ArtRx NYC

This week, museum maps, feminism in World of Warcraft, the psychology of art, 1970s photographic experiments, alienation in contemporary life, and other events mark the art lover’s guide to New York.

 Maps in the Museum

When: Wednesday, January 7, 1:15pm (Free)
Where: New York Public Library (Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan)

Melissa Forstrom Al Khadi, an adjunct professor in visual culture, media, film, and communications at Molloy College, will present an illustrated lecture on the role of the visitor map in the museum:

Combining both mapping and museum studies discourses while employing cartographic terminology, this presentation offers possible interpretative theories about the authority maps in museums and asks the following questions: What types of maps are in museums and where are these maps located? How do these maps inform the museum visitor within the context/institution of the museum? What is included and excluded? What are the possible relationships between these maps and the text, gallery spaces, and the museum?

 The Council on Gender Sensitivity and Behavioral Awareness in World of Warcraft

When: Wednesday, January 7, 7:30pm ($12)
Where: Dixon Place (161 Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)

Before there was #gamergate, artist Angela Washko was exploring feminist issues in World of Warcraft. Now she’s back and will take no prisoners for this important performance in a land where women are not treated as equals. We wrote about her work last year.

 Anya Gallaccio

When: Opens Friday, January 9
Where: Lehmann Maupin (201 Chrystie Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)

Lehmann Maupin presents an exhibition of new sculpture by Anya Gallaccio, the Turner Prize nominee best known for her organic installations of flowers, cacti, ice blocks, and walls of chocolate. According to the show’s vague press release, Gallaccio’s latest work, formed from materials such as obsidian and stone, “draw[s] upon the formal language of Minimalism.” Gallaccio’s work is rarely un-compelling, so it’s fantastic to see a new solo show for one of the lesser-known talents of the so-called YBAs.

 Psychology and Art

When: Thursday, January 8, 7–8:30pm ($5) [CORRECTED: An earlier version mistakenly listed Friday, January 9]
Where: Central Booking (21 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)

Moderated by Hyperallergic contributor Melissa Stern, this Central Booking symposium (the full title of which is, The Psychology of Art & the Art of Psychology, Who Does What to Whom and Why?) includes curator Ami Ronnberg, artist Anne Gilman, and psychiatrists Laura Whitman and Annie Boland. Though the evening’s subject might be wide open, the mix of speakers should make for lively proceedings.

 The Pre-Vinylite Society Show Card Show

When: Friday, January 9, 7–10pm
Where: Calico (67 West Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn)

Calico’s latest exhibition explores the art of the advertising sign, specifically show cards, ephemeral ads designed to market particular sales or the latest in-store stock. The Pre-Vinylite Society Show Card Show features the work of over 40 artists, many of whom produced their signs by hand painting graphic designs onto paper and other varying card stocks. As the show’s press release implicitly states, the production of show cards provided working artists with stable incomes. Now we have an exhibition spotlighting the art of the show card itself. This looks like a lot of fun.

 The Professional

When: Saturday, January 10, 12pm ($11)
Where: Nitehawk Cinema (136 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Better known as Léon throughout Europe, Luc Besson’s The Professional (1994) is one of the greatest action films of the 1990s. Jean Reno plays Léon, a lonely hitman with a staunch moral framework: “No women, no kids.” After his neighbors are brutally murdered by corrupt DEA officers, Léon reluctantly takes in their daughter, Mathilda (Natalie Portman in her first major film), training her in the art of the kill. As in many of Besson’s early films, the director manages to balance scenes of tender, child-like exchanges with bursts of operatic violence. See it on the big screen at Nitehawk cinema’s brunch screening.

All Pores Open

When: Sunday, January 11, 6–8pm
Where: Regina Rex (221 Madison Street, Chinatown, Manhattan)

Intimacy amid alienation could be the motto of contemporary life, but the four artists in this show (Dit-Cilinn, David Ohlsson, Shirley Gorelick, and Ted Partin) are doing their part to portray that condition in sculpture, painting, and photography. You know that moment when an artist and their subject connect? That’s here.

 Susan Bee: Photograms and Altered Photos From the 1970s

When: Sunday, January 11, 4–6pm
Where: Southfirst (60 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Susan Bee may best be known as a painter, but in the 1970s — when she was writing her master’s thesis on Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray’s photograms while studying with Rosalind Krauss at Hunter College — she was also immersed in her own photographic experiments. This show may be a revelation to all those unfamiliar with her darkroom work.