Your Week Untapped: Best Events for September 10-16

Image Credit:  Experiments in Motion, a partnership between Columbia University GSAPP and Audi America.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10: The First Person Plural Harlem   Reading Series returns after a summer hiatus. The event features authors Paul La Farge and Lynne Tillman, and multi-media artist collective, LoVid. The artists are invited to read pieces that explore the collective voice and may also read from other recent work. 7-9pm. The Shrine World Music Venue, 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. FREE. Read our interview with one of FPP Harlem’s first readers, Pulitzer Prize Winning Cultural Critic Margo Jefferson, and check back soon for our coverage of tonight’s event.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11: Join Atlas Obscura for Perverse Relics: Tony Perrottet on Europe’s Historical Underbelly. Tony Perrottet has made a career of tracking down historical sites and relics that have been kept far from public view. In this vividly illustrated lecture, he will recount his adventures researching his latest books, Napoleon’s Privates: 2500 Years of History Unzipped and The Sinner’s Grand Tour. 7:30-9:30pm at Observatory, 543 Union Street, Brooklyn. $10. Buy tickets here. Read about Napoleon’s Penis and check back soon for our coverage of the lecture.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12:   Kate Steciw continues her exploration into the construction and dissemination of consumer culture in her first solo show at toomer labzda, boundless hyper. The show’s title, arrived at using a common web-based naming software that pairs at random various search optimized terms, speaks to steciw’s ongoing interest in the ideologies and aesthetics of networked culture. with a focus on e-commerce, steciw addresses the implications and applications of user identity both online and off. 6-8pm at toomer labzda, 100a Forsyth Street. FREE.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13: Join OHNY and photographer Christopher Payne for an illustrated talk about his current work. North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City, and One Steinway Place. In the past decade, Payne has become a leading photographer of forgotten places, and with these projects he continues his exploration by offering rare glimpses into two places few New Yorkers have ever seen. See his work and listen to the stories behind capturing these rare images at this illustrated talk in a unique landmarked space inside the Schermerhorn row buildings, originally built in 1812 and now home of the South Street Seaport Museum. A reception will be held following the talk. 6:30-8pm at The South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton Street. $15. Buy tickets here.

Also on Thursday:   Taking dead aim at being the must-witness NYC lit event of September, Literary Death Match ”” presented by Electric Literature ”” is pitting fiction v. non-fiction for our epic return to Le Poisson Rouge that’ll sparkle with lit brilliance, comedic funtabulism and beyond! Plus, the first 50 through the door get a FREE advance copy of Jon Ronson’s Lost at Sea. Doors at 6pm, show at 7:15. Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleeker Street. $10 in advance or $15 at the door.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14: Pierogi is pleased to present The House Party, a full-scale, participant activated installation by Andrew Ohanesian at The Boiler. Known for his ability to blend fiction and fact, Ohanesian creates environments that surreptitiously alter the viewer’s perception of reality, calling into question preconceived notions about architecture, space, and the social interactions that take place within. 7-10pm at The Boiler, 191 N 14th Street, Brooklyn. FREE.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15: To showcase both the technological approach and the widespread community support behind the Lowline is proud to unveil “Imagining the Lowline.” Partnering with the LowLine, Audi of America and Columbia University, Experiments in Motion are excited to connect their research on mobility to one of the most innovative proposals for a new kind of public space in New York City. They are featuring a fifty foot floating model of Manhattan. The suspended aluminum street grid is a 1:1500 scale replica of Manhattan’s infrastructure with a never before seen view of the architectural volumes of every subway station on the island. This exhibition, to be held in an abandoned warehouse just above the proposed Lowline site, will be free and open to the public from September 15-27. Visitors will experience an immersive 50 foot Aluminum model of Manhattan as well as a solar technology exhibit featuring a shimmering solar canopy, a planted green space, and a first-hand look at the potential of remote skylights underground. 12-6pm. Essex Street Warehouse, on the corner of Essex and Broome Streets. FREE.

Also on Saturday:   “Survival” features 4 artists working in a variety of different media. Harris Diamant creates complex and exquisite post-modernist sculptures that are formed of the artifacts of human cultural creativity and technological ingenuity. Using ubiquitous logos and well-known brands, David Erwin’s paintings depict a possible future for our cultural constructs and questions the value of our preoccupa tion with the concepts and concerns of survival through competitive advantage. Mia Tyler’s installations and photographs envision a future in which the struggle to survive dominates all aspects of life in a toxic environment of our own making. Joseph Grazi’s intricate and graphical drawings illustrate both the decay and the beauty of man-made machines – inanimate creations that will survive their creators. 7-10pm at Lambert Fine Arts, 57 Stanton Street. FREE.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16: DJ Prostyle Pre Concert birthday bash featuring special celebrity guests. A former clothing factory, District 36 title comes from its location in midtown’s garment district on 36th street. Blocks from Herald square and the Empire State building, the 14,000 square foot dance club — built from the sound system out, embodies New York City nightlife. Not overly designed, the venue’s simple lay-out, in combination with quality sound, and top-tier talent gives patrons a stripped down nightlife experience without the excess. Distric 36, 29 W 36th Street. Everyone free until 1am on Velvet List. Rsvp: 212-366-0752.