It took Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley seven years to film their Atlantic Yards documentary, Battle for Brooklyn, but only about as many seconds to find out that it had been shortlisted for an Academy Award. Now that the subject of eminent domain may very well share the stage with sequins and tuxedos at the Kodak Theatre at the Oscars on February 26 (official nominees will be announced January 24), Atlantic Yards-inspired art has finally gained traction with viewers and critics alike, in New York and nationwide. Read More »

Above the Prospect Expressway, on 17th Street, a garage shut its doors to December’s early darkness. My friend Andrea stood outside the alleged gallery space, waiting for me, uncertain whether she had found the right place. In front, a sign pointed inside, and a flyer peeling from the door read, “Open Source Gallery.” Read More »

Nate Buckley will craft you a mixed tape for just seven Brooklyn Torches. Morgan Stevens-Garmon will bake you bread for five, and Karen A. Dahlberg will be your wingman for 10 Torches an hour. If that all sounds like the barter system mixed with performance art and dash of idealism, you’re not far off. Read More »

Whether it’s a brownstone parlor, the grounds of a Gothic church or the peeling basin of a long-abandoned pool, any unconventional space has the potential to become a stage for some Brooklyn-based dance companies. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing, albeit illegal, re-appropriating of this sort happened last July, when Seanna Sharpe, an aerial dancer, dangled from silks attached to a Williamsburg Bridge tower. The act ended in a fittingly dramatic way–with a police chase and an arrest. Read More »

About a decade ago, John Quaintance, an Emmy-winning TV news reporter and syndicated radio host, returned to the romance of manual typing with the purchase of a 1952 Royal Quiet Deluxe–a move that put him at the forefront of a growing trend among professional writers. “When you push that key on a manual typewriter, man, that’s it!” he said. “I’m not sure what prompted me to buy it. Probably just curiosity and wanting to part with money, I guess.” Read More »