The De Lamar Mansion Centennial Salon of Arts & Ideas

The Consulate General of Poland celebrates the 100th anniversary of the mansion that has been its home since 1973 with the De Lamar Mansion Centennial Salon of Arts of & Ideas at the Consulate General of Poland in New York.

Nine salon-like events at a magnificent gem of Beaux-Arts style architecture, the De Lamar Mansion at the corner of Madison Avenue and 37th Street in New York City, are free and open to the public.

This multi-media program, taking place from October 14 – 22, 2006, which also celebrates New York City as a mecca for creative people, features salon-like evenings of music, art, and conversation with an international cast of artists, writers, musicians, and intellectuals, including, among others filmmaker David Lynch (www.davidlynch.com), jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stanko (www.tomaszstanko.com), two Academy Award winners – composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (www.kaczmarek.org) and filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczynski (www.zbigvision.com), innovator of photography and photocomposer Ryszard Horowitz (www.ryszardhorowitz.com) – as well as playwright and author Janusz Glowacki (www.januszglowacki.com), New York Times Writer-at-Large Roger Cohen, and former New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Weschler (now director of the NY Institute for the Humanities and the Chicago Humanities Festival). It also includes a one-night exhibition of over thirty of Poland’s best contemporary artists – Polyphony of Images. A Night of Cutting-Edge Contemporary Art from Poland: Video, Performance, and Other Media, presented on three floors of the De Lamar Mansion by the Polish Cultural Institute and curated by its director, art historian Monika Fabijanska (www.PolishCulture-NYC.org).

The grand finale of the 9-day celebration of the mansion’s centennial is a public architectural projection on the building’s façade by the L.A.-based multi-media artist and independent projection designer Bart Kresa (www.bartkresa.com). (See full schedule and program information below.)

The De Lamar Mansion Historical Background:
This series of events is organized by the Polish Consulate to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the De Lamar Mansion, a residence designed by architect C.P.H. Gilbert (who also designed the Warburg and Fletcher Mansions on Fifth Avenue that now house the Jewish Museum and the Ukrainian Institute, respectively), and built in 1906 for copper tycoon Joseph Raphael De Lamar. The building housed the National Democratic Club for 50 years before the Polish government purchased it in 1973.

Though the De Lamar Mansion is an historic landmark and one of New York’s most beautiful examples of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, for many the building remains somewhat mysterious and unknown. The mansion’s elegant interiors have regularly provided a venue for concerts, receptions and meetings organized by the Polish Consulate, as well as by other organizations. All culturally curious New Yorkers are invited to experience this architectural and historic gem for the duration of the Centennial Salon and beyond.

PROGRAM

The De Lamar Mansion Centennial Salon of Arts & Ideas
at the Consulate General of Poland in New York
233 Madison Avenue at 37th Street

October 14 – 22, 2006

(All of the events are free and open to the public, unless noted otherwise.)

October 14, 4pm:    “De Lamar Mansion in Murray Hill: Beaux-Arts Masterpieces of New York’s Gilded Age”. Panel and presentation, followed by open house tour

October 15, 10am:    De Lamar Mansion open house guided tours (conclude at 3:00pm),
7pm:    “Polish Night Music”
An improvised keyboard dialogue between film auteur David Lynch (also an avid musician, as well as Eagle Scout) and pianist and composer Marek Zebrowski, Director of the Polish Music Center at USC’s Thornton School of Music.
A previous musical improvisation from these two friends and collaborators can be heard in Lynch’s latest film, “Inland Empire.”

October 16, 7pm:    “Double Vision: Cross-Cultural Perspectives in New York”
A conversation among journalist and editor Roger Cohen (International Herald Tribune, New York Times); playwright and writer Janusz Glowacki (Antigone in New York, Hunting Cockroaches); Elzbieta Matynia (Director, Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, New School for Social Research); and Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Alex Storozynski, (The New York Sun).

