Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. In light of the global health crisis, we are currently highlighting events and exhibitions available digitally. See our picks from around the world below. (Times are all EST unless otherwise noted.)
Launching Monday, June 15
Amalia Pica answered Magalí Arriola’s question “How does landscape come into being as a space for political inscription?” with this image. Photo courtesy of Question and Appearances.
1. Questions and Appearances from Kadist Kadist
Kadist, the Paris- and San Francisco-based art foundation, is launching a new online art publishing series today called Questions and Appearances, inspired by wondering how people in different parts of the world are reacting to the global health crisis. They’ve invited curators to pose questions to artists, who are asked to respond to an image. The resulting dialogues—from Santa Fe, Ho Chi Minh City, São Paolo, and more—are being posted on Instagram.
Price: Free
Time: New posts will be shared every day or two
—Sarah Cascone
Tuesday, June 16
University of Texas at Austin students discussing Sonya Clark’s Madam C.J. Walker (2008). Photo courtesy of Blanton Museum of Art.
2. “Madam C.J. Walker: Iconic Trailblazer” at the Blanton Museum of Art
Since its acquisition a few years ago, one of the most popular works in the Blanton’s permanent collection has proven to be Sonya Clark’s monumental assemblage of plastic combs forming a portrait of Madam C.J. Walker. Purported to be the first self-made woman millionaire in United States history, Walker was born in the American South just after the abolition of slavery and went on to tremendous success creating and marketing beauty products for Black women like herself—and those are only the broadest strokes of her remarkable life story. To dig deeper, Blanton curator Veronica Roberts will chat with collector, activist, and museum board member Marilyn Johnson about Walker’s legacy and the acquisition of Clark’s striking portrait.
Price: Free with advance registration
Time: 5 p.m. CDT; 6 p.m. EST
—Tim Schneider
Sara Erenthal. Image courtesy of the Museum of Jewish Montreal.
3. Digital Diasporas with Sara Erenthal at the Museum of Jewish Montreal
The Museum of Jewish Montreal has launched an online series, Digital Diasporas, where artists share how they are adapting to the restraints of self isolation, which has resulted in a new kind of diaspora for the digital age. Sara Erenthal, who left her Orthodox Jewish family at 17 to avoid an arranged marriage, will talk about how her practice has evolved over the past few months. Her “upcycled” street art offering personal commentary on life under lockdown and the effects of the global health crisis has brought her widespread recognition, and increased the sales of her more traditional painting practice.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 5:30 p.m.–6:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Wednesday, June 17
Moyra Davey, Index Cards (2020). Courtesy of New Directions Publishing.
4. Moyra Davey with Maggie Nelson at Community Bookstore
On the occasion of the release of her new book of essays, Index Cards, photographer and writer Moyra Davey will chat with author Maggie Nelson in a Zoom webinar sponsored by Brooklyn’s Community Bookstore. The pairing makes perfect sense: both work in a lyrical autofiction that blends perspicacious personal stories with esoterica culled from other writers and artists. Register for the free talk here and purchase a copy of Davey’s book here.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 7:30 p.m.
—Taylor Dafoe
Courtesy of Galstian Advisory LLC
5. United for Change: An Anti-Racism Fundraising Exhibition at Galstian Advisory LLC
In solidarity with the anti-racism movement, Galstian Advisory LLC presents a fundraising exhibition on Artnet with artists who support equality and inclusiveness. The artists include Andreas Stylianou, Catalina Guirado, Maxim x WLS, Misia-O’, Hayden Kays, Jermaine Francis, Jon Daniel, Juan Antonio Guirado, and Todd Williamson. Curated by Lee Sharrock and Galstian Advisory LLC, United for Change will raise funds for the Stephen Lawrence Foundation, For Freedoms, and the Underground Museum. The fundraiser ends on June 27.
Price: Free
Time: All Day
—Neha Jambhekar
Emily Alesandrini and Gemma Arguello. Photo courtesy of Art Curator Grid and Assembly Room.
6. Curator Conversations from Art Curator Grid and Assembly Room
Curators Gemma Argüello, from Mexico, and Emily Alesandrini, of Philadelphia and New York, will discuss what it means to be a women in their field, the pay gap, and patriarchy in Western art history, for the first in a new event series from Art Curator Grid and Assembly Room.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 4 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, June 18
Charlotte Major Wyllie, A Wanderer in the Elysian Fields. Photo by John Faier, ©the Richard H. Driehaus Museum.
7. “Live from the Drawing Room: The Language of Flowers” at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago
The Driehaus Museum has launched a new virtual concert series, inspired by its home in the Gilded Age Nickerson Mansion, built in part to entertain guests, as well as mid-century variety shows. The second edition will feature Patrick Donley on piano and vocalist Ana Everling, as well as vintage recipes for liquid libations from “The Cocktail Guy.” Tune in on Youtube or Facebook.
Price: Free
Time: 8 p.m. CDT; 9 p.m. EST
—Tanner West
Thursday, June 18–Saturday, August 15
Devan Shimoyama, Self-Portrait with Bowie (2020). Image courtesy of the artist, DeBuck Gallery and Anna Zorina Gallery.
8. “Sit Still: Self-Portraits in the Age of Distraction,” at Anna Zorina Gallery, New York
Believe it or not, for the first time in a long time, it’s an actual in-real-life (IRL) opening of a show of self portraits, curated by artists Patty Horing and Deborah Brown. The show will run through August 15 and will be open “by appointment” until New York fully reopens later in the summer. Artists whose self-portraits are on view include Matt Bollinger, Sally Saul, Hiba Schahbaz, and Devan Shimoyama.
Where: Anna Zorina Gallery, 532 West 24th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: By appointment
—Eileen Kinsella
Friday, June 19
Comics as Resistance with Bianca Xunise. Image courtesy of the Believer.
9. “Comics as Resistance with Bianca Xunise” from the Believer
The Believer, a bimonthly literature, arts, and culture magazine from the University of Nevada, has been hosting Friday night illustration classes from comic book artists designed to help us all get through this stressful time. Recent workshop topics have included self care comics, instruction on how to draw your lockdown life, and comics journaling. This week, Bianca Xunise will show how she channels the power of art for activism.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 7 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Friday, June 19–Sunday, June 21
Isaac Julien, J.P. Ball Studio 1867 Douglass (Lessons of The Hour) (2019). Courtesy of Metro Pictures.
10. Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour at Metro Pictures
After a two-week pause in programming, Metro Pictures is resuming its film series on Friday with a single-screen presentation of Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour. The film delves into the remarkable life of Frederick Douglass, America’s leading abolitionist figure and one of history’s greatest orators. The film, which screens on Juneteenth, touches on some of his most well-known speeches including “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?” and “Lecture on Pictures,” which theorizes how photography and technology could influence human relations.
Price: Free
Time: Available to stream on Metro Pictures’ Vimeo from Friday, 12 p.m. to Sunday, 12 a.m.
— Katie White