Whether you are visiting New York or you live in the city, you will not be bored this holiday season. Of course, the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade is a must for a lot of visitors, but for an alternative after the big feast with family and friends, we suggest an art tour through the city that never sleeps. Starting in Brooklyn, you can catch a glimpse of newly discovered silent short films and screen tests by Andy Warhol. These screen tests of Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Cass Elliot, and others are currently being shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Public art is on view in the two parks on either side of the famous Brooklyn Bridge. The exhibition “We The People,” a replica of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty by Vietnamese artist Danh Vo, is divided into two distinct installations in Brooklyn Bridge Park and City Hall Park. In Manhattan, in Lincoln Center, is a computer simulation of a power plant, “Solar Reserve,” which simulates the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, by Irish artist John Gerrard.
Discover “A Brief History of New York” at the New-York Historical Society. 101 objects, ranging from a bagel and a subway token to the transatlantic cable used by Queen Victoria to send a telegram, explore the history of the Big Apple. After that, take a stroll through Central Park and stop at one of the museums on Museum Mile. The exhibition “Madame Cézanne” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art sheds new light on the wife and most-painted model of Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne. If you’d like to get off your feet for a while, the film and video screenings at the Guggenheim are just a few blocks away. Currently on view as part of the ZERO Film Program are documentaries about the ZERO network and its artists, such as Günther Uecker. If you’re still not ready to go home and have another slice of pumpkin pie or more Thanksgiving turkey, you can visit Long Island. Here, MoMA PS1, one of the largest and oldest art institutions in the United States, is presenting works by a French artist and choreographer in the exhibition “Retrospective by Xavier Le Roy.” At the less-famous but no-less-interesting Noguchi Museum on Vernon Boulevard, you can see a computer-controlled, motorized sphere of woven bamboo. Wherever your walk through the city takes you, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday!
Exhibition: “A Brief History of New York: Selections from A History of New York in 101 Objects”
When: August 22–November 30, 2014
Where: New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY
Exhibition: “Profiles: Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests”
When: October 3–November 30, 2014
Where: BAM Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Avenue, New York, NY
Exhibition: “Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget”
When: September 2–December 1, 2014
Where: American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, New York, NY
Exhibition: “Retrospective by Xavier Le Roy”
When: October 2–December 1, 2014
Where: MoMA PS1, 22–25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, New York, NY
Exhibition: “John Gerrard: Solar Reserve”
When: October 3–December 1, 2014
Where: Lincoln Center, Public Art Fund, Josie Robertson Plaza, New York, NY
Exhibition: “ZERO Film Program: Günther Uecker and Jan Henderikse”
When: November 21–December 2, 2014
Where: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Exhibition: “Danh Vo: We The People”
When: May 17–December 5, 2014
Where: City Hall Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York, NY
Exhibition: “Handmade: Artists’ Holiday Cards from the Archives of American Art”
When: November 21, 2014–January 4, 2015
Where: The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, New York, NY
Exhibition: “Nicholas Nixon: Forty Years of The Brown Sisters”
When: November 22, 2014–January 4, 2015
Where: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street , New York, NY
Exhibition: “Maria Blaisse’s Breathing Sphere”
When: December 3, 2014–January 4, 2015
Where: The Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Road, Long Island City, New York, NY
Exhibition: “Madame Cézanne”
When: November 19, 2014–March 15, 2015
Where: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY