\n<\/p>\n
Being the 6-year-old daughter of Mark Krotov, the publisher and one of the editors of the literary magazine n+1<\/a>, is an all-access pass to New York City\u2019s foreign films and contemporary art.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s always very, very receptive to stuff,\u201d he said of his daughter, Daria Krotov-Clarke, whom he and his wife, Chantal Clarke, a writer, are raising in Queens. \u201cIf I had to do a lot of persuading, I don\u2019t think we would be leading the active life that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal on weekends is always to leave the house in the morning and not come back until the late afternoon,\u201d said Krotov, 39, who has been n+1\u2019s publisher since 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The magazine and arts organization, which publishes political commentary, essays, criticism and fiction, celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year. The name comes from the algebraic expression, a nod to the idea that there is always something vital to be added to a conversation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s a philosophy that Krotov, who was born in Moscow and moved with his family to Atlanta in 1991, tries to adopt in his own life. He makes an effort to see the films, exhibitions and performances that come up in the pieces he edits.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I can watch or read alongside a writer, that\u2019s really helpful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Krotov chronicled his cultural diet during a week in February that culminated with the launch party for n+1\u2019s winter issue. These are edited excerpts from phone and email interviews.<\/p>\n Weekends are for entertaining and being entertained by my daughter, Daria \u2014 an effort aided by the Blast Off newsletter<\/a>, the most important email I receive every week. Blast Off arrives on Wednesday mornings full of brilliant recommendations for kid-friendly things to do around the city, including, this week, a family program assembling paper skyscrapers at the Center for Architecture<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before the cardboard and the glue guns, we managed to sneak in another Valentine\u2019s Day\u2013themed outing: \u201cLots of \u2018Love,\u2019\u201d<\/a> a program of 16-millimeter cartoons at Metrograph. \u201cRomeeow,\u201d featuring a lovelorn but laser-focused Felix the Cat, was the screening\u2019s big winner. Afterward, Daria wanted to go look at Walter De Maria\u2019s \u201cEarth Room,\u201d to which she has been dragged many times before, and I wasn\u2019t going to say no. Since we were in the neighborhood we also walked over to De Maria\u2019s \u201cBroken Kilometer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When it comes to crafting, it\u2019s hard to beat the Noguchi Museum\u2019s Art for Families program<\/a>. Daria and some friends and I all happily dedicated ourselves to making lanterns out of bamboo and mulberry paper.<\/p>\n Afterward, we caught two Soviet films at Lincoln Center I found out about thanks to the other essential newsletter in my life, Screen Slate<\/a>: Sergei Parajanov\u2019s debut, \u201cAndriesh,\u201d a magical realist fable Daria loved, and the Ukrainian director Yurii Illienko\u2019s \u201cThe Eve Before Ivan Kupala,\u201d which she gamely tolerated.<\/p>\n On a typical week in culture, two movies in one day are enough. But on a typical week in culture, Abel Ferrara\u2019s brooding \u201cPasolini\u201d isn\u2019t playing at Anthology Film Archives<\/a>. I went with my friend, the writer and film editor Blair McClendon, whom I hope I successfully persuaded to close-read Drake\u2019s lawsuit against Universal Music Group for the magazine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I grab lunch with my friend Matt Shen Goodman to check in on his piece \u2014 currently in progress \u2014 about the trope of the New Yorker learning to drive late-ish in life, but other than that it\u2019s emails, emails and more emails. Plus a handful of spreadsheets, in anticipation of a monthly meeting with our bookkeeper. It\u2019s grounding to see the entirety of the magazine\u2019s varied activities reduced to income and expense lines on a profit and loss statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Tuesdays are for meetings: an issue meeting in the morning and a web meeting in the afternoon. Between those meetings, our managing editor, Tess Edmonson, and I cram in another meeting \u2014 this one about our next book, Victoria Lomasko\u2019s beautiful and unfortunately timely collection of graphic reportage, \u201cThe Last Soviet Artist,\u201d which we\u2019re publishing in April.<\/p>\n I\u2019m trying to finish a review of the Paul Rudolph show at the Met<\/a> for the New York Review of Architecture<\/a>. The review is late, in part because I\u2019m also writing a piece for our website about widespread institutional collapse<\/a>. I make some progress on the latter between school drop-off and the start of the workday.<\/p>\n The nearly complete Frederick Wiseman retrospective at Lincoln Center is a huge event, and I\u2019m thrilled to be seeing the monumental \u201cPublic Housing<\/a>,\u201d from 1997, with my friends Ken Chen, a writer and critic, and Mariana Mogilevich, the editor of the website Urban Omnibus<\/a> and the author of a forthcoming review for us of Wiseman\u2019s government films. Ken and I meet at Blondie\u2019s<\/a>, on West 79th Street, before the movie for Buffalo wings, fried onions and cheese curds. Blondie\u2019s! An American institution, like Frederick Wiseman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Our issue launch party is this evening in the office, and before that, there\u2019s a lot of rearranging, sweeping and beer purchasing to do.<\/p>\n At the party, Lisa and our senior editor Colin Vanderburg read from their piece on Fredric Jameson<\/a>, with Colin voicing Jameson in a low, stentorian rumble, while Mina Tavakoli reads from her piece on puppets<\/a> with the assistance of an actual puppet. People hang out long after the readings are over and drink most of our beer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019ve been reading Helen Garner\u2019s \u201cThis House of Grief\u201d for my book club and listening to the Clash\u2019s \u201cCombat Rock\u201d for my sanity.<\/p>\n On Tess\u2019s recommendation I go see \u201c41 Floors,\u201d a show of Cheyenne Julien\u2019s sly and lovely paintings at Chapter NY, the day before it closes. The title of the show refers to Tracey Towers, the Bronx housing project where Julien grew up and Paul Rudolph\u2019s only major commission in the city. Rudolph is everywhere, if you\u2019re looking for Rudolph.<\/p>\nSaturday: Cartoon Afternoon<\/h2>\n
Sunday: \u2018Pasolini\u2019 and Paper Lanterns<\/h2>\n
Monday: The Nonprofit Life<\/h2>\n
Tuesday: Making a Magazine<\/h2>\n
Wednesday: Cheese Curds and Cinema<\/h2>\n
Thursday: Celebrate<\/h2>\n
Friday: Documentary Date Night<\/h2>\n