The Week Ahead & Some Recent Photos

The Week Ahead & Some Recent Photos

By Larry Janezich

Posted August 20, 2023

Update on Proposed Alley Closing behind the former Capitol Lounge.  ANC6B’s Planning and Zoning Committee’s Subcommittee on Alley and Street Closings met last Tuesday night.  According to Commissioner Jerry Sroufe, the Subcommittee discussed their interactions with CM Charles Allen where they learned that the CM had not yet heard from the Conservative Partnership Institute, the alley-closing applicants.  Since the alley closing will require approval by the City Council, and the closing is in Ward 6, it will fall to Allen to sponsor legislation to authorize the privatization of public space.  The subcommittee determined that additional efforts should be made to talk with residents who will be affected by the proposed closing.  In addition, plans are being made for a walk-through with the owners and Commissioners but no date was set.  A of the Subcommittee is planned for September to discuss possible community benefits to be sought in exchange for the potential transfer of public space to private hands. 

The current exhibition at the Renwick Gallery This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World employs traditional craft media including neon, fiber, metal, glass, and wood to ask questions about the relationship between craft and space and craft and time. One of the ways the exhibit is important is that it “highlights craft’s ability to spark essential conversations about race, gender and representation.” 

“This neon sign cycles through the statements “This present moment used to be the unimaginable future” and “This moment used to be the future” before turning off completely for a short time. The text is a quote by Stewart Brand, an American writer who is best known as the editor of the Whole Earth Catalogue.”

“Sculptor Alicia Eggert creates immersive experiences of time. This neon billboard casts a brilliant pink light throughout the Renwick’s Octagon Room, prompting us to become more present in this very moment. Eggert illuminates a quote by revolutionary futurist Stewart Brand, from his book The Clock of the Long Now (1999), a manifesto for living intentionally with a ten-thousand-year-old clock in mind. The pink is a call out to the Me Too movement of 2017, a once unimaginable social reckoning that empowered people to share past stories of sexual harassment and assault, demand accountability, and make possible safer conditions for all.”

Bisa Butler.  Don’t Tread on Me, God Damn, Let’s Go! – The Harlem Hellfighters

Pieced, appliquéd, and stuffed cotton, silk, wool, and velvet.

”In this monumental (11 foot) quilt, Butler brings to life the history and emotions of nine members of the 369^th Infantry Regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters, a segregated unit of the American Expeditionary Force in World War One.  Drawing from the wellsprings of African American quilting traditions…Butler pieced together dazzling textiles to connect this present moment to the past.”

“I look to their example to see for myself that the triumphs we experience today will outlast tyrants and that nothing can ever erase them—not time, not death. These protectors of our nation fought and put their very bodies and their lives on the line. My work is to continue to lift them up in history so they can be seen in public spaces, where their heroic sacrifices become part of the American quest to fight against oppression and for freedom.” —Bisa Butler

Here’s a link to a six-minute video of a Renwick curator talking about the piece:  https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/contemporary-craft-renwick-gallery

The Week Ahead…

Tuesday, August 22

ANC6A’s Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Committee will hold a virtual meeting at 7:00pm. 

For info on how to join the meeting, go here:  https://anc6a.org/community-calendar/

Among items on the draft agenda:

• Discussion of application by The People’s Kitchen at 816 H Street, NE, First Floor for a Class C Restaurant License.
• Discussion of application of Bloom at 1402 H Street, NE, Suite C-1,for a Class C Tavern License.
• Discussion with Mr. Luke Casey regarding a request for the ANC’s support for a stipulated license for the re-opening of Dirty Water at 816 H Street, NE under new ownership.