Elzbieta Czyzewska and Olek Krupa, both acclaimed Polish-born actors living in New York, will give a dramatic reading of excerpts from two of Glowacki’s plays that deal with the émigré experience: Antigone in New York and Hunting Cockroaches

October 17, 7pm:    “At the Crossroads: The Poetry of Music”
An evening of sound climates with Jakub Omsky on cello, Jerome Lowenthal on piano, and Mark Foley on bass, with a special guest appearance by legendary Polish jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, who’s in the midst of his U.S. tour.

October 18, 7pm:     “It Starts with the Logo: the Graphics of Solidarity”
A presentation by Lawrence Weschler, a former New Yorker staff writer, now director of the NY Institute for the Humanities, artistic director of the Chicago Humanities Festival, and author of many books, including the recently published Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences

October 19, 6pm –    “Polyphony of Images. A Night of Cutting-Edge Contemporary Art from midnight:     Poland: Video, Performance, and Other Media”
One-night exhibition of over 30 of Poland’s best contemporary artists presented on three floors of the De Lamar Mansion by the Polish Cultural Institute and curated by its director, art historian Monika Fabijanska.

Artists include Rafal Bujnowski, Aneta Grzeszykowska & Jan Smaga, Dominik Lejman, Zbigniew Libera, Katarzyna Kozyra, Jozef Robakowski, Wilhelm Sasnal, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Xawery Wolski, and Artur Zmijewski, as well as many emerging talents. This unique survey will include video, objects, drawings, paintings, installations, and performance. Many of the works have never been shown in New York (more at: www.PolishCulture-NYC.org).

October 20, 7pm:     “Sound & Vision: A Dialogue”
A discussion on the creative process with two Academy Award winning Polish artists: composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (Finding Neverland, Unfaithful, Washington Square) and experimental filmmaker and HD innovator Zbigniew Rybczynski (known for his music videos for the likes of Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, and Lou Reed, as well as for the classical music program “Orchestra,” an Emmy-awarded HDTV program on PBS.

October 21, 7pm:    “The Joy of Creation: Science as Art”
An evening with Prof. Piotr Chomczynski (www.mrcgene.com), world-renowned molecular biologist and founder of the Molecular Research Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. (He is one of the most oft-cited scientists for his revolutionary single-step method of RNA isolation.) With musical commentary and counterpoint by Jakub Omsky on cello.

October 22, 6:30pm:    “A Symphony of Light”, designed by Bart Kresa
An architectural projection on the façade of the De Lamar Mansion by L.A.-based independent projection designer Bart Kresa who creates large-scale illumination projects around the globe (TV Gala in Salzburg, Austria, Fredericks of Hollywood's Valentines Celebration, Disney's 50th Anniversary, and many more; www.bartkresa.com).


The below final event is by invitation only:

October 22, 7:30 pm:    “A Feast for the Senses” (by invitation only)
The final evening features delights of taste, sound, and sight:

• A Banquet of the Haute Polish Cuisine, by famed restaurateur Magda Gessler (owner of many of Poland’s finest dining establishments, including and U Fukiera and the more recent AleGloria);
• Musical interludes by internationally acclaimed opera mezzosoprano Małgorzata Walewska (www.walewska.net) and cellist Jakub Omsky (the musical director of the Centennial Salon); and
• An exclusive preview of new and selected works by innovator of photography and photocomposer Ryszard Horowitz.

We wish to thank the following sponsors whose generosity made the Centennial of De Lamar Mansion possible:

• Polimeni International, LLC
• NATO Expansion Engineering & Program Management Corporation
• Polish Cultural Institute in New York
• Mr. Sigmund Rolat
• Zawisny & Zawisny, P.C. Attorneys at Law
• Cracovia - Importer of Fine European Food and Liquor
• Potocki Vodka
• Emina Wine - Matarromera Group, Spain
• The Gessler Restaurants, Warsaw
• PLL LOT Polish Airlines
• Blueberries Advertising