberg Law: “Immigration Lawyers to Trump: See You in Court”
As a result of increasingly strict immigration policies and more petition denials under the Trump administration, more attorneys are considering suing the federal government. “I’ve been preaching the gospel” of litigation, attorney Thomas Ragland tells Bloomberg Law. Ragland says that although businesses have in the past been more reluctant than individuals to sue, he is encouraging corporate clients to pursue litigation in certain cases. He says: “Employers should consider litigation in cases where they think the agency got it wrong.”
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