ArtRx NYC

Juanli Carrión, “Pigmentum” (2016) (courtesy the artist and Y Gallery, via artingeneral.org)

 A Conversation about Brooklyn Culture

When: Tuesday, January 31, 6:30–8:30pm
Where: BRIC (647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn)

This year, New York will announce its first-ever citywide cultural plan, to be administered by the Department of Cultural Affairs. Join Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance (DBAA) on Tuesday for an open discussion about what this means for the community’s cultural life, and vocalize your hopes and expectations for the plan — or at least take in the ideas of others. If you can’t attend the forum in person, you can still contribute to the plan’s shaping: take DBAA’s Cultural Needs Survey, which allows you to share your thoughts on issues important to you. —CV

 Cooking with Corn

When: Wednesday, February 1, 6–8:30pm, & Saturday, February 4, 1–3:30pm (free with RSVP)
Where: Art in General (145 Plymouth Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn)

Food isn’t just something we consume every day; it’s a potent symbol of political and economic forces. In a series of workshops and an accompanying installation commissioned by Art in General, Juanli Carrión will focus on corn and the way it’s used in the global economy. Participants will prepare dishes made from ground maize, while Carrión pushes them to think about the diversity, homogenization, and appropriation of Latin American cultures. —JS

David Horvitz, unique hand-blown sea-glass sculpture, dimensions variable (image courtesy Triple Canopy and Phoebe d’Heurle)

 The Glass Graveyard of Brooklyn

When: Opens Wednesday, February 1, 6–9pm
Where: UrbanGlass (647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn)

Dead Horse Bay is one of Brooklyn’s most haunting places, with the trash from an old landfill constantly being pulled to the water by the waves. It’s also been an unexpected artistic muse, whether for creators experimenting with this detritus of consumerism or as a place that represents environmental destruction by industry (the name comes from the old horse-rendering plants at the site) and the use of eminent domain to radically alter New York City’s geography. The 13 artists in this exhibition that I curated at UrbanGlass have distinct visions. From Alex Branch’s instrument made with seawater to David Horvitz’s blown-glass vessels made from collected shards, all are responding to this overlooked edge of the city. —AM

State of Exception, installation view at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities Gallery (photo by Richard Barnes)

 Remnants of Border Crossings

When: Opens Thursday, February 2, 6–8pm
Where: Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons, The New School (2 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan)

Anthropologist Jason De León has spent years in the desert of Arizona gathering the traces of human activity left behind by migrants crossing over from Mexico into the US. The latest installment of his collaboration with photographer Richard Barnes and curator Amanda Krugliak, State of Exception/Estado de Excepción, includes video shot along the US-Mexico border, an installation of backpacks, clothing, and other artifacts gathered by De León, and recordings of his interviews with migrants. With Donald Trump’s planned border wall looming large, De León’s work chronicling the human impact appears all the more vital. —BS

 Indigenous Identities and the Limitations of Canada

When: Thursday, February 2, 7:30pm
Where: Silver Center, Room 300, New York University (31 Washington Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan)

Produced for and shown as a part of Documenta 13, this 50-minute, silent, 16mm film by artists Brian Jungen and Duane Linklater documents two hunting trips to the Treaty 8 area, located in northeastern British Columbia. The first film work by either artist, “Modest Livelihood” (2012) explores the relationship of First Nations people to their land. In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the First Nations’ rights to fish and hunt on their own territory, but the decision stipulated that these activities should not exceed the sustenance of a “moderate livelihood.” The wording was highly controversial among indigenous communities, particular given the gluttony and hubris of the settler colonial culture around them. The screening will be following by a conversation between Linklater and myself. —HV

Trailer for Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, part of BAM’s series showcasing black women filmmakers

 Black Women’s Cinema

When: Begins Friday, February 3
Where: BAM (30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn)

Throughout the month of February, BAM will be screening films made by black women directors between 1970 and 1991. A number of these movies were not screened publicly until years after they were shot, and most of them have remained overlooked. From Debra Robinson’s 1984 profile of four African-American female comedians to Liz White’s all-black cast adaption of Othello to a night dedicated to animation, this rich and eclectic series is well worth exploring. —EWA

 Talking About the Environment

When: Saturday, February 4, 3–6pm
Where: Petzel Gallery (456 W 18th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)

When Donald Trump was elected president, Petzel Gallery decided to scrap its immediate program and mount an exhibition in response. Titled We need to talk…, the show features artworks on display — a portion of whose sales go to “any organization that seems appropriate to artist and collector” — as well as opportunities for processing and discussing the current state of affairs, most notably in a series of Saturday symposia. This weekend’s event, the last, concentrates on the environment and features a screening of Doug McClean’s film about Standing Rock (necessary), a talk by the Natural History Museum’s Beka Economopolis on the important of alternative institutions (timely), and one by Dr. Karen Holmberg titled “A Meditation on the Future Environment Through the Eyes of an Archaeologist” (fascinating). —JS

Atomic Culture in collaboration with the Loisaida Inc Center as part of the 2017 Art Residency Program at Loisaida (image via loisaida.org)

 Futurism in the Southwest

When: Opens Saturday, February 4, 6–8pm
Where: Loisaida Center (710 E 9th Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)

On the occasion of its residency at the Loisaida Center, the collective Atomic Culture has invited 15 artists from the southwestern United States to discuss and respond to ideas at the intersection of futurism and geopolitics. The resulting exhibition and event series, Future Now // Futura Ahora, will examine how futurism can be used as a decolonizing tool to reclaim land, natural resources, and ways of living that occupying forces have sought to wipe out. —BS

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