New York PhotoFest is upon us again from this evening. What's great is that there is something for everyone in these annual exhibits all within easy walking distance throughout Dumbo. The FotoVisura Pavilion (sponsored by The Viso Lizardi Family) in the Dumbo Arts Center shows In Love and War and Dia introducing "the work of present professional photographers who during the 60s through the 80’s used the camera as a simple medium of communication and documentation of their life, identity and reality. In doing so, these individuals come together due to a shared sense of identity." Talks and discussions include Sat May 14th, 4pm: E-Cite: The Phenomena of Online Blogs & Magazines at St. Anne's Warehouse (followed by cocktails...now you're talking;) and Sun 15th, 3pm: An Intimate Screening and Discussion with the artists from Love and War.

Under The Bridge: Projections Of A Revolution (Thurs 12th, 8pm - 10pm- Archway under the Manhattan Bridge) has photos and videos documenting the revolutions in North Africa. Hope: Between Dream and Reality shows "young photographers who neither provide a faithful representation of reality nor create an illusion, but who have impressed me with their ability to capture the essential aspects of life", writes curator Enrico Bossan. Subjective/Objective is curated by Elisabeth Biondi: "As images can no longer surprise by discovering unknown territory photographers venture into a more personal visual language. From the more traditional approach which strives to show the world in an objective way to a more contemporary subjective engagement. Photographers today are increasingly exploring their own vision."

Other shows in our fair isle? If clay's your thing then Hillary Harnischfeger at Rachel Uffner sounds like your kinda gal. She combines the substance with everyday objects: "Their lumpy shapes, ugly/beautiful sensibility and focus on the grafting of bodies and things draw on varied influences, such as ritualistic Haniwa terracotta figures, Eva Hesse’s eccentric abstractions and Rosemarie Trockel’s defamiliarized ceramics. The artist’s mixing of dyed clay, based on the Japanese method of Neriage, ensures that unlike traditional ceramics that are tinted and glazed only on their surface, these pieces are instead wholly infused with vibrant color."
More of Louise Lawler discovering larger worlds by photographing the seeming mundane in Fitting at Metro Pictures. Yet more 'bibs and bibs' in Simon Evans' wonderfully titled show Shitty Heaven at James Cohan.

Better known as an award winning film director, David Shapiro:  Money Is No Object (in conjunction with the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas for a New City) redraws and repaints all of his bills and receipts on 12 vellum scrolls for the entire year of 2010. Wow, that's dedication to meditation on dialectical materialism!

Gillian Wearing is always fascinating and Katy Moran another Brit artist looks exciting.
And no one could resist new work by yet another Brit Richard Long Flow and Ebb, Rise and Fall (at Sperone Westwater in the new Norman Foster-designed gallery).

Jack Smith's Thanks for Explaining Me curated by Neville Wakefield includes 12 recently restored films (the film program is on Saturdays from 4-6 pm) and much hitherto unseen material. Each screening is introduced by film historians, scholars, friends and collaborators. Trust me, Smith's world was strange, wondrous and every significant artist of the 60s/70s openly acknowledges a debt of gratitude to him.

Another great pioneer often unsung outside architectural circles is Vladimir Tatlin: he of the Russian Constructivist movement and his huge never built tower- Monument of the Third International 1915-1920. What a 5 years of art history they were!
Martin Kippenberger's I Had A Vision mocks and muses what all became of us materialists "objects evince a self-mocking disposition expressed through the transmogrification of domestic décor'

Nothing will really make up for missing the William Kentridge exhibition last year at MoMA (opera designs and all) but Marion Goodman offers a meal rather than a taster in this latest show of recent work.
 Still running (thru June 4 at MoMA) is the Dziga Vertov film retrospective.
And you'll never leave a Chris Marker show without experiencing an altered state (both Peter Blum galleries): "over 200 photographs, made from digital images taken with a surreptitious camera by Marker on the Paris Metro during 2008-2010". Debates continue on the web as to what camera he actually used.

A banquet of movies and shorts in the 15th Annual Summer Series of Rooftop Films (presented by IFC and New York Magazine) features the World Premiere of New Yorker Zachary Raines' Freeloader (Sat May 14th), "a serious comedy following Frank, a feckless young man recently dumped by his girlfriend." You never know...

Bit disappointing that my new snapper Mr. Fish decided not to attend last Friday's gallery openings and chose instead "to practice skipping". I assume he meant the game of skimming pebbles on the water surface rather than some fetishistic aquatic water sport. But who are we to judge?
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