Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting, and thought-provoking, shows, screenings, and events. See them below.
Monday, December 19
The 2015 Holiday Concert at the Guggenheim. Courtesy of the Guggenheim.
1. Holiday Concert at the Guggenheim Museum
What better way to fully embrace the Christmas spirit (and ignore the sure-to-be-disappointing vote of the Electoral College) than an evening in the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda at the Guggenheim, with holiday tunes from the Vox Vocal Ensemble, conducted by George Steel.
Location: 1071 5th Avenue
Price: From $20
Time: 7:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Tuesday, December 20
Lewis Carroll, Edith Liddell Seated Beside a Vase of Foxgloves (1860), detail. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2. The Little Match Girl Passion at the Met Breuer
Hans Christian Andersen’s classic Christmas tale, the tragic “The Little Match Girl,” inspired this Pulitzer Prize-winning musical composition by David Lang, which debuted nearly a decade ago at Carnegie Hall in New York. The Met Breuer production, held in the museum lobby, is being billed as an “immersive, site-specific performance,” and features vocal ensemble Ekmeles.
Location: 945 Madison Avenue
Price: $65
Time: 7:00 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Simone Forti, Sleep Walkers/Zoo Mantras, 1966. Photo Jason Underhill, courtesy International Studio & Curatorial Program.
3. Simone Forti, Sleep Walkers/Zoo Mantras at International Studio & Curatorial Program
Simone Forti first performed her dance Sleep Walkers/Zoo Mantras some five decades ago, and her rendition of the piece on Tuesday at ISCP will be the first time she’s staged it in New York since the 1970s.
Location: 1040 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: 6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
—Brian Boucher
Until Thursday, December 22
Ragnar Kjartansson. World Light – The Life and Death of an Artist (2015). Commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna. Courtesy Luhring Augustine, New York and i8, Reykjavik.
4. Ragnar Kjartansson, “Scenes from Western Culture | Architecture and Morality” and World Light at Luhring Augustine
This is your last chance to see the Icelandic artist’s dual solo shows on view at Luhring Augustine in Chelsea and Bushwick. In Brooklyn, catch World Light – The Life and Death of an Artist (2015), a looped four-channel video depicting an orphan’s quest beset by “difficulties, mediocrity, and tragedy,” according to the gallery. The Chelsea show has some forgettable paintings in the front of the gallery (Architecture and Morality), but venture to the back room for a bizarre and charming grouping of his video works, where the artist truly shines.
Location: 531 West 24th Street, Manhattan, and 25 Knickerbocker Ave, Brooklyn
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Wednesday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. The exhibition closes at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 22.
—Kathleen Massara
Through Thursday, January 5, 2017
“The Haas Brothers: King Dong Come,” installation view. Courtesy of R & Company.
5. “The Haas Brothers: King Dong Come” at R & Company
Because the gallery will close for more than a week over the holidays, it’s basically your last chance to see the delightful creations of the Haas Brothers. Under their unique vision, the gallery becomes a fantasy world, filled with cuddly stuffed monsters with hefty metal hands and feet and other equally-fantastical plants and animals.
Location: 82 Franklin Street
Price: Free
Time: Monday–Friday, 11:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.; Saturday 12:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m. The gallery is closed December 24, 2016–January 2, 2017.
—Sarah Cascone
Courtesy of rubinmuseum.org.
6. “Sacred Spaces: Himalayan Wind and the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room” at the Rubin Museum of Art
If you’re looking for a little peace and solace amid the polar vortex and end-of-year holiday crush, step inside the Rubin Museum. As part of the second iteration of its “Sacred Spaces” exhibition, Soundwalk Collective, in collaboration with sound artist Francisco López, present the fruits of more than 120 recorded hours of wind footage from more than 200 villages and monasteries in Upper Mustang, Nepal. At each location, they set up their equipment in the early morning, before the wind picked up, and filmed until evening. The recordings selected for the final installation were chosen based on textural and tonal properties.
The Shrine Room at the Rubin Musuem of Art. Photo by David De Armas. Courtesy of the Rubin Museum of Art.
An additional tip: the museum will distribute its limited edition vinyl LP copies of Khandroma to visitors at noon on days when New York City’s winds exceed ten miles per hour. Don’t say the polar vortex is not good for something.
Location: 150 West 17th Street
Price: Adults – $15; Seniors – $10 ; Students – $10 Children 12 and younger- Free (Also free every first Monday of the month.
Time: Monday 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; Tuesday Closed; Wednesday 11:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. Thursday 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Friday 11:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.; Daturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.(closed December 25 and January 1).
—Eileen Kinsella