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

Monday, August 5

Richard Taittinger Gallery, Maria Qamar, Satyanaas!, 2019

1. Meet and Greet with Maria Qamar/@hatecopy at Richard Taittinger Gallery

The Desi-pop artist, Maria Qamar—aka @hatecopy to her 170k followers—is having a book and poster signing at Richard Taittinger Gallery to mark her first solo exhibition in New York, which is on view through September 2. The show pokes fun at the outdated ways that women are still expected to behave in Indian and Pakistani cultures and even has samosa-shaped bean bag chairs, and Maggi Noodle balloons! If you’re a fan, then make sure to line up nice and early so that you don’t miss out on the best merch.

Location: Richard Taittinger Gallery, 154 Ludlow Street
Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Tuesday, August 6

Isabella Rossellini. Photo ©Brigitte Lacombe, courtesy of the Watermill Center.

2. “Viewpoints With Isabella Rossellini” at the Watermill Center

The latest guest in the Watermill Center’s conversation series dedicated to contemporary creative themes is filmmaker and actress Isabella Rossellini.

Location: The Watermill Center, 39 Watermill Towd Road, Water Mill
Price: $10
Time: 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

—Nan Stewert

A photo from Jiri Dolezel’s “Memory Traces” series. Photo courtesy of the artist.

3. “Jiri Dolezel: Memory Traces” at Bohemian National Hall

The Czech Center, New York, has organized an exhibition of Jiri Dolezel’s “Memory Traces” exhibition, featuring photos and interviews of Czech immigrants forced to flee their native country for the US in 1938, ’48, and ’68.

Location: Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 7 p.m.–9 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Tanner West

Wednesday, August 7

Still from Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels’s animated short This Magnificent Cake, 2018. Courtesy of Socrates Sculpture Park.

4. “Dark ‘Toons” at Socrates Sculpture Park

Looking for an avant-garde antidote to the new (or old) Lion King? Head over to Socrates Sculpture Park by dusk on Wednesday to catch a compilation of European animated shorts that embrace the dark side. The centerpiece will be This Magnificent Cake, a celebrated stop-motion short that weaves 45 minutes of magical realism around Belgium’s colonization of the Congo Basin in the 19th century. (You can see the trailer here.) The Old Traditional Polish Cuisine food truck will be on site to make sure you don’t have to descend into the uncanny on an empty stomach.

Location: Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City
Price: Free
Time: 7 p.m.

—Tim Schneider

Wednesday, August 7–Sunday, August 11

“Savannah Knoop: Tripod Sweep.” Image courtesy of the artist and the Leslie-Lohman Museum.

5. “Savannah Knoop: Tripod Sweep” at the Leslie-Lohman Museum

Savannah Knoop, who gained notoriety in the early 2000s as the public face of the teen literary phenomena J.T. Leroy hoax, presents a installation at the Leslie-Lohman Museum, featuring their wrestling performance “Tripod Sweep.” It’s part of the month-long show “Arch,” curated by Noam Parness and Daniel J. Sander, with consecutive gallery takeovers by four different artists and collectives. Knoop’s piece is an interactive, durational performance in which they will use the Tripod Sweep, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu move, to destabilize visitors to the space as part of a game about connectivity and choice.

Location: Leslie-Lohman Museum, 26 Wooster Street
Price: Suggested donation $10
Time: Opening reception, Thursday, August 7, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Wednesday, Friday–Sunday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.; Thursday, 12 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, August 8

A past edition of the Priority Mail Mail Art Biennial at Ground Floor Gallery. Photo by Nicholas Drew Ground Floor Gallery.

6. “Priority Mail: Our 2019 Mail Art Biennial” at Ground Floor Gallery

This week marks the opening celebrations for Ground Floor Gallery’s biannual mail art show (on view August 8–September 15), which promises to showcase any and all small works sent to the gallery from artists all over the world. The more than 100 participants hail from such diverse locales as Chicago, Block Island, Montreal, and Brazil. Each piece is priced at just $125, and can be taken home at any point during the exhibition. The gallery is also donating 10 percent of the profits to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Location: Ground Floor Gallery, 343 5th Street, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Rina Banerjee, The tree flowered (2012). Courtesy of Aicon Gallery.

