Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. See them below.
Tuesday, December 11
From left to right: Fab 5 Freddy, Aya Kanai, Elizabeth Sweetheart, and Emily Spivack. Photos courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.
1. “Worn in New York” at the Museum of the City of New York
Love New York street style and its endless potential for personal expression? Catch three stylish city residents—hip hop legend Fab 5 Freddy, Cosmopolitan and Seventeen executive fashion director Aya Kanai, and artist and fabric designer Elizabeth Sweetheart—swapping stories about what they wear and why. A reception will follow, with moderator Emily Spivack signing copies of her book Worn in New York: 68 Sartorial Memoirs of the City.
Location: The Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at East 103rd Street
Price: General admission $12
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, December 12
Heiko Prigge, photo of guests entering the UNICEF gala. Photo courtesy of zkipster.
2. “The World’s Best Events Launch” at Christie’s
FOMO alert: If you didn’t make it to some of this summer’s swankiest parties—specifically Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix, the LongHouse Summer Benefit in East Hampton, and the UNICEF Summer Gala in Porto Cervo, Italy—you can relive the magic in a pop-up exhibition and cocktail party featuring never-before-seen photographs by Heiko Prigge from all three events. Hosted at Christie’s, the evening serves as the launch party for event company zkipster’s new platform the World’s Best Events and the release of their coffee table book Inside — The World’s Best Events.
Location: Christie’s, 20 Rockefeller Plaza
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, December 12–Wednesday, January 26
Walter Robinson, Joy’s Salad (2018). Courtesy of Johannes Vogt.
3. “Walter Robinson: Salad, Candles, and Money” at Johannes Vogt
Painter’s painter, sharp-eyed writer, and founding editor of artnet Magazine Walter Robinson debuts an exhibition of three works whose titular subjects oscillate between the sacred and the sensual, depending on your perspective. Together, they expand the artist’s signature high-meets-low vocabulary and remind viewers that the quotidian can be profound—and vice versa.
Location: Johannes Vogt, 958 Madison Avenue
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Tim Schneider
Installation view of “Aurélie Pétrel: Tracks” at Ceysson & Bénétière. Photo courtesy of Ceysson & Bénétière.
4. “Aurélie Pétrel: Tracks” at Ceysson & Bénétière
Aurélie Pétrel makes sculptural installations based on photographs that she dramatically transforms, manipulating the images and transferring them onto various unconventional surfaces such as wood, metal, and glass. This is her first New York solo show.
Location: Ceysson & Bénétière, 956 Madison Avenue
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, December 12–Sunday, March 10, 2019
Cally Spooner, Untitled (2015). Photo by Roberto Marossi, courtesy of the artist and ZERO…, Milan.
5. “Cally Spooner: Sweat Shame Ect.” at the Swiss Institute
There’s a lot going on at Cally Spooner’s new show. She’s made all the plinths out of olive oil soap—each of which weighs as much as her body—for her 3-D printed and cast metal sculptures. There’s a constantly running water fountain, titled Murderous Public Drinking Fountain (2018), which runs on a closed loop and is dangerously chlorinated. And a massive wall drawing in spray tan marks five years of data from the artist’s thyroid TSH levels and artfacts.net ranking, as well as the value of the British Pound compared to the Euro. Spooner also has a stereo audio installation juxtaposing a ballet dancer suffering from a head cold and Ivanka Trump.
Location: Swiss Institute, 38 Saint Mark’s Place
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Wednesday–Friday, 2 p.m.–8 p.m.; Saturday, 12 p.m.–8 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, December 13
Installation view of “Arlene Shechet: Full Steam Ahead” at Madison Square Park. Photo courtesy of the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
6. “David Salle on the Role of Public Art” at NeueHouse
When looking at art, artists often see things—a subtle technical achievement, an unlikely decision about material—that a civilian would never notice. On Thursday, you’ll have the opportunity to hear the painter and writer David Salle offer his personal take on Madison Square Art’s exhibition “Full Steam Ahead” by Arlene Shechet (on view through April 2019). Salle, who has a side hustle as a keen art critic and writer, will discuss the wood, steel, and cast-iron sculptures created for the New York park and the role of public art more broadly.
Location: NeueHouse, 110 East 25th Street
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: Doors 6:15 p.m., conversation 6:30–7:30 p.m.
—Julia Halperin
Thursday, December 13–Saturday, January 26, 2019
Anthony McCall, Face to Face II (2013). installation view. Photo courtesy of Sean Kelly.
7. “Anthony McCall: Split Second” at Sean Kelly
After putting his career as a fine artist making light installations on hold to run a graphic design business for 20 years, Anthony McCall has returned to his first calling. As an artist, his work incorporates elements of sculpture, architecture, cinema, and drawing. His latest Sean Kelly show features new works in the same vein of his 1973 “solid light” series, with projected light beams that are visible only when the darkened gallery is filled with a delicate mist.
