Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. See them below.
Tuesday, June 19 and Thursday, June 21
Installation view of “Eugenio Dittborn: Pinturas Aeropostales Recientes” at Alexander and Bonin. Photo courtesy of Alexander and Bonin.
1. Night at the Museums and Tribeca Art + Culture Night from the River to River Festival
The annual River to River Festival runs through June 24, featuring a variety of performances, programs, and other events, including two nights showcasing the Lower Manhattan art scene. Get free entry to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the South Street Seaport Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, and other nearby museums and historic landmarks during Night at the Museums. For the latest edition of Tribeca Art + Culture Night, which take place four nights a year, check out what’s new at galleries including Alexander and Bonin (exhibitions from Eugenio Dittborn and Jonathas de Andrade closing June 23) and Postmasters (Kensuke Koike and a two-person show of Monica Cook and Ye Qin Zhu, closing June 30), plus a special live performance by Samantha CC and a video art installation at the Untitled Space.
Location: Various locations
Price: Free
Time: Thursday, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Tuesday, 4 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, June 21
Shaun Leonardo. Photo by Giacomo Francia.
2. “Shaun Leonardo: Primitive Games” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Inspired by the increasingly tribal, divisive nature of our national political climate, where well-reasoned arguments rarely change anyone’s mind, Shaun Leonardo looks to see if body language might be a more useful form of communication than our words. He’s based the performance, Primitive Games, on the Renaissance-era Italian sport calcio storico, and invited four groups with wildly divergent beliefs to engage in silent debate. The intriguing concept will see the Guggenheim rotunda transformed into “an arena for a sport-like competition,” according to the event description. A symposium reflecting on the experiences of the audience and performers in the piece will take place at the museum the following day.
Location: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, between East 88th and 80th Streets
Price: General admission $7
Time: 7 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, June 21–Friday, August 3
Sue de Beer, still from The White Wolf. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen. © Sue de Beer.
3. “Sue de Beer: The White Wolf” at Marianne Boesky Gallery
The White Wolf, de Beer’s sixth major film, was created as part of her John Simon Guggenheim fellowship. It follows the intersecting lives of characters connected through a medical clinic to a secret history linked to a small town. The non-linear film employs elements of the “werewolf genre” and explores the relationship of the body to one’s sense of self.
Location: Marianne Boesky Gallery, 507 West 24th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception 6–8 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Eileen Kinsella
Thursday, June 21–Sunday, June 24
David Jester, Home. Courtesy of Metrosource.
4. “Reclaiming My Pride” at One World Observatory
Inspired by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who repeatedly insisted on “reclaiming my time” when her male colleagues interrupted her during a hearing, LGBTQ publication Metrosource organized a national art contest soliciting works celebrating the LGBTQ community. The pieces by the 10 finalists go on view just in time for Pride Week, with half of the proceeds of the exhibition benefitting the Ali Forney Center, which works to keep LGBTQ youth off the streets.
Location: One World Trade Center, One World Observatory, 285 Fulton Street
Price: $2 plus One World Observatory admission, which starts at $34
Time: 9 a.m.–9 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, June 21–Tuesday, July 10
Bert Stern, Flirtatious, Marilyn Monroe (1962, printed from the original transparency). Photo courtesy of Pop International Galleries.
5. “Happy 92nd Birthday Marilyn!” at Pop International Galleries
Catch rare images of timeless movie star Marilyn Monroe spanning the entirety of her career, starting with her first modeling job in 1945, back when she was still Norma Jean Baker, up to the famed “Last Sitting” with Bert Stern in 1962, shortly before her death from a barbiturate overdose.
Location: Pop International Galleries, 195 Bowery
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 7 p.m.–9 p.m. (RSVP required); Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Friday, June 22–Sunday, August 19
Hein Koh, Eyes Without a Face (2017). Courtesy of the Knockdown Center.
6. “Morir Soñando” at the Knockdown Center
The Knockdown Center’s summer group show is named after the popular Dominican beverage morir soñando. Made from orange juice and milk, the drink will curdle if not mixed properly—just as artists including Valery Jung Estabrook, Hein Koh, and Onel Naar take care to infuse their work with pressing social issues such as racial discrimination, gender-based violence, environmental concerns, and modern-day colonialism.
Location: Knockdown Center, 52–19 Flushing Avenue, Maspeth, Queens
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Thursday–Friday, 5 p.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Thursday, June 21–Tuesday, August 3
Paul Shore, Water Tower #15 (detail). Courtesy of CG Boerner.
7. “Paul Shore: Water Towers” at CG Boerner
Paul Shore, who previously drew every object in his home, returns to CG Boerner with a new series of drawings of water towers, the striking silhouettes of which are an oft-overlooked part of our city skyline.
Location: CG Boerner, 526 West 26th Street, Room 304
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Monday–Friday by appointment
—Sarah Cascone
Ann Craven’s Yellow Canary (Stepping Out in Pink Sunset, in Snow) (2018). Courtesy of the Artist, photo by Ann Craven Studio.
8. “Ann Craven: Sunset Moon” at Karma
Craven’s vibrant canvases might appear to veer toward kitsch, but her engagement with seriality and use of the medium add an extra layer of intrigue. The artist typically illustrates such inoffensive works like birds, moons, and other natural delights.
Location: Karma Gallery, 188 East 2nd Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Caroline Goldstein
Saturday, June 23rd
Grimanesa Amorós, HEDERA (2018). Courtesy Grimanesa Amorós Studio.
9. Artist Reception for Grimanesa Amorós: HEDERA at the Prospect Park Bandshell
In honor of its 40th-year anniversary season, BRIC commissioned New York-based Peruvian artist Grimanesa Amorós to create one of her signature large-scale light installations in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, on view through August 11. The resulting work, titled HEDERA, is a 40-foot-tall sculpture lined with pulsating red and white led lights. It’s inspired by the park’s plant life and bandshell amphitheater—home to the organization’s flagship event, the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. A public reception for the project will feature a Q&A with the artist and a DJ set by artist/model/musician Juliana Huxtable, followed by a free concert with Huxtable and Fischerspooner.
Location: Prospect Park Bandshell, 9th Street and Prospect Park West, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
—Taylor Dafoe
Through Saturday, June 23
Nick Cave, Tondo (2018). Photo courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery.
10. “Nick Cave: Weather or Not” at Jack Shainman
Nick Cave’s new work is a series of colorful wire relief sculptures, the patterns based on brain scans of African American youths suffering from PTSD from witnessing gun violence, overlaid with weather patterns from massive storms. (You can also catch the artist at the Park Avenue Armory with “The Let Go” through July 1.)
Location: Jack Shainman Gallery, 513 West 20th Street
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Charles McGill, Watermelon Patch, Harlem (2000). Photo courtesy of Pavel Zoubok.
11. “Charles McGill (1964–2017): Playing Through” at Pavel Zoubok
It’s the final days of Pavel Zoubok’s tribute to Charles McGill, who died last year at just 53. The artist, who was an avid golfer, was often inspired by his favorite sport, capitalizing on its reputation as a leisurely repast for affluent whites to touch on issues of class inequality and social injustice. The exhibition includes videos documenting McGill’s satirical performances as Arthur Negro, “founder of the World’s First Black Militant Golf and Country Club,” golfing on the streets of Harlem, and assemblage sculptures made from discarded golf bags.
Location: Pavel Zoubok, 531 West 26th Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Alberto Savinio, I re magi (The Wise Men), 1929. Photo by Dario Lasagni, courtesy of Mart – Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto ©2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS)/SIAE, Rome.
12. “Alberto Savinio” at the Center for Modern Italian Art
Don’t miss the first US show in 20 years for Alberto Savinio, the younger brother of Giorgio de Chirico and a talented painter, pianist, composer, musicologist, set designer, critic, and writer in his own right. Highlights include his Surrealist-tinged landscapes, and paintings of his family members, who he often reimagined with animal heads.
Location: Center for Modern Italian Art, 421 Broome Street, 4th Floor
Price: $10 general admission
Time: Friday–Saturday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m. (reservations required); guided tours 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Sam Durant, The Acton Monument (2005). Photo courtesy of Paula Cooper Gallery.
13. “Sam Durant” at Paula Cooper Gallery
Sam Durant’s work deals with issues of colonialism and its role in US history. In his current show at Paula Cooper, he presents his 62-inch obelisk, The Acton Monument (2005), from his piece Proposal for White and Indian Dead Monument Transpositions, Washington, D.C., made up of replicas of real-life monuments to settlers who died during the so-called Indian Wars from across the country.
Location: Paula Cooper Gallery, 529 West 21st Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Sunday, June 24
Tessa Hughes-Freeland and Ela Troyano. Photo courtesy of the artists.
14. Tessa Hughes-Freeland and Ela Troyano, Elegy for Jean Genet at Microscope Gallery
Tessa Hughes-Freeland and Ela Troyano debuted Elegy for Jean Genet, a live expanded cinema performance inspired by the French playwright and filmmaker Genet’s writings, at New York’s Knitting Factory in 1994. Combining original footage with 1970s-era porn and other pop culture imagery, the piece set to music by John Zorn, a frequent collaborator of the duo. This weekend marks the first time the work has been performed in over 20 years.
Location: Microscope Gallery, 1329 Willoughby Avenue, 2B, Brooklyn
Price: General admission $10
Time: 8 p.m.–9:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Sunday, June 24
Natalie White, Altair. Photo courtesy of the artist.
15. “Natalie White: Transmissions From Space” at Gallery 151
In the 1970s, Polaroid built seven 235-pound large format cameras. Only four are still extant, and the remaining film will soon deteriorate. In her newest work, Natalie White has revived this endangered technology with otherworldly nude self-portraits, double exposures that incorporate NASA space photography and are transferred onto watercolor paper, and other images of the artist printed on vintage Polaroid stock.
Location: Wallplay’s Gallery 151, 245 West 14th Street
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Installation view of “Millennium: Lower Manhattan in the 1990s” at the Skyscraper Museum. Photo courtesy of the Skyscraper Museum.
16. “Millennium: Lower Manhattan in the 1990s” at the Skyscraper Museum
Architectural drawings, models, photographs, and other documents paint a picture of Lower Manhattan before its revitalization, as the area struggled through economic recession and, later, with the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
Location: The Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place
Price: $5 (Free during Night at the Museums on June 19)
Time: Wednesday–Sunday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Tuesday, June 26
Jill Slaymaker, Enchanted Isle (2018). Courtesy of the artist.
17. “Enchanted Islands: Jill Slaymaker” at Port Authority
ChaShaMa presents an exhibition of oil, acrylic, and gouache paintings by Jill Slaymaker. Her leafy designs are inspired by Asian textiles and a recent residency in Assisi, Italy, where she fell ill in Rome and painted beneath the branches of an orange tree while recuperating. “The orange tree is for me a symbol of rejuvenation and hope,” the artist said in a statement. “It appears in almost all my work, as I try to capture the vastness, complexity and mystery of nature, while also maintaining a sense of humor and joy.”
Location: Port Authority Windows, 549 Ninth Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets
Price: Free
Time: Visible 24/7
—Sarah Cascone