Art Rx
To help you revel in your art going this week, the doctor prescribes some sure bets and encourages you to take some chances, from the last opportunity to see the New Museum's NYC 1993 show to an imaginative theatrical museum performance.
Memorial Day is upon us, and with it comes a long weekend, picnics in the park, and the delicious first tastes of summer. To help you revel in your art going this week, the doctor prescribes some sure bets and encourages you to take some chances.
There’s little doubt that a discuss of gender politics in the arts should be a good place to spend Wednesday night. Meanwhile, video screenings at the Brooklyn Museum and a new exchange cafe at the Museum of Modern Art will have you seeing and doing new things at old institutions. If you’re looking for more video, visit the Video_Dumbo festival, counterintuitively happening in Chelsea this year; if digital art is more your thing, two gallery shows of net art are opening this week. Finally, for those who want to jump in blind, the doctor recommends a fantastical performance called the Museum of the Transition from the Unreal to the Real, and for those who want to know what they’re getting into, catch the New Museum’s NYC 1993 show before it closes on Sunday.
The Cremaster Himself
When: Tuesday, May 21, 7 pm ($25)
Where: New York Public Library (Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Ave & West 42nd Street, Midtown, Manhattan)
For its eclectic and ever-engaging discussion series Live from the NYPL, the New York Public Library will host artist Matthew Barney. The talk coincides with the Morgan Library’s recently opened exhibition of Barney drawings, and Barney will apparently discuss his “boundless imagination and wide-ranging career” with Paul Holdengräber, who, if you’ve never seen him, is quite the animated host. It sounds to us like a lot to handle. This one’s probably best for die-hard fans.
Internet Art IRL, Part 1
When: Ongoing through Wednesday, May 22
Where: Jack Chiles Gallery (481 Broadway, fourth floor, Soho, Manhattan)
It’s officially Internet Week here in New York, and as you can see here, there are lots of events and talks and things going on all week. One of them is a show called The Feed at Jack Chiles Gallery, featuring net art curated by Angelina Dream and Valerie Veatch, avatars of some of the participating artists in the gallery, QR codes, live DJ streaming, and film screenings. So basically they’re trying to re-create the internet in real life, but, you know, more earnestly than Dave Chappelle.
Gender Politics in the Arts
When: Wednesday, May 22, 6–8 pm
Where: Robert Miller Gallery (523 West 26th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)
The Robert Miller Gallery is currently showing a group exhibition that celebrates Lee Krasner’s impact on and legacy for female artists. In conjunction with that, the gallery will also host this panel discussion, 62 Years Later (it’s 62 years after Krasner’s first solo show), focusing on the last few decades of gender politics in the arts. Participants are soprano Lauren Flanigan, Performa founder RoseLee Goldberg, Creative Time president Anne Pasternak, artist Laurie Simmons, and ballet dancer Heather Watts, with economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett moderating. As you can see, no men are included, leading us to assume that in this case, “gender” means “the role of women” more than anything else.
A Night of Super 8s
When: Thursday, May 23, 7 pm ($12)
Where: Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn)
Current Raw/Cooked artist and Williamsburg stalwart Michael Ballou used to have a monthly art screening event in his garage studio called the Four Walls Slide and Film Club. At the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday, he’ll hark back to those days by showing some of his Super 8 films on one of his artworks that resembles a semitruck, with live music by Brian Dewan.
The Museum of the Transition from the Unreal to the Real
When: Thursday, May 23; Friday, May 24; Sunday, May 26, 7:30 pm ($15 suggested donation)
Where: The Hive (20 Cook Street, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
This multimedia theatrical performance is our wild card pick of the week. Here’s the description:
The audience is given a tour of an imaginary museum, in which various surreal exhibits are displayed and performed for their mind’s eye using storytelling, movement, dance, aerial silks, trapeze, live music on bizarre musical instruments, projections, real time light sculpture, masks, and shadows. Each of the exhibits presented to the audience explores new layers of interaction between layers of realities both internal and external, combining collaborative resources from artists in many fields to create images of otherworldly strangeness and beauty in a play of audiovisual mayhem.
Have fun!
Exchange Café
When: Opens Friday, May 24
Where: Museum of Modern Art (Education and Research Building, 4 West 54th Street, Midtown, Manhattan)
Last winter, the Museum of Modern Art launched an initiative called Artists Experiment, for which the institution’s education department has invited contemporary artists to bring in conceptual and unusual projects. Now artist and activist Caroline Woolard is setting up an Exchange Café to prompt visitors to think about property and how we assign value. You’ll have to barter for your tea, and then you can browse a library of books and ephemera while you drink it.
Internet Art IRL, Part 2
When: Opens Friday, May 24, 6–9 pm
Where: The Still House Group (481 Van Brunt Street, #9D, Red Hook, Brooklyn)
Everyone’s favorite surreal-internet-art-meets-the-everyday-and-then-sell-em-on-Etsy tumblelog, The Jogging, is taking over the Still House Group’s space. The theme is environmental doom meets the digital age, and Red Hook couldn’t be a more fitting neighborhood for the show. Plus we quite like the colorful roped salmon on ice promo image for the show.
Video_Dumbo
When: Ongoing through Saturday, May 25
Where: Eyebeam (540 West 21st Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)
Video_Dumbo is happening in Chelsea this year … which is a little weird. But there’s lots of good stuff on offer, from eight permanent installations to daily screenings that include US premieres and brand new works, plus new Finnish video art. See the schedule and plan your visit here. (And read our review from last week here.)
Last Chance: NYC 1993
When: Closes Sunday, May 26
Where: New Museum (235 Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan)
This week is your last chance to see the New Museum’s love letter to the New York art world of two decades ago, NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Reviews have been mixed but mostly positive, and anyway, it’s definitely the kind of show you want to see for yourself.
