Chloe Domont, Hear Me Fall, Film Screening

March 27, 2010 at 7pm
rsvp@dactyl.org required

HEAR ME FALL follows a tortured boy as he makes his way back to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment one last time – As he goes over each dark truth in their relationship, we see that the real pain does not come from how much she manipulated him, but from how much he manipulated himself in order to keep her.



Watch the trailer. Continue reading “Chloe Domont, Hear Me Fall, Film Screening”

Cultivator: Play Reading Series

Friday, March 26, 2010 5-7 pm
The Beauty of Fragments: Talks with and about the NYC performance group Radiohole

The aim of The Cultivator series is to give breath and voice to dramatic scripts in progress, and to act as a seedbed for new dramatic writing. The Cultivator invites thoughtful experiments with form and language, and encourages spontaneous, organic collaborations between playwrights and performers. Each script presentation will be followed by a salon-style discussion, where participants and audience can talk freely about the work presented, or else consider the broader implications of theater and performance art in our culture. Part of the weekly CompostModern Discussion Forum at Dactyl, this monthly series will follow the forum’s general scope and format. Continue reading “Cultivator: Play Reading Series”

Rie Rasmussen, writer/filmmaker/artist and Neil Grayson, artist/curator, NY Post article

Feb 25, 2010
The breakfast of champions
MICHAEL SOFRONSKI
THE ART WORLD IMPRESARIOS: Rie Rasmussen, writer/filmmaker/artist and Neil Grayson, artist/curator, Dactyl Foundation (dactyl.org)
POWER PLAY-BY-PLAY: “I love meeting over meals,” says Rasmussen, who powwowed with Grayson to discuss an upcoming show and screening of her film “Human Zoo,” which opened last year’s Berlin Film Festival, at his SoHo gallery. But since NYC can be a small town, privacy is of the utmost importance. Thankfully, their corner banquette had plenty of it. The food didn’t fail to impress, either, with standouts including ripe papaya cut with lime — enjoyed after the meal as a digestive. And then there was the coffee, which woke up Rasmussen’s inner muse. “It’s excellent coffee for drawing,” she says, dipping a spoon in it to complete a coffee-and-ink sketch.

CompostModern Discussion Forum

ghostEvery Friday in 2010 4:00 – 6:00 PM

The CompostModern forum is made up of artists, poets, fiction writers, playwrights, scientists, mathematicians, musicians, actors and any one else interested in joining. We meet every Friday, and at least once or twice a month, we have a featured guest or two. Instead of presenting formal lectures or panels, we open the floor to the community. Featured guests and audience members are able to talk freely and on equal terms about everything from beauty and meaning to pop-culture. As the name implies, the CompostModern forum aims to re-cycle our rich aesthetic history. If the project of Continue reading “CompostModern Discussion Forum”

Join the forum discussion on this post

Featured Guests, Tyler Volk and Dorion Sagan, authors of Death & Sex

Friday, February 19th, 2010
4:00-6:00 PM
CompostModern Discussion Forum

Meet the authors of the critically acclaimed Death & Sex
a great excuse to talk about your favorite subjects in public…
Dorion Sagan has written and co-authored twenty-three books on evolution, cooking, and sex, translated into eleven languages. Sagan is the son of astronomer Carl Sagan and biologist Lynn Margulis.
Tyler Volk is a professor of biology at NYU who has written extensively on the Gaia hypothesis and life and death in the ecosystem. He is the author of four books and is affiliated with space life support research at NASA. Continue reading “Featured Guests, Tyler Volk and Dorion Sagan, authors of Death & Sex”

Join the forum discussion on this post

Staged Reading of “The Model” by Katalina Mustatea

Friday Jan 15th, 2010, 7:00-8:30

“The Model” is the first in a play reading series hosted by Dactyl Foundation. The aim of the series is to give breath and voice to dramatic scripts and to act as a seedbed for new dramatic writing.

‘We found her at the corner of Houston and 2nd Avenue, propped against a dumpster and looking a bit lost. She had the long legs and even features typical of her kind, and was dressed in a glamorous evening ensemble that looked rather out of place in the middle of Continue reading “Staged Reading of “The Model” by Katalina Mustatea”

CompostModern featured guest Michael Schippling, robotics artist

S_IMG_1674.JPGNov 20th 4:00-6:00 PM

Why Are They Fighting?

Michael Schippling is an artist who builds robots designed to act creativity. He notes that most independent artists working in robotics have succumbed to building fighting machines for TV audiences. Michael will be a featured guest at our Compost Modern discussion forum, giving us what he calls a “quirky history of Machine Art with a proposal for the future.” Continue reading “CompostModern featured guest Michael Schippling, robotics artist”

Judy Glantzman 30-Year Retrospective

CompostModern Discussion Forum

Spring / Summer 2009

Every Wednesday 2:30-5:30

“CompostModern,” a salon-style discussion forum, revolutionizing the way we present the work of poets and writers to the public. We have opened the floor to the community, bringing you in to participate in the planning, discussion, and hopes for the future of art, poetics and science. As the name implies, the CompostModern forum aims to re-cycle our rich aesthetic history. If the project of postmodernism was to deconstruct traditions, it has left us with a fertile soil out of which new forms may emerge. It is with the belief that all new forms of art must evolve from a history we approach the guiding question of the forum: What is creativity? At each weekly meeting, Dactyl members, noted artists, poets, Continue reading “CompostModern Discussion Forum”

