nyc art scene

May 23–26:

“Sext Me if You Can”
 Karen Finley

New Museum (Lobby), 235 Bowery, NYC

an interactive performance installation taking place in the New Museum Lobby in full view of Museum visitors. For this performance, Karen Finley creates a limited edition of paintings inspired by “sexts” that she receives from participating patrons. Participation takes the form of a commission and requires a ten-minute private and anonymous sitting on-site during announced performance times (bring your own cell phone!). Through this process, the erotic exchange with the artist—bound by rules of commerce—transforms into a lasting and collectible work of art. Presented as part of NEA 4 in Residence.

Recently Opened:

“Amazing Grace”
 Nari Ward

New Museum’s Studio 231, 231 Bowery, NYC

The work is composed of 310 abandoned strollers (collected by the artist from the streets of his neighborhood) surrounded by a field of flattened fire hoses. It is accompanied by a recording of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson singing “Amazing Grace,” suffusing the installation with an uplifting and reverential tone. The objects, in various states of disrepair, speak of the lives of the children they once carried as well as their appropriation by the homeless men and women who would utilize them to transport their own scavenged possessions. Amazing Grace captures the sense of loss, adaptation, and hopefulness that characterized Ward’s experience of New York City in 1993. Originally installed in an abandoned firehouse at 301 West 141st Street in Harlem from September to December 1993. - thru April 21

David Hammons, In the Hood, 1993. Athletic sweatshirt hood with wire, 23 x 10 x 5 in

Opens Feb 13:

“NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star”

New Museum, 235 Bowery, NYC

the exhibition looks at art made and exhibited in New York over the course of one year. Centering on 1993, the exhibition is conceived as a time capsule, an experiment in collective memory that attempts to capture a specific moment at the intersection of art, pop culture, and politics… brings together a number of iconic and lesser-known artworks that serve as both artifacts from a pivotal moment in the New York art world and as key markers in the cultural history of the city. features over seventy-five artists and will span all five gallery floors of the New Museum.

Last Day, closes at 6pm:

“Preoccupied Waveforms”
 Haroon Mirza

New Museum’s Studio 231, 231 Bowery, NYC

Mirza uses simple industrial materials to radically transform the perceptual experience of architectural space. Over the past ten years, Mirza has deployed a range of analog and digital devices to create dynamic compositions of sound and light. Mirza’s work is often distinguished by its improvised use of outmoded audiovisual technologies. Turntables, speaker cabinets, monitors, and more contemporary electronic equipment are rewired and integrated into objects that recall antiquated technologies, and work together to create new visual and auditory landscapes. More recently, Mirza has expanded his work to take on entire architectural environments. Strands of LED lights, fragments of video, and amplified electricity are programmed to disrupt and destabilize the exhibition space. Exhibit curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari, Curator, and Jenny Moore, Associate Curator.

Thurs, Dec 13, 7pm:

“Parallel Lines: Visual Art, CBGB, and Downtown Nightlife”

New Museum, 235 Bowery, NYC ($8)


The single most important site for the American punk and New Wave movements, CBGB helped start the careers of countless bands, including the Ramones, Blondie, Television, and the Talking Heads. Simultaneous to this creative outburst, the downtown New York arts scene was undergoing its own explosion through the development of new practices and alternative venues for exhibition. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969–1989,” this panel discussion explores the impact that CBGB and other downtown music venues had on creative activity in the neighborhood. Inspired by the bands, the crowds, and the set of contrasts presented by these clubs, artists developed projects that reflected this new energy. This panel discussion will reflect on the ways in which these two parallel developments informed and supported each other.

Just Opened:

“A Cosmos”
 Rosemarie Trockel

New Museum, 235 Bowery, NYC (2nd, 3rd & 4th FL)
Visitors who donate a clean, gently used winter coat will receive one free admission.

presents an imaginary universe in which Trockel’s own artwork from the past thirty years is juxtaposed with objects and artifacts from different eras and cultures that map many of her artistic interests.. films and videos, knit paintings, projects for children, ceramics, drawings, and collages, plus a panoply of sculptures in a range of materials, are among the myriad forms that comprise her practice. - thru Jan 20

Opens Sept 19:

“Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery (1969–1989)”
 curated by Ethan Swan

New Museum, 235 Bowery, NYC

Drawing upon the New Museum’s Bowery Artist Tribute archive and the online archive of Marc H. Miller, 98bowery.com, this exhibition features original artwork, ephemera, and performance documentation by over twenty artists who lived and worked on or near the Bowery in New York.  - thru Jan 6

also, please join us in discussion:
How does New York’s art scene in 2012 compare to the celebrated decades of yore?