Each week, artnet News’ editors search New York City for the most exciting, and thought-provoking, shows, screenings, and events. See them below.
Friday, October 28–Sunday, December 18
Loren Britton, Bud (2015). Courtesy of KnockdownCenter.com.
1. “Read My Lips: Loren Britton & Kerry Downey” at the Knockdown Center
Curated by Ashton Cooper, this two-person exhibition highlighting “a new generation of queer, genderqueer, and transgender artists” features embellished monotype prints and video work by Kerry Downey, and paintings and large-scale plush sculptures by Loren Britton.
Location: 52-19 Flushing Ave, Maspeth, Queens
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception Saturday, November 5, 7:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.; Thursday and Friday 5:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 2:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Tuesday, November 1
Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy (1964), Documentation of the performance at the Judson Dance Theater, Judson Memorial Church, New York, US, November 16-18, 1964. Courtesy of C. Schneemann and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York, Photo by Al Giese © Carolee Schneemann, © Bildrecht, Wien, 2015.
Organized to coincide with the publication of Unforgivable: Carolee Schneemann, the artist will be discussing her groundbreaking work with scholar Kenneth White. The conversation promises to touch upon scarce or out-of-print texts included in the publication, which is the most extensive volume on the artist’s work to date.
Location: 721 Broadway, 6th Floor
Price: Free
Time: 7:30 p.m.
—Caroline Elbaor
Thursday, November 3
Courtesy of Elizabeth Dee.
3. Talk: “Mounting Frustration: The Art Museum in the Age of Black Power” at Elizabeth Dee
The gallery is hosting a conversation with Susan E. Cahan, Dean of the Arts at Yale College and author of Mounting Frustration: The Art Museum in the Age of Black Power. Dr. Cahan details the historical and current failures of traditional institutions to understand and promote black artists. She also highlights the cultural flash points relating to when, how, and why museums mount shows, noting a “gap” between intentions versus reality.
Location: 2033/2037 Fifth Avenue
Price: Free, with RSVP to info@elizabethdee.com.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
—Kathleen Massara
Thursday, November 3
My Barbarian, production image for The Audience is Always Right: How to do the Post-Living Ante-Action Theater (2016). Courtesy of the artists and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects.
4. Event: “My Barbarian: Post-Party Dream State Caucus” at the New Museum
Eight years after staging their first presidential election-themed event at the New Museum, the collective My Barbarian is back. Guests are invited to become superdelegates “in an unconventional political convention,” according to the press release. My Barbarian will be joined by artists and scholars including Zoe Leonard, Christine Sun Kim, Tavia Nyong’o, and Kali Wilder; in the Fifth Floor Gallery, Ryan McNamara and A.L. Steiner are hosting a “Spin-Room.”
Location: 235 Bowery
Price: Free, with RSVP to caucus@newmuseum.org.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
—Caroline Elbaor
Friday, November 4, 2016—April 2, 2017
Marilyn Minter. Pop Rocks (2009). Courtesy of the collection of Danielle and David Ganek and the Brooklyn Museum.
5. “Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty” at the Brooklyn Museum
In the first retrospective of Minter’s work, the exhibition moves chronologically through her paintings, photographs, and videos to ultimately focus on the artist’s investigation of the beauty industry, and how we manufacture desire.
Location: 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn
Price: $16 general admission
Time: Friday—Sunday and Wednesday, 11am—6 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.—10 p.m.; Closed Monday and Tuesday.
—Caroline Elbaor
Friday, November 4–Wednesday, November 30
Bernie Taupin, Evolution (2016). Courtesy of Waterhouse & Dodd.
6. “Bernie Taupin: Antiphona” at Waterhouse & Dodd
Best-known as the lyricist for Elton John (the two have been collaborating for 49 years) Bernie Taupin describes his second career as a painter as “simply the visual extension of what I have spent my life creating through words.” His latest body of work employs a wide variety of materials including bubble wrap, cheesecloth, and glass.
Location: Waterhouse & Dodd, 960 Madison Avenue, 2F
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; Saturday 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Friday, November 4–Sunday, December 18
Rollin Leonard, Spinning Pinwheel. Courtesy of TRANSFER Gallery.
7. “TRANSFER Download” at the Current Museum of Art
The Current Museum, which seeks to “showcase, study, and preserve work by artists who engage technology to expand the boundaries of creative expression,” according to the institution’s mission statement, presents its inaugural exhibition programming. Curated by Kelani Nichole, owner and director of Brooklyn’s TRANSFER Gallery, “TRANSFER Download” features a playlist of a dozen technologically-inspired works, giving the viewer control over what is playing on the gallery’s three screens.
Location: The Current Museum, 60 Sullivan Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception Friday, November 4, 6:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.; open Monday–Friday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. and by appointment
—Sarah Cascone
Saturday, November 5–Friday, December 23
Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of Mary Boone.
8. Ai Weiwei “Roots and Branches” at Mary Boone, and Lisson Gallery, and “Laundromat” at Deitch Projects
The Chinese art star and famous dissident is having a huge New York moment this fall with a four-part solo exhibition spread across three galleries. Locations include both the Chelsea and uptown digs of Mary Boone Gallery, the relatively new Lisson Gallery space in Chelsea and Jeffrey Deitch’s just-relaunched Soho gallery.
At Lisson, Ai installs felled, cast-iron tree trunks and a series of iron root sculptures set against the backdrop of a new wallpaper installation. The objects create a “forest” of displaced objects and reflect his interest in tradition and contemporary mores while also commenting on the idea of societal displacement.
At Mary Boone uptown, a circular field of 40,000 spouts broken from antique porcelain Chinese teapots is set against wallpaper depicting an extended middle finger. In Chelsea, Ai has a monumental 25-foot tree constructed from dead trees in southern China that have are bolted together in the form of a new healthy tree, a comment on attempting to create something new out of what has died or been destroyed. Several LEGO related works will also be on view.
At Deitch the show titled “Laundromat” focuses on the artist’s ongoing and well-documented interest in the plight of refugees. It consists of objects he salvaged along the Greek and Macedonian border and meticulously cleaned and ironed, as a comment on the human struggle.
Location: Mary Boone Gallery 541 West 24th Street and 745 Fifth Avenue, and Lisson Gallery 504 West 24th Street. Deitch Projects 76 Grand Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening night receptions, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
—Eileen Kinsella
Sunday, November 6
Courtesy of the High Line.
9. Event: Readings and Performances in Response to Zoe Leonard’s I want a president (1992) on the High Line
Zoe Leonard’s poignant 1992 work has been performed in Stockholm, Tallinn, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris, Washington DC, and beyond. This fall, it makes its way to New York, care of the High Line, featuring a special appearance by former presidential candidate Eileen Myles, along with a slew of other artists, poets, and troublemakers.
(Performers also include: Morgan Bassichis, Justin Vivian Bond, Mel Elberg, Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade, Sharon Hayes, Layli Long Soldier, Fred Moten, Pamela Sneed, and Wu Tsang.)
Location: Chelsea Market Passage on the High Line at West 16th Street
Price: Free with RSVP.
Time: 1:00 p.m.–3:30p.m.
—Kathleen Massara