Anne Pesata, Rulan Tangen, Natalie Beally, and Lupita Salazar at Santa Fe Art Institute, in rehearsal for “Running for Water, Running for Land” (© Paulo T. Photography, via abladeofgrass.org)

 Decolonizing Movement

When: Thursday, January 12, 6pm (free with RSVP)
Where: The 8th Floor (17 West 17th Street, Union Square, Manhattan)

Rulan Tangen will lead this workshop focused on decolonization, drawing on her experience as a dance artist and choreographer as well as her work with Native American communities. The event will feature a presentation on the history of indigenous artists working for environmental justice and restorative movement practices for participants. Dress accordingly. —JS

 A Conceptual Language Label

From Emergency Eyewash (via gassergrunert.net)

When: Opens Thursday, January 12, 6–8pm
Where: Tanja Grunert (524 W 19th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)

Hyperallergic Weekend contributor (and The Nation art critic and poet) Barry Schwabsky has teamed up with artist Carol Szymanski to launch Emergency Eyewash, a “conceptual ‘label’ conceived … as a vehicle for collaborations using texts, imagery, and objects,” with a particular focus on “open[ing] up space for language arts” beyond books and computers. The centerpiece of this, the label’s first show, will be three variations on the hoodie created by Norwegian menswear designer Siv Støldal, carrying poems by Judith Goldman, Tyrone Williams, and John Yau. —JS

 Cyborgs “R” Us

When: Friday, January 13 at 6:30pm ($12)
Where: Whitney Museum (99 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan)

Since Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, it’s been common knowledge that we are all cybernetic to some degree, but the three short films on this evening’s slate — by Lynn Hershman Leeson, Cécile B. Evans, and Adelita Husni-Bey — all consider particular wrinkles and ripples of the cyborg’s peculiar sense of identity and embodiment. After the screenings, Leeson and fellow artists Andrea Crespo and Saya Woolfalk will talk with Whitney curator Chrissie Iles about the ways cyborg characters and imagery can upend the binary distinctions we so often fall back on to structure our perceptions of the world. —BS

Adelita Husni-Bey, still from “After the Finish Line” (2015), video, color, sound, 12:53 min, collection of the artist (courtesy Galleria Laveronica, Modica)

 Bathroom Theater

When: Opens Friday, January 13 ($35)
Where: Undisclosed apartments around NYC

Inspired by her own bicycling accident, and the subsequent need to rely on the kindness of strangeness for bathtubs to wash in with her giant cast, Siobhan O’Loughlin has created Broken Bone Bathtub. Immersive theater at its most intimate, the one-woman traveling show will be held in various apartments around New York City, their locations disclosed upon ticket purchase. Small audiences will gather in these private spaces to hear O’Loughlin’s story of mortality, survival, and the courage to ask for help. —AM

 Artistic Excess

When: Opens Friday,  January 13, 6–8pm
Where: The Parlour Bushwick (791 Bushwick Avenue, Bushwick, Brooklyn)

We tend to think of exaggeration as a bad thing — see: the aesthetic tastes of our President-elect — but can it be a tool or a strength? Curated by Chris Bors and Fred Fleisher at the Parlour Bushwick, Successive Excessive explores this question through the work of nine artists who revel in excess, from Roxanne Jackson’s fiercely elaborate ceramic sculptures to Hein Koh’s darkly playful mash-ups of body parts, and more. —JS

Roxanne Jackson, “Cat Bite” (2016), ceramic, glaze, luster, 19 x 12 x 11 in (via Facebook/The Parlour Bushwick)

 Writers Resist

When: Sunday, January 15, 2–4pm
Where: New York Public Library (Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan)

This literary protest, held on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, will feature readings and performances by dozens of writers speaking out against hate speech. Laurie Anderson, Moustafa Bayoumi, Masha Gessen, Angela Flournoy, and Deborah Solomon are just some of the many participants, along with American poet laureates Robert Pinsky and Rita Dove, who will offer “inaugural” poems. Organized by PEN America with a slew of partners, the event will conclude with a march to Trump Tower to deliver a free expression pledge on the First Amendment signed by over 110,000 people. —JS

 New York’s History of Squatting

When: Sunday, January 15, 7–9pm ($10)
Where: UnionDocs (322 Union Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

This documentary goes back to the 1980s and ’90s, when squatters took over the Lower East Side. Focusing on how they creatively occupied urban space and created their own radical sense of community, the film also examines the violent measures taken to evict them. In 2002, the city sold squatted buildings (for one dollar a piece!) to the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board to renovate them for low-income housing. But, as the UnionDocs website states, “by 2013, only five of the eleven buildings in the legalization deal had been converted into co-ops.” The film should be interesting, as it takes many approaches, from documenting the lives of current squatters to looking at the firsthand accounts from the ’80s through a graphic novel. The screening will be followed by a discussion with one of the filmmakers, Amy Strarecheski, who is also a former squatter. —EWA

New Ear Festival (curated by Peter Evans): Jan. 8- Jan. 16. // Artist Spotlight: Lea Bertucci, Sun., Jan. 15, 8pm. // “The use of rigorous, abstract sound in my work, whether electronically generated or the product of extended instrumental technique, is a deliberate reaction to our disastrous times.” // Buy tickets at fridmangallery.com/bookstore. #leabertucci #levorenzo #newearfestival #fridmangallery #peterevans #nyc

A photo posted by Fridman Gallery (@fridmangallery) on

 New Ear Festival

When: Through Monday, January 16 ($20 per night)
Where: Fridman Gallery (287 Spring Street, Soho, Manhattan)

Continue ringing in the new year with Fridman Gallery’s annual New Ear Festival, which showcases a wide selection of contemporary sound art over the course of a week. Curated by Peter Evans, this year’s lineup features big names from electroacoustic artist Lea Bertucci to jazz cellist Tomeka Reid; more emerging artists include multi-percussionist Diego Espinosa and pianist Ohal Grietzer, who released her debut solo album last year. Most intriguing, at least by description, may be Miya Masaoka‘s “Vagina Dialogues,” which the gallery describes as “a vagina listening performance.” Purchase tickets online, but if you can’t make any of the events in the flesh, each one will also be live-streamed and archived on Wave Farm. —CV

*   *   *

With contributions by Elisa Wouk Almino, Allison Meier, Benjamin Sutton, and Claire Voon

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