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.)

Monday, May 18—Monday, June 1

Richard Mosse, Mother Sky (2010). Image courtesy the artist and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

1.”New York We Love You”: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Benefit Auction

This online benefit auction includes artworks by New York City-based artists who are part of the LMCC community, including Camille Henrot, Julie Mehretu, Richard Mosse, Vik Muniz, Yoko Ono, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and Arlene Shechet, and others. Proceeds from the auction will directly support LMCC’s initiatives to sustain the arts community and the work and livelihood of their artists.

Price: Free to browse
Time: Open daily at all times

—Eileen Kinsella

Tuesday, May 19

Still from “Jes Fan: Infectious Beauty” courtesy of Art21.

2. Film Premiere and Conversation with Jes Fan 

Art21 is debuting the latest installment in the “New York Close Up” series with the artist Jes Fan ahead of the public release on May 20. The video, titled Jes Fan: Infectious Beauty homes in on the artist’s practice of exploring how biology and race are linked across various cultures using glass, silicon, and other biological materials. Following the video, Fan will chat with curator Danielle Brock in a live Q&A on Zoom.

Price: Free with registration
Time: 12 p.m.

—Caroline Goldstein

Frederick Fisher. Photo courtesy of Frederick Fisher and Partners.

3. “Behind Closed Doors” at the Museum of Arts and Design

New York’s Museum of Arts and Design is offering culture vultures a valuable opportunity to snoop on renowned collectors. Each week as part of an expanded multimedia program, the museum is teaming up with an art and design collector to offer tours to the public over Zoom. This week’s takes you inside the home of Frederick Fisher, an architect and former chairman of the environmental design department at Otis College of Art and Design. What better way to spend your lunch break than getting design inspiration from a professional? To register, email [email protected].

Price: Free with registration
Time: 1 p.m.

—Julia Halperin

Wednesday, May 20

Mateo Kries, Direktor Vitra Design Museum. © Vitra Design Museum, Photo: Bettina Matthiessen.

4.”#VDMHomeStories” Instagram Live with Hans-Ulrich Obrist hosted by Vitra Design Museum

Should there be a “new normal,” and how will artistic production change after the pandemic is over? Germany’s Vitra Design Museum director Mateo Kries and Hans-Ulrich Obrist will be on Instagram Live to discuss how the art scene is reacting to the coronavirus crisis and to chat about the future of museums and galleries. Obrist will also talk about the Serpentine’s current exhibition “Cambio” by the design duo Formafantasma.

Price: 
Time: 1:30 p.m.

—Kate Brown

Thursday, May 21

Ching Ho Cheng, Angelhead (1968). © Ching Ho Cheng Estate.

5. “Art History From Home: Asian American Perspectives” at the Whitney Museum of American Art

This talk by Xin Wang, a Whitney teaching fellow and Ph.D candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, looks at works in the museum’s collection that focus on or explore Asian American identity. Among the artists to be discussed are Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Ching Ho Cheng, Martin Wong, and An-My Lê.

Price: Free with registration
Time: 12 p.m.–12:30 p.m.

—Nan Stewert

CAConrad. Photo: Andrej Vasilenko

6. “Endings. (Soma)tic Poetry Rituals. CACONRAD” at RIBOCA2

Acclaimed poet CAConrad is hosting a live reading and talk for RIBOCA2, the second Riga Biennale that was set to take place in Riga, Latvia. The show has now moved online into a film format. This particular iteration of CAConrad’s ongoing poetry rituals will ask how we can transform the contemporary moment, one of significant shifts in ideas, systems, and ways of being, into a time of renewal and new beginnings. Those who are interested in attending are asked to prepare for the talk by reading (Soma)tic Poetry Rituals: The Basics in 3 Parts.

Price: Free with registration
Time: 12 p.m.

– Kate Brown

Courtesy of ColorATL and Atlanta Contemporary.

7. “Virtual Adult Coloring Night and Conversation” at ColorATL

For anyone in the 18-and-up crowd who felt a little pang of envy after seeing the handiwork of several Artnet-adjacent kids unleashed on MoMA’s coloring book, mark your calendars for this Thursday. That evening, Atlanta-based art nonprofits Atlanta Contemporary and ColorATL will present a live-streamed community coloring-book night for grown-ups, centered on the latter organization’s freely downloadable, artist-created pages. The program will also include a conversation between ColorATL’s team and participating artists Charmaine Minniefield, Monica Alexander, Killamari, and Matthew Evans. (And if you enjoy the event, consider buying one of ColorATL’s coloring books, too. For every purchase, the organization will donate a copy to an Atlanta-area medical facility.) 

Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 6 p.m.–8 p.m.

—Tim Schneider

Alison Rossiter, Luminiere Lumitra Image courtesy of Christie’s.

