Editors’ Picks: 15 Things to See in New York This Week

Here's what's on tap this week.

"Nick Cave: Until" installation view. Courtesy of MASS MoCA.

Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting, and thought-provoking, shows, screenings, and events. See them below.

Tuesday, April 25–Thusrday, June 15

Heeseop Yoon. Courtesy of Sapar Contemporary.

Heeseop Yoon. Courtesy of Sapar Contemporary.

1. “Home as an Irrevocable Condition” at Sapar Contemporary
Four international women artists—India’s Poonam Jain, now based in Munbai; South Korea’s Heeseop Yoon, now based in Brooklyn; Singapore’s Wyn-Lyn Tan, now based in Norway; and Hungary’s Zsofia Schweger, now based in London—grapple with the concept of home in this group exhibition. The show looks to find a visual and conceptual language to define this wide-ranging idea in an age when increasing globalization threatens to send us all adrift.

Location: Sapar Contemporary, 9 N Moore Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, April 26

"Nick Cave: Until" installation view. Courtesy of MASS MoCA.

“Nick Cave: Until” installation view. Courtesy of MASS MoCA.

2. “Until | Nick Cave, Helga Davis, Bob Faust, and Denise Markonish, an Artist Dialogue Series Event at the New York Public Library
Timed to Nick Cave’s new book, Until, and MASS MoCA exhibition “Nick Cave: Until” (through August), the artist discusses his latest work, which moves beyond his well-known “Soundsuits” to transform the museum into an immersive installation the size of a football field.

Location: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Auditorium, 476 Fifth Avenue at 42nd St and Fifth Avenue
Price: Free with registration
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Martha Wilson, Thump (2016). Courtesy of the artist and PPOW Gallery.

Martha Wilson, Thump (2016). Courtesy of the artist and PPOW Gallery.

3. Martha Wilson: Activist History Teach-in at the 8th Floor
Performance artist Martha Wilson will host an evening of talks and performances exploring the cross section between performance art and activism. Wilson, who is widely known for her political performances where she dressed up as first ladies Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan in ’80s and ’90s, has since revived this practice with her recent impersonations of Donald Trump.

She is also the founder and director of Frankin Furnace, a non-profit organization that aims to safeguard the history and future of avant-garde art practices, including installation, video, and performance art. This week’s happening will feature a performance by Wilson and presentations by artists Ann Agee, Rehan Ansari, Tomie Arai and Betty Yu (Chinatown Art Brigade), Todd Ayoung (REPOhistory), Avram Finkelstein (ACT UP and Gran Fury), Alicia Grullón (Percent for Green), Amin Husain and Nitasha Dhillon (MTL), Rasu Jilani, Taja Lindley (Harriet’s Apothecary), Katherine Perko, Gregory Sholette (Gulf Labor Artists Coalition)Lise Soskolne (W.A.G.E.), and Barbara Zucker (A.I.R. Gallery).

The event coincides with the exhibition “The Intersectional Self,” a group show (on view through May 19) featuring works by Janine Antoni, Andrea Bowers, Patty Chang, Abigail DeVille, Ana Mendieta, Catherine Opie, Adrian Piper, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Cindy Sherman and Martha Wilson.

Location: 17 West 17th Street
Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–9 p.m.

Terence Trouillot

Wednesday, April 26–Thursday, June 29

Alessandra Sanguinetti, <EM>The vendor, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris</EM> (2016). Courtesy of Aperture Gallery.

Alessandra Sanguinetti, The vendor, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris (2016). Courtesy of Aperture Gallery.

4. “Le Gendarme Sur La Colline: Photographs by Alessandra Sanguinetti” at Aperture Gallery
In collaboration with Fondation d’enterprise Hermès, Aperture presents a new body of work by New York-based photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti created during a trip from the seaport of Calais to Marseilles and then Paris.

According to the exhibition description, “Sanguinetti’s photographs offer an intuitive, lyrical journey” that explore “a France in which traditions are being played out in a variety of ways as the culture begins to shift in relation to migration, growing contrasts between isolated rural communities and the more cosmopolitan cities, alongside other contemporary stresses.”

Location: Aperture Gallery and Bookstore, 547, West 27th Street, 4th Floor
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 7 p.m.–8:30 p.m.; Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, April 26–Sunday, September 3

Robert Stadler, installation view of "Solid Doubts" at Noguchi Museum. Photo Nicholas Knight. Courtesy the artist and Noguchi Gallery.

Robert Stadler, installation view of “Solid Doubts” at Noguchi Museum. Photo Nicholas Knight. Courtesy the artist and Noguchi Gallery.