7. “Intricacies: Fragment and Meaning” at Aicon Gallery

“Intricacies: Fragment and Meaning” is one of the two shows opening at Aicon Gallery’s upstairs/downstairs establishment (the other one being a solo exhibition of Pakistani artist Ghulam Mohammad). This exhibition is a three-person showcase of works by Rina Banerjee, Mequitta Ahuja, and Peju Alatise, female artists who focus on themes of feminism and cultural identity. The works consist of various mediums, including works on paper, paintings, and sculpture, and are sure to provide an oasis in the late-summer art desert.

Location: Aicon Gallery, 35 Great Jones Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Neha Jambhekar

Devin Kenny, los giros de la siguiente (2019). Documentation of performance essay. Image courtesy of Devin Kenny. Photo: Sidney Mori.

8. “Devin Kenny: los giros de la siguiente” at MoMA PS1

Gain new insight into the work of artist Devin Kenny, whose show, “rootkits rootwork,” is currently on view at MoMA PS1. (Fun fact: The artist has stipulated that the exhibition be closed for 30 minutes each day to allow museum guards to experience and interact with the works.) The performance draws on many of the same themes explored in the show, including gentrification, displacement, and diaspora. Kenny’s music draws connections between “cumbias rebajadas,” a style that originated in Monterrey, Mexico, and “chopped and screwed,” a school of hip hop that emerged in Houston during the ’90s.

Location: MoMA PS1, 46-01 21st Street, Long Island City, Queens
Price: Free
Time: 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m. Tickets will be distributed starting at 6 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis or with advance registration.

—Julia Halperin

Friday, August 9–Sunday, August 11

A still from Spike Lee’sDo the Right Thing. Photo courtesy of NBC Universal.

9. “30th Anniversary Screenings: Do the Right Thing” at the Museum of the Moving Image

Spike Lee’s masterful, politically charged exploration of race relations remains all-too-relevant thirty years after its initial release. As we enter the dog days of summer, catch a new 35 mm print of the film, set on hot, steamy Brooklyn day, at screenings running all weekend at the Museum of the Moving Image.

Location: The Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Ave, Astoria, Queens
Price: $15 general admission
Time: Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, August 9–Sunday, August 25

The Shed preparing for open air performances. Photo by Sarah Cascone.

10. “Open Call 3” at the Shed

If you’ve rolled through Hudson Yards in recent days, you might have noticed that the Shed’s much-vaunted moveable shell is finally in evidence, just in time for the start of the new cultural institution’s first open-air performances. The third part of the “Open Call” series commissioning new work from New York-based emerging artists, the performances will feature 14 artists and collectives including Salsa Masala, an Indo-Latin fusion band, and the Illustrious Blacks, who have composed an electro-punk-funk opera.

Location: The Shed, the Bloomberg Building, 545 West 30th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues
Price: Free
Time: Dates and times vary

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, August 10

Courtesy of the Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections.

11. “Graveyard Shift: Kim Brandt” at Green-Wood Cemetery

Red Hook’s Pioneer Works has teamed up with Green-Wood Cemetery to commission new art and performances pieces to increase public engagement at the site, and reclaim its historic function as a place for social gatherings and recreation. Kim Brandt’s Untitled (Green-Wood) is her first piece performed outdoors, and will see participants build and break down town mobile structures across the graveyard’s Cedar Dell, a bucolic circular landscape.

Location: Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th Street, Brooklyn
Price: $25
Time: Doors, 6 p.m.; last entry 7:15 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Guillermo Gómez-Peña. Photo courtesy of Zach Gross.

12. “Alternatives & Futures: Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Combo Chimbita” at the Queens Museum

As the Queens Museum celebrates the final days of “Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas” (on view through August 18), it’s hosting an outdoor concert from Afro-Latinx band Combo Chimbita, followed by a spoken word performance by exhibition artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña. The museum galleries will be open late until 8:30 p.m. that night.

Location: Queens Museum, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 7:30 p.m.–10 p.m.

—Nan Stewert

Sunday, August 11

Dalia Amara, “Big Toe Energy”, Courtesy of Selenas Mountain.

13. “Sapphire Pools 3” launch party at Selenas Mountain

Need a new beach towel after a wild, nutcracker filled, weekend at the Rockaways? Make sure to cop a limited edition, artist-designed towel at Selenas Mountain’s launch party this Sunday afternoon. Participating artists include Dalia Amara, Katie Buckleitner, Ryan Travis Christian, Lauren Clay, Alexander Deschamps, Carlos Jaramillo, Anjuli Rathod, and Josh Reames. Towels start at $130, but hey, they can always double as tapestries if they’re kept sand, salt-water, and booze free.

Location: Selenas Mountain, 63 Woodward Ave. #6321, Ridgewood, Queens
Price: Free entry, towels start at $130 and can be pre-ordered online
Time: 3 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz

Laraaji. Photo courtesy of Laraaji.

14. “Artists at Noguchi | Bang on a Can Music Series: Laraaji” at the Noguchi Museum

Bang on a Can, a performing arts organization dedicated to innovative music, has teamed up with the Noguchi for a monthly concert series held in the museum’s outdoor garden. August sees Laraaji, an instrumentalist and vocalist known for his virtuosity with the zither, grace the stage.

Location: The Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Road at Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens
Price: Free with museum admission; general admission $10
Time: 3 p.m.–4 p.m.

—Tanner West 

Through Thursday, August 15

“Westside Exposure: Whitney Staff Art Show 2019.” Image courtesy of Westbeth Gallery.

15. “Westside Exposure: Whitney Staff Art Show” at Westbeth Gallery

It’s been a tumultuous year at the Whitney Museum of American, thanks to protests against board vice chair Warren Kanders. Some 90 members of the staff get to speak their mind through art, in this, the museum’s fourth public staff exhibition.

Location: Westbeth Gallery, 55 Bethune Street
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Sunday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Friday, August 16 

Emma Webster, Pale Horse (2019). Courtesy of Asya Geisberg Gallery.

16. “Plastic Garden” at Asya Geisberg

The mind-melting heat of summer finds a visual equivalent in this exhibition of landscapes that are all in various ways synthetic, from toxic colored skies to looming, mammoth flora. The seven-person show hints at the enduring legacies of Henri Rousseau’s fantastical jungle scenes and Georgia O’Keeffe desert scenes. Emma Webster’s baroque-meets-Lisa-Frank scenes are at once decadent and dystopian.

Location: Asya Geisberg, 537b West 23rd Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. 

—Katie White

Through Sunday, August 18

Installation view of “Pigeonhole The Life and Work of Bobby Alam.” Photo courtesy of the Knockdown Center.

17. “Pigeonhole: The Life and Work of Bobby Alam” at the Knockdown Center 

Husband and wife team Priyanka Dasgupta and Chad Marshall have tapped into the little known history of Bengali-Americans who passed as black to avoid being discriminated against through anti-Asian immigration laws. Their fictional portrait of Bahauddin “Bobby” Alam includes a dressing room rehearsal space, and even a stage where contemporary musicians have been tapped to play during the exhibition’s run. A closing exhibition from jazz trio the Modern School will be held Sunday, August 18, 5 p.m.–8 p.m.

Location: The Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
Price: Free
Time: Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Sunday, August 25

Installation view of “GO” at Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York. Photo courtesy of Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York.

18. “GO” at Tiger Strikes Asteroid

Based on the classic Chinese game of the same name, “GO” takes the form of a telephone-type photography exercise wherein artists exchange pictures back and forth, changing them little by little each time. The result is a sequence of semi-collaborative photos lining the gallery’s walls that speaks to the instability of the medium in the hyper-digital age.

Location: Tiger Strikes Asteroid, 1329 Willoughby Ave #2A, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Saturday–Sunday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Taylor Dafoe

Through Friday, August 30

John A. Rivas, “Sin Paraíso”, 2019. Courtesy of Thierry Goldberg Gallery.

19. “Night & Day” at Thierry Goldberg Gallery

Go see fantastic works by Nash Glynn, Sasha Gordon, Marco Lorenzetti, and Nadia Waheed at Thierry Goldberg’s summer group show. Salvadorian-American artist John A. Rivas has yet to begin his MFA program at Columbia and is already seeing great success, having just had a work acquired by the Dean Collection. Many blessings to this fellow Central American who is known to use frijoles (beans) as an artistic medium. Epic!

Location: Thierry Goldberg Gallery, 109 Norfolk Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz