Here are our picks for the best of this week’s offerings.

Monday, April 4:

Cao Fei, Still from Haze and Fog.
Photo: Courtesy of MoMA.

1. An Evening with Cao Fei at the MoMA
In conjunction with Cao Fei’s show at MoMA PS1, her first comprehensive solo museum show in the US, the Museum of Modern Art will present an evening of screenings of some of the most important work she’s done over the past two decades: Cosplayers (2004),  Whose Utopia (2006), and Haze and Fog (2013). The artist will be in conversation with Klaus Biesenbach, director, MoMA PS1, and chief curator at large, MoMA.

Location: Titus Theater, 11 West 53rd Street
Price: Varies: $12 general; $10 seniors; $8 students
Time: 7:00 p.m.

—Rozalia Jovanovic

Tuesday, April 5:

This image from Edward Snowden’s files was captioned: “A single frame of scrambled video imagery.”
Photo: Courtesy of e-flux.

2. “Secret,” a Conversation between Trevor Paglen and Hito Steyerl at e-flux
A preview of e-flux journal no. 72, “Secret” is a conversation between artists Trevor Paglen and Hito Steyerl and philosopher Matteo Pasquinelli. The trio will discuss the problems of decryption, processing, and analyzing the “truckloads of data” available to us, from top secret and sensitive operations like WikiLeaks, to the more mundane difficulties of sorting through information on our social media feeds.

Location: 311 East Broadway
Price: free with RSVP
Time: 7:30 p.m.

—Alyssa Buffenstein

Enrique Martinez Celaya, The Crown (2015).
Photo: courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

3. Enrique Martinez Celaya and Gabriella De Ferrari, “Artist Dialogue Series” at the New York Public Library
Cuban artist Enrique Martinez Celaya’s monograph, Martinez Celaya: Work and Documents 1990-2015, will be the subject of discussion between the artist and art historian and curator Gabriella De Ferrari. Celaya has maintained an illustrious practice over the last twenty-five years, and the book, which includes illustrations, unpulished photographs, and archival notes and writings, will serve as fertile grounds for the discussion. This evening is part of the New York Public Library’s ongoing artist dialogue series that started in 2004.

Location: 5th Avenue at 42nd Street
Price: Free
Time: 5:30 p.m.

—Rain Embuscado

Jennifer Wen Ma, Paradise Interrupted.
Photo: courtesy Spoleto Festival USA.

4. Jennifer Wen Ma, “Inside Look: Paradise Interrupted” at the Asia Society 
Catch a sneak peak of Chinese artist Jennifer Wen Ma’s dystopian opera, Paradise Interrupted, before it comes to New York’s Lincoln Center Festival July 13, 15, and 16. (It made its world debut in May at the Spoleto performing arts festival in Charleston, South Carolina.) Soprano Qian Yi will perform four arias from the opera, and Ma will talk with composer Huang Ruo about the creative process behind their collaborative work, which reimagines Eve’s expulsion from Eden, combining both traditional Chinese and contemporary Western idioms.

Location: Asia Society
Price: $15
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, April 6–Friday, April 8:

Joan Jonas, Still from They Come to Us without a Word.
Photo: Courtesy of Joan Jonas.

5. Joan Jonas, “They Come to Us without a Word II” at The Kitchen
Performance art maven Joan Jonas returns with new compositions by Jason Moran for two nights at the Kitchen. Jonas, who represented the United States at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, will use re-edited video footage to create They Come to Us without a Word II, which riffs on the mirrored, multi-layered visitor experience at the Biennale.

Location: 512 West 19th Street
Price: $20
Time: April 6–7 at 8:00 p.m.; April 8 at 7:00 p.m.

—Kathleen Massara

Wednesday, April 6–Friday, May 13, 2016:

David Antonio Cruz.
Photo: Courtesy of Gateway Project Spaces.

6. David Antonio Cruz, “For I Am—Or I Was, thereturnofthedirtyboys” at the Gateway Project Spaces
A short PATH train ride into Newark, New Jersey, will lead you to the Gateway Project Spaces, a contemporary exhibition space that doubles up as an artist residency program. As part of the program’s ongoing conversation surrounding marginalized identities, David Antonio Cruz will be premiering his own works on canvas, paintings that the event listing describe as “intersections of queer identity, the male-to-male gaze, and navigation of space as a genderfluid person of color.”

Location: 2 Gateway Center, Concourse Level, Newark
Price: Free
Time: opening reception, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

—Rain Embuscado

Thursday, April 7–Thursday, May 26:

Sinan Tuncay, Still from Mommys Not Home (2013).
Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

7. Sinan Tuncay, “I’m Sorry Layla” at United Photo Industries Gallery
Artist Sinan Tuncay, who hails from Turkey and now resides in New York, will hold his first solo show at United Photo Industries Gallery in Dumbo. “I’m Sorry, Leyla,” features staged images showing “the conflict between East and West through the melancholy of the Turkish nostalgia,” and centers around the idea of enforced female passivity, and forbidden desires, as evidenced by 1960s Turkish melodramas and wedding tableaus.

Location: 16 Main Street #B
Price: Free
Time: opening reception, 6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.; Tuesday–Friday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; Saturday, 12:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

—Kathleen Massara

Thursday, April 7:

Charles Gaines, Sound Text (2015), live performance, 56th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy, (2015). Photo: Alberto Sinigaglia, courtesy the artist.

8. Agitprop! Reception with Charles Gaines performance of Sound Text and Manifestos
The third wave of the Brooklyn Museum’s “Agitprop!” exhibition of socially-engaged art (through August 7, 2016) kicks off on Thursday with a performance by Charles Gaines. Accompanied by video projection, an eight piece ensemble will perform Manifestos, Gaines’s musical translation of revolutionary declarations, and Sound Text, which is based on political documents.

Location: Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway
Price: Free as part of “Thursday Nights” hosted by Squarespace.
Time: reception 6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.; performance 7:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Azikiwe Mohammed.
Photo: courtesy Azikiwe Mohammed.

9. Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, Pioneer Works
Red Hook’s Pioneer Works puts on its science hat with a conversation on “black holes, gravitational waves and the soundtrack of our universe” between renowned astrophysicist Janna Levin; Rainer Weiss, who invented technology behind LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory; and Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist John Hockenberry. A more conventionally arty after party, sponsored by Stella Artois, will feature projected visuals by Azikiwe Mohammed, a stand out at the recent the Spring/Break Art Show, and music from DJ Black Helmet.

Location: Pioneer Works, Red Hook
Price: free
Time: doors 6:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.; discussion 7:00 p.m.; music 9:00 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, April 9: 

Tabita Rezaire.
Photo: Courtesy of MoCADA.

10. A Screening and Dialogue with Tabita Rezaire at MoCADA
Tabita Rezaire will be crossing the Atlantic for a screening and dialogue at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Art. Earlier this year, the Johannesburg-based artist installed a series of prints on the museum’s windows facing South Portland Avenue, all of which address “power imbalances within the apology-forgiveness narrative.” You’ll want to get there early for the dialogue, however, as members of the audience will be selected to participate on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Location: 80 Hanson Place, Brooklyn
Price: Free with museum admission
Time: 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

—Rain Embuscado

Through Sunday, April 10:

Installation shot of Anri Sala’s “Answer Me” exhibition.
Photo: Courtesy of the New Museum.

11. Anri Sala, “Answer Me” at the New Museum
This is the final week of a must see show at the New Museum,  the most comprehensive survey to date of Albanian-born artist Anri Sala, whose mesmerizing video installations occupy three floors and delve into music as a means of exploring architecture and history. A highlight of the exhibition is the US premiere of Ravel Ravel Unravel (2013), which was first exhibited at the 55th Venice Biennale, where Sala represented France.

Location: 235 Bowery
Price: $14
Time: 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Wednesday and Friday through Sunday; 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Thursday

—Eileen Kinsella

Through Saturday, April 30:

Stan Douglas, The Secret Agent.
Photo: Courtesy of David Zwirner.

12. Stan Douglas, “The Secret Agent” at David Zwirner
A serial restager, the Canadian film and video artist Stan Douglas tackles literature, terrorism and film history in his film adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s 1907 political novel The Secret Agent. Composed of twelve episodes that are projected on six screens, the film sets the action in 1970s Portugal rather than turn-of-the-century London. Also altered: rather than an unnamed country, Douglas locates the film’s terrorist paymasters as the US Embassy.

Location: 519 West 19th Street
Price: Free
Time: 10:00 a.m.—6:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday

—Christian Viveros–Fauné