Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting, and thought-provoking, shows, screenings, and events. See our picks below.
Monday, April 9
Midori’s Passage installed at the Museum of Sex. Courtesy of the Museum of Sex.
1. “Midori’s Passage: Make Art with Rope and Meet the Artist” at the Museum of Sex
It’s rare for the public to get an opportunity to contribute to an installation linked to an acclaimed museum exhibition. It may be unprecedented for such an opportunity to be paired with sake cocktails, lessons in erotic rope-tying, and insightful conversation about both the artwork and the culture of Japan. But the Museum of Sex serves up this novel combination on Monday night through a unique program with artist, author, and Shibari rope bondage instructor Midori. She will hold court on the state of life (and sex) in her home nation, and guide attendees through augmenting her rope installation Passage, which introduces visitors to “The Incomplete Araki: Sex, Life, and Death in the Work of Nobuyoshi Araki.” Don’t be shy if it’s your first time, either. As the museum helpfully clarifies: “No rope art experience necessary to participate!” Artist Rebecca Goyette hosts.
Location: Museum of Sex233 Fifth Avenue (at 27th Street)
Price: $30, including museum admission and complimentary sake cocktail. Tickets available here.
Time: 6 p.m.–10 p.m.
—Tim Schneider
Sung Hwan Kim, Love Before Bond installation view at the 57th Venice Biennale. Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.
2. “Sung Hwan Kim: Love Before Bond” at Cooper Union
Catch a screening of the film component of Sung Hwan Kim’s Love Before Bond, which was part of the 57th Venice Biennale. The artist will also give a lecture on the work, which combines biographical and sci-fi elements to tackle social and historical issues in a unique way.
Location: Cooper Union, Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square (on Third Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets)
Price: Free
Time: 7 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Tuesday, April 10
Image from the American Academy of Arts and Letters 2018 Inviational Exhibition.
3. “The Review Panel: The New Museum Triennial” at the Brooklyn Public Library
Art historians and critics Jessica Bell Brown and Jarrett Earnest, along with painter David Salle, engage in a discussion of two group exhibitions of contemporary art, moderated by critic David Cohen. The panelists will be addressing the themes, successes, and failures of the “2018 New Museum Triennial: Songs for Sabotage” and the “2018 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts” at the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Location: Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, in the Central Library, Dweck Center
Price: Free
Time: 7 p.m.–9 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Wednesday, April 11–Sunday, April 20
A piece from Wright’s “London Originals” exhibition. Photo courtesy of Wright.
4. “London Originals: The Jeweler’s Art in Radical Times” at Wright
Wright, a Chicago-based auction house, is showcasing 150 pieces of jewelry designed in London in the 1960s and ’70s from the Mahnaz Collection. Designers at the time, inspired by the era’s radicalism, youth culture, music, and rapidly evolving technologies, helped create a new Renaissance in British design and jewelry.
Location: Wright, 980 Madison Avenue
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, April 12–Saturday, May 19
Anne Collier, Tear (Comic) #2 (2018). Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York. © Anne Collier.
5. Anne Collier at Anton Kern Gallery
Collier’s fifth show at Anton Kern comprises several variations on a motif she’s been working with for years now: appropriated images of women crying. Included are selections from her latest series, “Crying (Comic)” and “Tears (Comic),” which features tightly-cropped imagery culled from old comic books, and two textual works that incorporate printed material originally intended for use in therapy sessions. Given how simple Collier’s gestures are, it’s remarkable how much thematic ground she’s able to cover. Her minimal work explores everything from representations of femininity to the history of image production in the 20th century to the way photography and memory are entangled in the human psyche.
Location: Anton Kern Gallery, 16 East 55th Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Taylor Dafoe
Thursday, April 12–Sunday, May 20
Beryl Korot’s Babel 1 (1980). Photo: Kathleen Richards. Courtesy bitforms gallery, New York.
6. “Beryl Korot: A Coded Language” at bitforms gallery
The path-breaking artist Beryl Korot creates work that would seem to be contradictory—she is a seminal figure in establishing video-art practices, but also employs traditional ink-painting and weaving to create tactile works. In art pieces like “Babel,” she explores the ways that the Bible tale of the Tower of Babel continues to resonate with contemporary interactions and cultural changes.
Location: bitforms, 131 Allen Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Thursday, April 12–Friday, May 25
Joaquín Torres-García’s Constructif avec homme blanc [Constructive Composition with White Man] (1931). Courtesy of the artist and Acquavella Gallery.
More than 60 works by the prolific artist Joaquín Torres-García will be on view, spanning the breadth of his career from 1896 to 1949. Torres-García is best known for his abstracted paintings that utilize the universal symbols, but this show reveals the many paths he explored throughout his career, including sculpture, portraiture, landscape, and works on paper.
Location: 18 East 79th Street
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Thursday, April 12–Saturday, May 26
Eric LoPresti, Slider (2017). Courtesy of Burning in Water.
8. “Eric LoPresti: An Ocean of Light” at Burning in Water
Eric LoPresti has named his new gallery show after a quote from Joan Hinton, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan project. Inspired by the aftermath of the Cold War, many of his paintings are based on photographs from government archives documenting tests of nuclear weapons in remote sites in the US desert.
Location: Burning in Water, 317 10th Avenue (between West 28th and West 29th Streets)
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Friday, April 13–Friday, May 25
Courtesy 303 Gallery
9. “Doug Aitken: New Era” at 303 Gallery
In this new film installation, Aitken focuses on 89-year old Martin Cooper, who asserts that he and his team created the first ever cell phone and made the first call in the early 1970s. The film was inspired by the artist’s research into and conversations with Cooper. He links the story of Cooper’s life into a narrative about humanity’s history, and its fate.
Location: 303 Gallery, 555 West 21st Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Eileen Kinsella
Friday, April 13–Sunday, May 27
Amie Cunat, “Meetinghouse.” Photo courtesy of Victori + Mo.
10. “Sculpture 56” at 56 Bogart Street
Eleven of the galleries of 56 Bogart are teaming up to present contemporary sculpture, turning the building into somewhat of a miniature art fair. I’m especially looking forward to “Amie Cunat: Meetinghouse” at Victori + Mo, an installation of drawing, sculpture, and painting inspired by the Shakers, a colonial religious sect known for their radical belief in equality and handcrafted furniture.
Location: 56 Bogart Street, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; daily hours vary by location
—Sarah Cascone
Saturday, April 14 and Sunday, April 15
Promotional art for the new Avengers: Infinity War. Courtesy of Marvel.
11. Big Apple Comic Con at Penn Plaza Pavilion
The 23-year-old Big Apple Comic Con returns to New York this weekend with an array of comic books, cosplay, and other pop culture-related delights. Special guests range from Eisner Award-winning Astonishing X-Men comic artist John Cassady to Twin Peaks actress Sherilyn Fenn and Ramones bassist C.J. Ramone.
Location: Penn Plaza Pavilion, 250 West 34th Street
Price: General admission $25
Time: Saturday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Sunday, April 15
Bottoms, performance at Secret Project Robot, 2015. Photo by Walter Woldarczyk.
12. Spring Open House at MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1’s spring open house is the perfect opportunity to check out the museum’s new slate of exhibitions: “Julia Phillips: Failure Detection,” “Projects 108: Gauri Gill,” and “Fernando Palma Rodríguez.” The day’s events also include the Spring Performance Festival, presented in collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist-run venue Secret Project Robot and featuring over 35 acts, including a new project from Raúl de Nieves and Erik Zajaceskowski.
Location: MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens
Price: Free
Time: 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Sunday, April 15
Installation view, Nathlie Provosty: My Pupil is an Anvil.” Photo courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery.
13. “Nathalie Provosty: My Pupil Is an Anvil” at Nathalie Karg Gallery
Natalie Provosty presents a selection of new work, including five large-scale oil-on-linen canvases. Though the paintings may at first appear simple and monochromatic, her deft use of color creates subtle variations of shade and tone that reward extended viewing.
Location: Nathalie Karg Gallery, 291 Grand Street
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Caroline Wayne, Stuffed (2017). Photo courtesy of A.I.R. Gallery.
14. “Caroline Wayne: Real Pretty” at A.I.R. Gallery
In a deeply personal body of work, Caroline Wayne has made embellished sculptures that symbolize her childhood traumas as a victim of incest. Illustrating scenes from the nightmares that still haunt her today, she hand-sews beads, sequins, and faux pearls onto soft felt forms, creating a protective armor that helps transform these horrifying experiences into a thing of beauty.
Location: A.I.R. Gallery, 155 Plymouth Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone