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.)
Monday, October 4
Mary Mattingly with her piece Public Water: Watershed Core (2021). Installation view, Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Photo by Manuel Molina Martagon, courtesy of More Art.
1. “NYC Water Futures: From Conservation to Regeneration” at the Brooklyn Public Library
In response to Mary Mattingly’s recent public art installation “Public Water” in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, the artist is moderating a virtual panel discussion about the New York city watershed that supplies our drinking water. Panelists Rob Hayes, Erin Morey, and Emily Vail will talk about the effects of pollutants and climate change on the delicate public water system, and how to be stewards of the watershed coalitions.
Price: Free
Time: 6 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Monday, October 4–Wednesday, October 27
Isla Phillips Gordon and Ashley Kaye, Eat your heart out Kim K, 2021 Courtesy of Paradice Palase
2. “Apparitions” at Paradice Palase, New York
Just in time for Halloween, Paradice Palase presents “Apparitions,” their third annual members’ exhibition. This exhibition explores the idea of growing too far from or too close to someone during the last year and a half. According to the gallery’s statement, “the artists in ‘Apparitions’ are navigating a deeply transitional and unclear moment in time as we struggle to emerge from unprecedented crises.” There are 27 artists participating in this show with works that comprise of everything from painting, sculpture, and photography.
Location: Paradice Palase, 1260 Broadway, Brooklyn, New York
Price: Free
Time: Reception, Saturday, October 23, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m.–5 p.m. and by appointment
—Neha Jambhekar
Thursday, October 7
Left: Sir David Adjaye OBE. Photo: Anoush Abrar. Courtesy: Adjaye Associates, London.
Right: Deborah Willis. Photo: Adam Ryder. Courtesy: the artist and Pratt Institute, New York.
3. “Legends 2021: Action Now For a More Diverse Pratt” at Pratt Institute, New York
On Thursday evening, Pratt Institute is holding its annual gala and scholarship fundraiser virtually. This year, they are honoring two luminaries and icons—David Adjaye, the international renowned Ghanian-British architect, and artist, photographer, curator, educator, and historian Deborah Willis. Adjaye is the designer of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, D.C. which opened in 2016 (he also holds a knighthood for his service to architecture). A MacArthur (’00) and Guggenheim (’05) recipient, Willis served as the exhibitions curator at the NMAAHC for eight years and is the author of multiple books.
Price: Free with RSVP
Time: 7 p.m.
—Neha Jambhekar
Jackie Azúa Kramer, Dorothy and Herbert: An Ordinary Couple and their Extraordinary Collection of Art, illustrated by Julia Breckenreid. Courtesy of Cameron Kids.
4. “Virtual Book Launch: Dorothy and Herbert: An Ordinary Couple and their Extraordinary Collection of Art” at the Society of Illustrators, New York
Portal clerk Herbert Vogel and librarian Dorothy Vogel were unlikely art collectors, but they somehow managed to purchase 4,782 works by such art world luminaries as Richard Tuttle, Cindy Sherman, and Roy Lichtenstein, storing it all in a tiny New York City apartment. They donated the lot of it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Already the subject of two documentary films, the couple is now getting their own children’s book, Dorothy and Herbert: An Ordinary Couple and their Extraordinary Collection of Art, out later this month. Herbert died in 2012, but Dorothy will join in a conversation with the book’s author, Jackie Azúa Kramer, and illustrator, Julia Breckenreid, moderated by illustrator and author James Yang.
Price: Free with registration
Time: 6 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Marcos “Erre” Ramírez, the U.S.-Mexico border. Photo courtesy of MASS MoCA.
5. “3 Familiar Views from/at the USA-Mexico Border” at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts
Timed to his current MASS MoCA exhibition “Erre: Them and Us/Ellos y Nosotros,” Marcos “Erre” Ramírez and his brothers, poet and visual artist Omar Pimienta and border culture expert Juan Carlos Ramírez-Pimienta, will share family stories about the U.S.-Mexico border region in a live conversation on MASS MoCA’s YouTube channel. The discussion will consider the ways in which the border has changed since the 1980s, and how their artistic and academic studies have been shaped by the region.
Price: Free, RSVP for reminder email
Time: 6 p.m.
—Tanner West
Thursday, October 7–Sunday, October 31
Emily Oliveira, The Goddess, Asleep, Is Bitten by a Cosmic Snake and Thereby Hallucinates the Universe into Existence, 2019-2020 Courtesy of 1969 Gallery
6. “Out” at 1969 Gallery, New York
Do not miss the opening of “Out,” a group show curated by artists and twin brothers Jarrett and Jon Key at 1969 Gallery. The artists in this exhibition include Brianna Rose Brooks, Khari Johnson-Ricks, Emily Oliveira, Ricardo Partida, and Aparna Sarkar, as well as the curators themselves, and they want you to know that they are very much “out.” They are claiming their sexuality and agency over their bodies through vibrant and joyful works. “Joyous and celebratory, relaxed and nonchalant, these works reveal new possibilities for leisure and security,” says the gallery.
Location: 1969 Gallery, 103 Allen Street, New York
Price: Free
Time: Opening, Thursday, October 7, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.
—Neha Jambhekar
Thursday, October 7–Monday, April 18, 2022
G. Peter Jemison. Indians Have Always Paid The Price (2005). Image courtesy National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (26/9746). Photo: NMAI Photo ServicesG. Peter Jemison. Indians Have Always Paid The Price (2005). Image courtesy National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (26/9746). Photo: NMAI Photo Services
7. “Greater New York: 2021” at MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens
This is the fifth edition of MoMA PS1’s signature survey of artists living and working in the New York City area (It was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic). This iteration offers an intimate look at New York by creating connections between important histories of art-making and emerging practices. It features the work of 47 artists and collectives, and was organized by a curatorial team led by PS1’s Ruba Katrib, with writer and curator Serubiri Moses, in collaboration with PS1 director Kate Fowle and MoMA Latin American art curator Inés Katzenstein.
Location: MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens
Price: General admission $10; seniors and students $5; New York City residents, members, and children 16 and under free
Time: Sunday–Monday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday 12 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
—Eileen Kinsella
Friday, October 8
Brian O’Doherty, Structural Play: Vowel Grid (1970), performance, Grianan Aileach, Donegal, Ireland (1998). Photo courtesy of the artist and Brenda Moore-McCann.
8. “Undoing Language: Early Performance Works by Brian O’Doherty” at the Kitchen, New York
In his 93 years, Brian O’Doherty has achieved success—sometimes under pseudonymic identities including Patrick Ireland and Mary Josephson—as an artist, art critic, novelist, filmmaker, and poet. (He also served as editor-in-chief for Art in America magazine.) In celebration of O’Doherty’s contributions to New York’s performance art, both as an artist and as the first head of performance funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kitchen is staging a selection of his early performance work exploring the breakdown of language into isolated vowel sounds. This will include the first performance of O’Doherty’s 1968 piece Vowel Chorus for Five Voices (1968), by the vocal ensemble Ekmeles. The Kitchen has also commissioned a new piece from vocalist and composer Holland Andrews inspired by the guttural vowel sounds in O’Doherty’s work. The evening is guest curated by Lucy Cotter.
Location: The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, New York
Price: $15
Time: 7 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Sunday, October 10
Nichole Galicia (top) with participants in the Orchid Foundation’s programs.
9. “Artists for the Orchid Foundation” at VU
Bid on work by Kara Walker, Lorna Simpson, Alfredo Jaar, and other artists while helping the nonprofit Orchid Foundation reach its goal of $117,000 to fund mentorships and college scholarships for underserved girls. (This past year, activities included a visit to artist Derek Fordjour’s studio, lessons on the stock market and IRAs, and residencies at a California vineyard.) The virtual fundraiser and auction, which is open now through October 10, is hosted by actress and Orchid Foundation founder Nichole Galicia, artist Thomas Houseago, and actor Chris Pine, among others.
Through Saturday, October 30
Barrow Parke, Woman VII (2021). Photo courtesy of JDJ Tribeca.
10. “Barrow Parke: Woman” at JDJ Tribeca, New York
Garrison’s JDJ gallery has opened a new location in Lower Manhattan, and is inaugurating the space with an exhibition of Mark Barrow and Sarah Parke, whose exhibition at the Fabric Workshop Museum in Philadelphia closed last week. Their “Woman” paintings and drawings are inspired by ancient fertility statues and incorporate hand-woven and embroidered fabrics, displayed against their site-specific wallpaper.
Location: JDJ Tribeca, 373 Broadway, B11, New York
Price: Free
Time: Tuesday–Saturday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone
Through Sunday, October 31
Some of the buildings featured in “Supertall! 2021.” Courtesy of the Skyscraper Museum, New York.
11. “Archtober” in New York
Friday marked the kick off of the annual Archtober event celebrating architecture and design in New York City, and several local museums are joining the festivities. The Museum of the City of New York is offering walking tours of several neighborhoods, including Uptown Manhattan’s Morningside Heights on October 8 and Motthaven in the Bronx on October 22. The Museum of Modern Art is hosting two “Treading Softly: Ecocritical Approaches to Cultural History” study sessions with the Mellon-Marron Research Consortium—one was October 1, and the second is this Thursday, October 7. And, for a more architecture-centric institution, you can take a tour with Untapped Cities of the Skyscraper Museum’s exhibition “Supertall! 2021” about the world’s most towering buildings (a follow up of their 2011 show of the same name), on October 6.
Location: Various buildings throughout New York
Price: Prices vary
Time: Times vary
—Sarah Cascone
Through Wednesday, December 1
Photos from Pat Kane’s “Here Is Where We Shall Stay,” about Indigenous identity in Canada, on view in Brooklyn Bridge Park during Photoville NYC. Photo by Sarah Cascone.
12. “Photoville NYC“
Now back for its tenth year, Photoville has expanded beyond its traditional home in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood to sites throughout all five boroughs. Pre-pandemic, the festival exhibited in repurposed shipping containers. This year’s 84 photography projects are printed on vinyl banners displayed in Brooklyn Bridge Park and other public places throughout the city. Some projects are lighthearted, such as Traer Scott’s “Goodbye Salad Days: Kevin Faces Adulthood,” about a hamster faced with the typical millennial problems of internet dating, weight gain, and the need to save for retirement. Many of these photographers, however, are documenting world events and the pressing social and political issues of our time. Particularly striking is Paula Bronstein’s “The Last Chapter of War in Afghanistan,” which includes photographs of the nation since the Taliban’s return to power this summer, and Todd Heisler’s “Essential, But No Guarantees,” consisting of portraits of New York’s essential workers taken during five months of lockdown for the New York Times.
Location: Various locations throughout New York
Price: Free
Time: On view daily at all times, but recommended viewing hours are 6 a.m.–7 p.m.
—Sarah Cascone