Location: Sean Kelly Gallery 475, Tenth Avenue
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Friday, December 14
MoMA PS1 Artist Holiday Party flyer. Illustration by Bráulio Amado.
8. “Night at the Museum: Artist Holiday Party” at MoMA PS1
Catch “Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts” (through February 25, 2019) after hours and enjoy hot chocolate and churros by La Newyorkina and mulled wine by Pumphouse Wines while listening to a performance from Bonaventure. Could there be a better way to spend your Friday night?
Location: MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens
Price: $15
Time: 8 p.m.–12 a.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Saturday, December 15
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street. Photo by Leah Reddy, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
9. “Handel and Lang” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Financial District’s Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra head uptown to the Met, where they’re pairing a Baroque classic by Handel with a contemporary choral arrangement of The Little Match Girl Passion—a piece inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s poignant Christmas fairy tale.
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue
Price: $65
Time: 7 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate (2018). Directed by Julian Schnabel. Film still courtesy of CBS Films.
10. At Eternity’s Gate at the Museum of Modern Art
Every year, MoMA’s film department hosts “The Contenders” screening series for awards season frontrunners. Don’t miss artist-turned-director Julian Schnabel’s inspiring take on the artistic genius of Vincent van Gogh, portrayed by Willem Dafoe as less of a tortured genius than a quiet visionary longing for human connection. Following the screening, Schnabel will be on hand to talk about the making of the film.
Location: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street
Price: General admission $12
Time: 7 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Installation view of “Drawing Space: 1970–1983” at David Nolan Gallery. Photo courtesy of David Nolan Gallery.
11. Dorothea Rockburne Panel Discussion at David Nolan Gallery
On the occasion of her inclusion in the group exhibition, “Drawing Space: 1970–1983” (on view through December 21), Dorothea Rockburne, known for her fusion of art and mathematics, will talk with critic and curator Rob Storr, curator Jennifer Farrell of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and writer and critic Jarrett Earnest. A holiday toast will follow the discussion.
Location: David Nolan Gallery, 527 West 29th Street
Price: Free
Time: 4 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Saturday, December 15–Saturday, January 19, 2019
Ifrah Mansour, My Aqal, Banned & Blessed (2018). Photo courtesy of the Queens Museum.
12. “Executive (Dis)Order: Art, Displacement, & the Ban” at the Queens Museum
Organized by the Artistic Freedom Initiative, this group show highlights the work of artists affected by Executive Order 13780, better known as President Donald Trump’s travel ban aimed at preventing Muslims from traveling to the US. Curated by Osman Can Yerebakan, the exhibition features Rashwan Abdelbaki, Ali Chitsaz, Reem Gibriel, Nadia Gohar, Ibi Ibrahim, Ifrah Mansour, Esperanza Mayobre, Remijon Pronja, Nooshin Rostami, and Asiya Al-Sharabi.
The opening celebration will include a performance by Iraqi-American musician and composer Amir ElSaffar and Baghdad’s Hamid Al-Saadi, billed by the museum as “the foremost living performer of the extraordinary Iraqi Maqam.”
Location: Queens Museum, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Price: Suggested admission $8
Time: Opening reception, 3 p.m.–6 p.m.; Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Saturday, December 15–Sunday, March 10, 2019
Kevin Beasley, Rebuilding of the cotton gin motor (2016). Photo by Carlos Vela-Prado, courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York.
13. “Kevin Beasley: A View of a Landscape” at the Whitney Museum of American Art
At his 2012 MFA thesis show at Yale University in Connecticut, Kevin Beasley displayed, unaltered, a giant electric motor built in 1915. It had been used to power a cotton gin, the historic Eli Whitney invention whose efficiency greatly increased American dependency on cotton, and, by extension, the slaves used to pick it. Now, this antiquated piece of machinery is the centerpiece of the artist’s biggest and most ambitious show to date, running constantly in a sound-proofed room, the noises it emits projected throughout the installation. Inspired by the history of race and labor and the legacy of the American South, the show includes new wall-like “slab” sculptures and will also feature a series of performances built around the motor.
Location: Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street
Price: General admission $25
Time: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10:30 a.m.–6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m.–10 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Saturday, February 2, 2018
Ka-Man Tse, Untitled (2016), from the series “Narrow Distances.” Photo courtesy of the Aperture Foundation.
14. “Ka-Man Tse: 2018 Portfolio Prize Winner” at Aperture Foundation
This year’s Aperture Portfolio Prize, which recognizes new voices in contemporary photography, goes to Ka-Man Tse, who photographs people who belong to both the Asian and Pacific Islander and LGBTQ communities. Her gender nonconforming subjects are collaborators as she makes each picture, highlighting the complexity of identity that defines not just those she photographs, but all of humanity.
Location: Aperture Foundation, 547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception December 12, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone