Art Rx

The doctor knows: after all that time spent inside with your family, you’re itching to get out and do some arting around town. As usual, she’s got the prescription in hand, and this week it’s an eclectic mix. Learn about an avant-garde artist in 1920s Russia or contemporary Latin-American photographers? Attend a screening of a campy Warhol melodrama or a documentary on the history of AIDS activist group ACT UP? And what about a mid-week holiday party to get you ready for December?

You may not be able to do it all, but you can come close. The doctor says take everything in, and don’t let a little snow get in your way.

 Speculative Sound

When: Tuesday, November 27, 6:30
Where: Apex Art (291 Church Street, Tribeca, Manhattan)

If we could nominate one gallery that consistently mounts exhibitions centered on original, interesting themes, it would be Apex Art. The current show, As Real As It Gets, tackles that buzz word/topic of the 21st century: branding. In conjunction with it, the gallery is hosting Speculative Sound Performance, which needs no more than its own one-sentence description: “An exercise in sonic branding, this event asks musicians from the Disquiet Junto collective to create pieces that interrogate the atmosphere and sounds of a department store as described in an Émile Zola novel.”

 Para-Architectural Imaginings

When: Tuesday, November 27, 6:30 pm
Where: Guggenheim Museum (1071 5th Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan)

Here’s another event whose branding is really working for us: a lecture at the Guggenheim called “The Para-Architectural Imagination of Gustav Klutsis.” If you know little to nothing about Gustav Klutsis, that’s OK, neither do we. Art historian Maria Gough will deliver the talk, explaining the Constructivist artist’s ideas for disseminating revolutionary ideas and speech in 1920s Russia.

 Museums and the Commons

When: Wednesday, November 28, 6:30 pm
Where: CUNY Center for the Humanities (365 Fifth Avenue, Midtown, Manhattan)

Today, more and more museums are digitizing their collections and making them available in public commons. Naturally this raises all sort of questions, including the one this panel aims to explore: “How can museums build vanguard collaborations and collective resources not only to aid constituents as they use institutional content but to create anew in a digital culture?” Participants include new media staffers from the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and if you can’t be there in person, it’s being live-streamed!

Early Holiday Party

When: Wednesday, November 28, 7–9 pm
Where: P! (334 Broome Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)

The lovely, smart art journal Paper Monument is throwing a holiday party this week — and while it seems a little early to already be celebrating the end of the year, there will be hot mulled wine, so we’ll bite. There will also be artist multiples, “How Artists Must Dress” tote bags, and, presumably, good company.

Warhol’s Hedy

When: Wednesday, November 28, 8:30–10:30 pm ($7 suggested donation)
Where: Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South, Manhattan)

Dirty Looks screens Hedy, a Warhol film about movie star Hedy Lamarr starring drag star Mario Montez with a soundtrack by the Velvet Underground. You can’t really go wrong with a chance for campy, melodramatic, Factory fun.

Art in the 21st Century

When: Friday, November 30, 6:30 pm
Where: Residency Unlimited (360 Court Street, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn)

If you missed this past season of Art21, here’s your chance to catch up. Residency Unlimited will show the films from season six, which features Ai Weiwei, Catherine Opie, Glenn Ligon, and Marina Abramović, among others, followed by a discussion about arts education.

 The Latin American Photobook

When: Saturday, December 1, 10 am–5:30 pm
Where: Aperture Gallery and Bookstore (547 West 27th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)

This day-long symposium is dedicated to Aperture’s latest exhibition, The Latin American Photobook. The show (and accompanying book) provides insight and exposure to the relatively little-known world of Latin American photography. The symposium — which is free! — includes a walk through the show with curator Horacio Fernández, as well as discussions about the state of Latin American photography and publishing.

ACT UP

When: Saturday, December 1, and Sunday, December 2, times vary
Where: New Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, and Museum of Arts and Design

The AIDS crisis continues to rage in communities around the world. Educate yourself by seeing the documentary United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, showing at museums around the city in honor of Day With(out) Art/World AIDS Day (Dec. 1). The New Museum screens the film at 3 pm, MoMA at 4 pm, the Brooklyn Museum at 8 pm, and the next day, the Museum of Arts and Design shows it at 2 pm, along with a discussion with director Jim Hubbard.