Each week, we search for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events, both digitally and in-person in the New York area. See our picks from around the world below. (Times are all ET unless otherwise noted.)

Tuesday, June 7

Afterparty for the 2016 MoMA Party in the Garden Benefit. Photo by Liam McMullan © Patrick McMullan.

1. “Party in the Garden After Party” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Gala season is back in full swing, but if large indoor events give you pause, MoMA’s annual Party in the Garden is the soiree for you. The event and the after party are held outdoors in the museum’s sculpture garden, and feature an open bar and music from DJ Pee .Wee and Michael Brun. You can also buy a ticket for the dinner honoring Mellody Hobson and George Lucas, Linda Goode Bryant, and Wolfgang Tillmans, but that will run you at least $2,500, as opposed to just $300 for the party (which is my preferred event anyway).

Location: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York
Price: $300
Time: 9 p.m.–12 a.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Tuesday, June 7–Monday, February 20, 2023

Meisen kimono with water droplets (c. 1930–40), Japan, detail. Photo by Paul Lachenauer; ©Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

2. “Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met showcases more than 60 Japanese kimonos—many of which are promised gifts from the John C. Weber collection—in this exhibition spanning the late Edo period (1615–1868) through the early 20th century. Highlighting the technical skill and artistry involved in weaving and embroidering these traditional T-shaped garments, the show will explore the ways in which the kimono has inspired Western fashion designers, as well as how it has evolved due to the adoption of Western manufacturing techniques.

Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York
Price: $25 general admission
Time: Sunday–Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Wednesday, June 8

Free Arts NYC students and artist Taryn Simon at the Free Arts NYC 18th Annual Art Auction in 2017. Photo by Michael Ostuni, ©Patrick McMullan.

3. “Free Arts NYC 23rd Annual Art Auction After Party” at the Altman Building, New York

There are lots of great art nonprofits in this city, but Free Arts NYC stands apart for its work connecting kids from underserved communities with artist mentors. This past year, it expanded its program to offer 80 paid internships for teens at creative companies. So, buying a ticket to the after party for the organization’s annual benefit not only comes with open bar, desserts, and dancing, but the chance to support a great cause. (The dinner, honoring street artist Futura, is sold out.)

Location: The Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street, New York
Price: $150, or two tickets for $200
Time: 9 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Thursday, June 9–Saturday, July 16

Aiza Ahmed, Who’s Next (2021) Courtesy of Aicon Contemporary and the artist

4. “I Shouted My Laughter To The Stars” at Aicon Contemporary, New York

Head over to Aicon Contemporary to catch the opening of its seven-artist group show. The title refers to Franz Fanon’s 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks, which argues for the right of minorities to unapologetically take up space in a society where they are often pushed to the margins. The show celebrates the art and movements that crop up when artists are pushed into such circumstances and forced to take agency and control.

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

—Neha Jambhekar

Thursday, June 9–Sunday, September 11

Katja Farin, Near Miss (2022). Courtesy of the Bureau of General Services Queer Division, New York.

5. “Near Miss: Katja Farin” at the Bureau of General Services Queer Division, New York

Curated by Ashton Cooper, this solo show of paintings by Katja Farin offers a series of deeply relatable “near miss” scenarios, where a human connection remains tantalizingly out of reach. Speaking both to intimacy and alienation, the canvases’ depiction of physical touch—whether realized or merely attempted—offer a poignant reminder of the difficulty of forging bonds with others, and the complexities of understanding relationships, not to mention one’s self.

Location: The Bureau of General Services Queer Division, LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.; Wednesday–Sunday, 1 p.m.–7 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, June 10–Friday, July 15

François Bucher, Anistropy #7 – Big Bang (2019). Courtesy of Cristin Tierney Gallery, New York.

6. “François Bucher: You Are (It Is) A Distorted Projection from a Single Light” at Cristin Tierney Gallery, New York 

For his second show at Cristin Tierney, François Bucher presents a series of new acrylic light boxes that use PET plastic and polarized film to refract a ray of light in two different directions, creating images that seem to float in space. This strange light phenomenon is called birefringence, and the resulting abstract images recall gravitational waves.

Location: Cristin Tierney Gallery, 219 Bowery, 2nd floor, New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, June 10–Friday, August 12

Naudline Pierre, Fear Not (2021). Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York. Collection of Schwanda Rountree.

7. “Dissolving Realms” at Kasmin, New York 

Curator Katy Hessel, of the beloved Great Women Artists Instagram and podcast, has brought together an exciting mix of contemporary and historic artists for this group show at Kasmin, her first in the U.S. The exhibition creates a dialogue between some of the 20th-century female greats of Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism, such as Lee Krasner, Leonora Carrington, and Leonor Fini, and young painters working today including Naudline Pierre, Jake Grewal, and Flora Yukhnovich.

Location: Kasmin, 509 West 27th Street New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening reception, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.; Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Saturday, June 11

Brooklyn Pride. Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum.

8. “Papi Juice Presents Brooklyn Pride” at the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum has enlisted local queer and trans art collective Papi Juice to lead its Pride celebrations, featuring a performance by Serena Tea. Tickets also include after-hours access to “Guadalupe Maravilla: Tierra Blanca Joven” (through September 18).

Location: Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn
Price: $25
Time: 7 p.m.–12 a.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Through Sunday, June 26

Tiffany Smith, Caribbean Queen (2022). Photo courtesy of the Bronx Museum of Art.

9. “Earthseed” at the Bronx Museum of Art

This solo exhibition of recent work by Bronx Museum artist-in-residence Tiffany Smith features a site-specific installation incorporating a variety of mediums. The custom-designed wallpaper features botanical illustrations of Caribbean plant species with traditional medicinal uses, while at the center of the gallery there’s an interactive meditation shed that looks a lot like the outdoor dining shacks that have become commonplace in New York. Inspired by Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower and drawing on the Caribbean diaspora experience, the artist looks to inherited ancestral knowledge for strategies for survival.

Location: Bronx Museum of Art, 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx
Price: Free
Time: Wednesday–Sunday, 1 p.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Judith Seligson, If Only. Courtesy of Galerie Mourlot.

10. “Judith Seligson: The More You Look the More You See” at Galerie Mourlot, New York

Working since the 1970s, Judith Seligson has developed a signature style she’s dubbed “Intimate Geometry.” In her second show with Galerie Mourlot, she presents hard-edged, geometric abstract paintings and a new hybrid form of painting/3-D sculpture she’s developed over the last seven years. The exhibition features 50 new works, including paintings just a few inches in size that are something of a feminist statement, demanding to be taken just as seriously as a monumental canvas.

Location: Galerie Mourlot, 16 East 79th Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Maud Cotter, The Moon Is Falling. Photo ©Roland Paschhoff.

11. “Maud Cotter: A Consequence Of ~” at the Irish Arts Center, New York

Maud Cotter’s new building-wide installation at the Irish Arts Center is up through December 4, but if you want to catch the full show, including the installation of six large-scale sculptures in the black box theater, you only have a few weeks left. Curated by Miranda Driscoll, the show is inspired by Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem “Pied Beauty,” about the manifold nature of existence.

Location: Irish Arts Center, 726 11th Avenue, New York
Price: Free, reservations recommended
Time: Wednesday, 4 p,m.–9 p.m.; Thursday, 3 p.m.–7 p.m.; Friday, 4 p.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.–5p.m.

—Sarah Cascone