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# City of Champions
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/city-of-champions/
- Published: 2026-06-16T19:50:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-16T19:50:43.000Z
- Description: If the Knicks can do it, any of us can. Plus, must-see shows around NYC this summer: Orientalism, Pope.L, Sonia Boyce, and more.
- Author: Hyperallergic
- Tags: New York Newsletter, Newsletter

We hope this finds you ecstatic, because, my brethren, the New York Knicks are champions! Come on, even if you’re not a die-hard basketball fan, revel in it a little — you might not get another chance for 50 years. (Hurts less to hear now, doesn’t it?) 

It’s the kind of thing that makes everything feel a little sweeter. Suddenly, the same streets I walk every day seem charged with a kind of magic: If you were on Manhattan Ave circa 1am on Sunday, for instance, you might’ve seen me woop rather than yell at the guy doing wheelies on his dirtbike, sending smoke wafting up in the air. 

It’s the feeling I get when I look upon Abram Champanier’s New Deal-era murals depicting Lewis Caroll’s Alice and crew gallivanting around the city — sitting astride the lions outside the NYPL’s main branch, zooming over the East River — now on view at the Museum of the City of New York. What other wonders await? Call us the Cheshire Cat, because we’ll guide you.

—*Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor*

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[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/alice-in-wonderland-1.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/30-must-see-art-shows-in-new-york-city-this-summer/)

[ 30 Must-See Art Shows in New York City This Summer ](https://hyperallergic.com/30-must-see-art-shows-in-new-york-city-this-summer/) 

Pierre Huyghe’s brain activity-inspired dreamscapes, Orientalism at The Met, a menagerie of mystical animals, and so much more. 

[Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/30-must-see-art-shows-in-new-york-city-this-summer//) 

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## Let's Go Knicks

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/cheeks-artist.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/celebrating-the-knicks-win-one-stitch-at-a-time/)

[ Celebrating the Knicks Win, One Stitch at a Time ](https://hyperallergic.com/celebrating-the-knicks-win-one-stitch-at-a-time/) 

The textile artist known as Cheeks embraced a wave of city pride at his now-viral Fort Greene embroidery pop-up. | Isa Farfan 

[Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/celebrating-the-knicks-win-one-stitch-at-a-time/) 

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## New York Interviews 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/nayland-blake-2.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/nayland-blake-doesnt-believe-in-fixed-selves/)

[ Nayland Blake Doesn’t Believe in Fixed Selves ](https://hyperallergic.com/nayland-blake-doesnt-believe-in-fixed-selves/) 

“You have to be a person who champions other work,” they told Hyperallergic, “so that you build the context within which your work can be legible.” | Lisa Yin Zhang 

[Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/nayland-blake-doesnt-believe-in-fixed-selves/) 

[ Beer With a Painter: Samia Halaby ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-samia-halaby/) 

At her longtime studio in Tribeca, the Palestinian-American painter discussed her experimentation with color and how she “accidentally stepped into abstraction.” | Jennifer Samet 

[Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/beer-with-a-painter-samia-halaby/) 

[ Sarah Schulman’s Four Decades of Lesbian Fiction ](https://hyperallergic.com/sarah-schulmans-four-decades-of-lesbian-fiction/) 

“Nothing stops me except the publishing industry,” quipped the novelist and AIDS historian, who cut her teeth as an East Village journalist writing for queer and feminist papers. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin 

[Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/sarah-schulmans-four-decades-of-lesbian-fiction/) 

[ What Carmen Maria Machado Wants You to Know About Power ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-carmen-maria-machado-wants-you-to-know-about-power/) 

The author and memoirist spoke to Hyperallergic about curating the work of Cuban painter Rocío García, whose characters linger in the space where power and pleasure meet. | Lakshmi Rivera Amin 

[Read More ](https://hyperallergic.com/what-carmen-maria-machado-wants-you-to-know-about-power/) 

## From Our Critics

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/06/your-birth-is-my-birth.jpg)](https://hyperallergic.com/an-artist-duos-haven-of-synthetic-hair/)

### Chie Xu

***Your Birth is My Birth* at Jane Lombard Gallery**

"The material recalls the communal, multigenerational experience of caring for hair and the central role it plays in forming queer, gender, and racial identity, particularly in Black and Latine communities. Omotayo Alaka and Frésquez have drawn on this principle to craft a visual language of their own..."

[*Read the full review*](https://hyperallergic.com/an-artist-duos-haven-of-synthetic-hair/) 

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## What Else Is Happening?

- The New Museum will hold the [largest-ever survey exhibition of works by filmmaker and multimedia artist Arthur](https://hyperallergic.com/largest-ever-arthur-jafa-survey-coming-to-new-museum/) Jafa this September.
- Explore the transit history of Downtown Brooklyn with a walk hosted by the New York Transit Museum. (Wed June 17) \[[nytransitmuseum.org](https://www.nytransitmuseum.org/program/brooklyn-6-17/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\]
- The Brooklyn Pop-Up x Red Hook Summer Market is coming! Enjoy makers markets, Pride festivities, live music, crafting, and more. (Sat June 20 and Sun June 21) \[[Brooklyn Pop-Up](https://www.brooklynpop-up.com/market-event-details/2026-06-20/r/recri1lNL13GqEiYs?ref=hyperallergic.com)\]
- The International Center of Photography is hosting a family art hour with hands-on activities for all ages. Discover new photographic techniques and enjoy a tour of the current exhibitions. (Sat June 20) \[[icp.org](https://www.icp.org/events/icp-family-art-hour-june-2026?ref=hyperallergic.com)\]
- The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance is hosting Art in the Garden, a free exhibition with local artists. (Sat June 20) \[[nomaanyc.org](https://www.nomaanyc.org/events/art-in-the-garden-2026/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\]
- Pulitzer Prize-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens and her band will be playing reimagined songs based on early banjo tunes. (Sun June 21 and Mon June 22) \[[metmuseum.org](https://engage.metmuseum.org/events/metlivearts/2025-26-season/rhiannon-giddens-juba-zinga-jubilee/?ref=hyperallergic.com)\]