8. “Inside Christie’s Spring Photography Sale: A Conversation with Darius Himes” at Christie’s

Join a free Zoom conversation between Himes, who is international head of the photographs department and Marisa Kayyem, director of continuing education at Christie’s. They will discuss the auction house’s upcoming Spring photography sale. Both will share insight and opinion about select works, ranging from the 1940s rare collaboration between Anni Albers and Nancy Newhall created at Black Mountain College, to Alison Rossiter’s contemporary abstractions made with expired photo paper. Himes will address the themes, artists, and collections of this sale, which ranges from the classic to the contemporary. A Q&A follows the conversation.

Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 5 p.m.–5:30 p.m.

—Eileen Kinsella

Image courtesy of the Association of Art Museum Curators.

9. “Envisioning a Future, Seizing the Now” at the Association of Art Museum Curators

Arts leaders will discuss the big picture issues facing the art world today in this webinar. They will talk about current pain points, new collaborations, and fostering a better community within the arts.

Speakers include Maureen Bray, the executive director of Art Dealers Association of America, Emil J. Kang, the arts and cultural heritage program director at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Lauren Shadford, the executive director of Voices in Contemporary Art, and Pauline Willis, the director and chief executive at the American Federation of Arts. 

The discussion will be moderated by Paula Gangopadhyay, the deputy director for museum services at the Institute of Museum and Library services.

Price: Free with registration
Time: 2 p.m.–3:15 p.m.

—Naomi Rea

Russna Kaur, What would you do?, 2019, Acrylic, oil, latex, spray paint, cut canvas, sawdust and wax on multiple surfaces, 192 x 156 in / 488 x 396 cm. Courtesy of Young Space

10. “Keep for Old Memoirs” at Young Space

For anyone that has been using the quarantine to build their art collection by supporting their favorite artists, this is the event for you! Emerging artists platform Young Space is presenting an online selection of 24 artists from around the world in a show titled “Keep for Old Memoirs,” co-curated with Celine Mo of Victori+Mo. According to Kate Mothes, founder of Young Space, “[a]ll of the artists in some way address the accumulation of history, memory and mythology, and as an exhibition it aims to reflect how the time we’re in is ultimately historical and will be mythologized in years to come.” This exhibition is also the start of Young Space Views, a platform that will serve as an ongoing online gallery. The sale will go live at 12 p.m. CST on Thursday with one work from each of the 24 artists with more works added later. You can follow the sale on their Instagram account at @yngspc.

Price: Free
Time: 12 p.m. CST

—Neha Jambhekar

Kitagawa Utamaro, Courtesans Strolling Beneath Cherry Trees Before the Daikokuya Teahouse (circa 1789). Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum.

11. “Art History Happy Hour” at the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is reimagining its popular art history happy hour event for the new age of online events. The first virtual edition kicks off with Joan Cummins, the senior curator for Asian Art, on how Kitagawa Utamaro’s Courtesans Strolling Beneath Cherry Trees Before the Daikokuya Teahouse is more than just a beautiful springtime scene. Pour yourself a glass of sake or Sapporo as she reveals what the triptych has to say about the role of gender and commerce in late 18th-century Japan.

Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–6:30 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, May 22

Courtesy of Praxis Gallery. Photo: Gregory Gentert

12. Interview with Cristina Camacho on Instagram Live with Praxis

With Instagram Live becoming the new normal (for every account and their mom’s), it’s understandable to be hesitant when it comes which ones you want to join in on. Take my word for it that Praxis’ weekly artist interviews on Instagram Live are worth your while. Occurring each Friday between 4 and 5 pm, Justina Gomez Romero, Sales and Gallery Manager at New York’s Praxis Gallery, leads a discussion with the gallery’s artists and takes questions from those “tuning in.” This week will be an interview with Colombian artist Cristina Camacho. With a glass of wine, this is the perfect start to the “quarant-weekend.”

Price: Free
Time: 4 p.m.–5 p.m.

—Cristina Cruz

Artist Jimmie Durham attends an exhibition of his work, “Jimmie Durham: Various Items and Complaints,” at the Serpentine, London, on September 30, 2015. Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Serpentine Galleries.

13. “Jimmie Durham in Conversation” at the National Arts Club

Artist and activist Jimmie Durham will speak with culture advisor Michela Bondardo about his 45-year career, which includes serving as a political organizer for the American Indian Movement during the 1970s, being part of the downtown New York arts scene in the 1980s, and winning the coveted Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2019 Venice Biennale.

Price: Free with registration
Time: 12 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone

Friday, May 22–Saturday, May 23

Robert Smithson, Amarillo Ramp. Photo courtesy of the Holt/Smithson Foundation.

14. “The Making of Amarillo Ramp, Introduced by Lee Ranaldo” at the Holt/Smithson Foundation

Artist Nancy Holt filmed The Making of Amarillo Ramp as her husband, Robert Smithson, created his final earthwork, Amarillo Ramp—he died in a plane crash while documenting the still-in-progress piece. The Holt/Smithson Foundation has enlisted Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, who named an album after the artwork, to introduce the film as it streams online for 24 hours on Vimeo and Instagram Live.

Price: Free
Time: Friday, 2 p.m.–Saturday, 2 p.m.

—Sarah Cascone