5. “Robert Stadler: Solid Doubts” at the Noguchi Museum 
Paris-based, Austrian artist Robert Stadler is having a major New York moment this spring, with three concurrent shows that tick all boxes: a museum, a gallery, and an art fair. The category-defying Stadler’s show “Solid Doubts” opens at the Noguchi Museum on April 26 and runs through September 3. (It’s the first time the museum has showed the work of a contemporary designer.) The next day, “Weight Class” will open at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, and Waiting Room, which pairs Stadler’s work with that of Isamu Noguchi, will be on view at the upcoming Collective Design Fair (May 3–7).

Location: The Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Rd, Queens
Price: $10
Time: Wednesday–Friday, 10 am–5 pm; Saturday–Sunday, 11 am–6 pm. Monday–Tuesday: Closed.
—Eileen Kinsella

Wednesday, April 26–Sunday, September 10

Carol Rama, </em>Seduzioni (Seductions)</em>, 1984. © Archivio Carol Rama, Turin. Courtesy of photographer Pino dell’Aquila.

Carol Rama, Seduzioni (Seductions), 1984. © Archivio Carol Rama, Turin. Courtesy of photographer Pino dell’Aquila.

6. “Carol Rama: Antibodies” at the New Museum
Writing in artnet Magazine (the forerunner to artnet News) in 2008, Ilka Scobie wrote that Italian artist Carol Rama‘s “subversive, elemental, proto-feminist work is a milestone in Italian modernism.” She’s the subject of “Carol Rama: Antibodies,” a new exhibition opening this week at New York’s New Museum.

The bookends to her career: the authorities shut down her first show, in 1943 in Turin, for indecency owing to the erotic nudes she depicted, often defecating or entangled with serpents; and, in 2003, she won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale. Rama has been cited as an influence by no less than Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, and Rosemarie Trockel, so this is one not to miss.

Location: The New Museum, 235 Bowery
Price: General admission $10, seniors $15, students $12; members, 15–18, or 14 and under, free; pay what you wish, Thursday 7 p.m.–9 p.m.
Time: Tuesday & Wednesday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Thursday 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday–Sunday 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Brian Boucher

Thursday, April 27–Sunday, May 21

A work by Swoon. Courtesy of editrrix via Flickr Creative Commons.

A work by Swoon. Courtesy of editrrix via Flickr Creative Commons.

7. “Swoon: To Accompany Something Invisible” at Allouche Gallery
Street artist Swoon brings her personal sketches to a Chelsea gallery for the first time. She is best known for her wheat-paste and paper-cutout work that’s covered the walls of many cities, including a few walls here in New York City. The exhibition features her preliminary paper cutouts, prep sketches, and installation boxes, offering an inside look into her process.

Location: Allouche Gallery, 82 Gansevoort St., New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Open daily, 10:30 a.m.–7 p.m.

Sarbani Ghosh

Thursday, April 27–Thursday, July 29

Roni Horn, Water Double, v. 1 and Water Double, v. 3 (2013– 2015). Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

Roni Horn, Water Double, v. 1 and Water Double, v. 3 (2013– 2015). Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

8. “Roni Horn” at Hauser & Wirth
The show marks the US debut of four new bodies of Roni Horn’s work including The Selected Gifts (1974–2015), a collection of 67 photographs documenting the history of gifts the artist received over a period of 41 years. Also on display are two new bodies of works on paper, The Dog’s Chorus (2016) and Th Rose Prblm (2015), as well as new glass sculptures Water Double, v. 1 and Water Double, v. 3 (both 2013–2015). Although materially divergent, the works are all rooted in the artist’s longstanding questions and exploration of themes relating to the nature of identity, meaning, and perception.

Location: Hauser & Wirth New York, 548 West 22nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Eileen Kinsella

Thursday, April 27–Friday, July 30

Alex Katz, from his "Subway Drawings" series (circa 1940s). Courtesy of Timothy Taylor.

Alex Katz, from his “Subway Drawings” series (circa 1940s). Courtesy of Timothy Taylor.

9. “Alex Katz: Subway Drawings” at Timothy Taylor
Timothy Taylor is teaming up with Gavin Brown’s Enterprise to present early drawings by Alex Katz, created when he was a student at New York’s Cooper Union. The artist preferred to ride the subway and sketch the crowds rather than working with models in the studio, effectively turning his commute into a classroom. Shown together for the first time, the simple line drawings showcase Katz’s expert draftsmanship in portraits that are, according to the exhibition description, “rendered in fragmented moments, captured in the fleeting period between one subway station to the next.”

Location: Timothy Taylor, 515 West 19th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, April 29

George Condo, <em>The White House</em> (2017). Courtesy of Skastedt.

George Condo, The White House (2017). Courtesy of Skastedt.

10. Madison Avenue Gallery Walk on the Upper East Side
It might seem like most galleries are located in Chelsea or the Lower East Side these days, but over 50 Upper East Side galleries, on Madison Avenue and its side streets between East 57th and East 86th Streets, are gearing up for Frieze and TEFAF’s first spring New York edition with a all-day gallery crawl.

Highlights look to include a George Condo exhibition at Skarstedt (April 27–June 24), avant garde German photography at Howard Greenberg Gallery (through May 13), and drawings of birds and insects by the great choreographer Merce Cunningham at Sigrid Freundorfer Fine Art.

Location: Various locations on and off Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side
Price: Free
Time: 11 a.m.–9 p.m. (with some galleries closing earlier)

Sarah Cascone

The Wavetree returns to New York. Photo by Kenneth Sommer. Courtesy South Street Seaport Museum.

The Wavetree returns to New York. Photo by Kenneth Sommer. Courtesy South Street Seaport Museum.

11. South Street Seaport Museum 50th Anniversary Celebration
The museum kicks off its 50th anniversary celebration with this special family-friendly event including free admission to all of the museum’s offerings within the historic seaport district, including tours of its current exhibitions as well as tours of the historic ships Ambrose and Wavertree. There will be printing demonstrations at the Bowne print shops at 209-211 Water Street, as well as family activities and music on Pier 16. The momentous anniversary year will be inaugurated with a special bell-ringing ceremony aboard the lightship Ambrose.

Location: South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton Street, New York and various surrounding sites.
Price: Free
Time: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Eileen Kinsella

Saturday, April 29–Monday, September 4

Nari Ward, G.O.A.T., again. Process detail featuring goat mold. Photo by Mitch Cope.

12. “Nari Ward: G.O.A.T., Again” at Socrates Sculpture Park
Nari Ward‘s first institutional solo exhibition opens this Saturday, with newly commissioned work that will be made on-site at Socrates Sculpture Park. His works use the phrase G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) and the connotations surrounding goats to talk about the African American experience, identity, progress, and the urban environment. Ward plays with outdoor lawn ornaments, statues, advertising, and architecture to create playful public artworks.

Location: Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City
Price: Free
Time: 9 a.m.–sunset.

Sarbani Ghosh

Sunday, April 30

13. House Divided PEN World Voices Festival at Cooper Union
Taking its title from Abraham Lincoln’s famous 1858 speech, “House Divided” is an event that will bring together over 30 artists, writers, poets, and activists to come speak out about the US’s current political climate, and promises to foster a vibrant creative community in a time of great despair and uncertainty. As a prelude to the Pen America World Voices Festival, the occasion will feature presentations by John Giorno, Juliana Huxtable, DeRay McKesson, Phong Bui, Mónica de la Torre, Amina Baracka, Richard Serra, Joan Jonas, Hettie Jones, Ed Sanders, and many more. The event is organized by poets Bob Holman and Stefan Bondell, and will take place at the historic Great Hall of Cooper Union.

Location: Cooper Union, Great Hall, 7 East 7th Street
Price: Free
Time: 3 p.m.–6 p.m.

Terence Trouillot

Sunday, April 30–Friday, June 30

Louise Lawler, Pollyanna (adjusted to fit), distorted for the times. 2007/2008/2012 . As adjusted for the MoMA exhibition WHY PICTURES NOW, 2017. Courtesy Metro Pictures © 2017 Louise Lawler.

Louise Lawler, Pollyanna (adjusted to fit), distorted for the times. 2007/2008/2012 . As adjusted for the MoMA exhibition WHY PICTURES NOW, 2017. Courtesy Metro Pictures © 2017 Louise Lawler.

14. “Louise Lawler: WHY PICTURES NOW” at the Museum of Modern Art
In the first museum survey of Louise Lawler, visitors will get the full scope of her multivalent activities as a photographer, conceptual thinker, and feminist activist. Noted for her series of interventionist “re-presentations,” Lawler challenges our assumptions about the truthfulness of photography, here literally stretching and twisting images to fit new constraints, so that they appear warped and skewed—she probes the artifice of reality, pokes fun at conventional practice, and creates new ways to communicate the same old ideas.

Location: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street
Price: General admission $25
Time: Sunday–Thursday 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Friday, 10:30 a.m.–8 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Through Saturday, April 29

Rob Tucker, Lemon Cheesecake is Nice (2016). Courtesy the artist and Rebecca Hossack Gallery.

Rob Tucker, Lemon Cheesecake is Nice (2016). Courtesy the artist and Rebecca Hossack Gallery.

15. “Lemon Cheesecake is Nice” at Rebecca Hossack Gallery
This is the last week to check out the group show at Rebecca Hossack’s NY outpost, nestled in Soho. The show includes works that investigate the still-life genre, bringing bright color and graphic lines to an otherwise static scene. The gallery has a robust cache of Aboriginal artwork from artisans who articulate the gritty-desert landscape of Australia into swirling grids, as interpretations of native Dreamtime stories that traverse the culture. Juxtaposed with the abstracted canvases are the small scale ‘yogi’s’ of Katherine Virgils, amalgamations of illuminated manuscripts and shrine-like altarpieces.

Location: Rebecca Hossack Gallery, 262 Mott Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday 11 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m.–7 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein 


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