Support and Awards: because science is sometimes too important to leave just to scientists

CLOSED: Awards Are No Longer Offered

Essay Awards Dactyl Foundation offers a $1,000 award for essays on literary theory, aesthetics, or poetics, which are grounded in science. The award is given periodically only when a suitable recipient is found. Awards are determined by the board. We are no longer accepting unsolicited entries. (The award amount was formerly $3,000 1997-2001)

Travel Award & Research Support Dactyl Foundation currently offers partial support (in the form of small cash awards, travel to conferences, and a think tank environment) for several scholars. We provide researchers with the opportunity to invite scientists and artists working in relevant fields to visit Dactyl Foundation in order to consult or collaborate.

Wendy Wheeler, 2009 essay award recipient

“Creative Evolution: A Theory of Cultural Sustainability,”

forthcoming in Communications, Politics and Culture. Dactyl Foundation is please to award Wendy Wheeler this year for her essay which helps to bring the sciences back into the arts.

‘Under the name of something called postmodernism, or of a condition called postmodernity, the idea of the artist as someone possibly doing something special has been derided as romantic Continue reading “Wendy Wheeler, 2009 essay award recipient”

Last of the Breed: Jan Krugier’s final exhibition

Picasso's "Femme allongée," 1946, one of the works Krugier was willing to part with.

January 1, 2009

D’Arcy, David, “Last of the Breed, Art + Auction January 1, 2009

Through his friendship with Giacometti, his ties to a key Picasso heir and his legendary eye, Jan Krugier built an empire. When he died at age 80 last fall, the art world lost the final remaining member of the generation of postwar connoisseur-dealers. Continue reading “Last of the Breed: Jan Krugier’s final exhibition”

The Imperfectionist: Helena Christensen, NY Times

The Imperfectionist

December 14, 2008

By Karin Nelson

HELENA CHRISTENSEN, the Danish supermodel turned fashion and art photographer, is probably the only person complaining that the iPhone takes quality photos. ”I’ll shake it as much as I can,” she said, a note of disdain in her voice. ”But it still comes out perfect.” Her photography, which has appeared in French and Italian Vogue and will go on view Monday at the Dactyl Foundation, is decidedly less perfect. ”It’s the blurriness and imperfection that I love,” she explained. ”And that strange feeling that the light can create.” Continue reading “The Imperfectionist: Helena Christensen, NY Times”

Jan Krugier, Modern Art Dealer, Dies at 80

Jan Krugier in 2006, with a painting by Picasso.
Jan Krugier in 2006, with a painting by Picasso.

November 20, 2008

Jan Krugier, Dealer of Art by Picasso, Balthus and Other Modernists, Dies at 80 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.comhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/arts/design/20krugier.html

Jan Krugier, who survived two years in Nazi concentration camps as a young man and went on to become a highly regarded dealer of work by artists like Picasso, Morandi, Balthus and Giacometti, died on Saturday at his home in Geneva. He was 80. Continue reading “Jan Krugier, Modern Art Dealer, Dies at 80”

Dialogues: Curated by Jan Krugier

November 3 – November 30, 2008
Tuesday – Saturday 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

In Memorium

Jan Krugier was perhaps the most significant art collector and dealer of our times. His passion and uncompromising vision can be seen clearly in what is one of the greatest collections known. We at Dactyl are honored to have hosted Dialogues, the last exhibition curated by Jan Krugier, before he passed away. We are especially thankful to Izabela Grocholski and John Mollett who made this incredible event possible. We would also like to thank Hikari Yokoyama. Continue reading “Dialogues: Curated by Jan Krugier”

John Allen Paulos, discussion

Thursday, November 6, 6:30PM

Wine & conversation with John Allen Paulos: Discussion Forum

Co-hosted by The Center for Inquiry

Paulos has written on the vagaries of the stock market in A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, arguments for God in his most recent book, Irreligion, and the mathematical and philosophical basis of humor in Mathematics and Humor and I Think, Therefore I Laugh. Continue reading “John Allen Paulos, discussion”

Angelbert Metoyer, ASK drawings and paintings

October 3rd – 25th, 2008

curated by Hikari Yokoyama

opening: October 3rd, 6:00 – 9:00

Internationally recognized for his palimpsest style, throughout his career Angelbert Metoyer has employed an esoteric system of symbols and icons to bemuse viewers and present himself as a shamanistic seer. Lately, he has gone deeper into abstraction, aligning his work with contemporary science’s ultimate abstractions: quantum mechanics and field theory. Continue reading “Angelbert Metoyer, ASK drawings and paintings”

Jennifer Michael Hecht, discussion

Monday Sept 8th


TRUTH UNCORKED: Where Wine Flows Like Conversation – a discussion Forum with Jennifer Michael Hecht

Join the Center for Inquiry and the Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities for a Truth Uncorked event, with author, poet, and intellectual historian Jennifer Michael Hecht. Our main event, featuring a salon conversation over wine and light hors d’oeuvres, begins at 6:30 p.m. An optional, intimate dinner with the speaker will follow. Continue reading “Jennifer Michael Hecht, discussion”