10 Art Events to Attend in New York City This Week

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13

Talk: Martha Rosler at Whitney Museum
Over the past four and a half decades, Martha Rosler has produced a variety of political work, from videos about women’s roles in society, to installations about homelessness in New York, to collages that place celebrities in war-torn locales. At this talk, the Whitney’s annual Walter Annenberg Lecture, the New York–based artist will discuss her work over the years, as well as how feminist art has come to the fore. Because Rosler is an opinionated speaker, especially when it comes to her political views, this talk promises to at the very least be engaging.
Whitney Museum, 99 Gansevoort Street, 7–8:15 p.m. Tickets $10/$15

Talk: Michael Fried and James Welling at 192 Books
You may know Michael Fried best for his essential criticism, specifically about Minimalism and performance art during the 1970s, but he’s a poet, too. His newest book, Promesse du bonheur, collects some of his most recent works, putting them alongside photographs by James Welling. At this talk, Fried and Welling will discuss the background for the 82 poems in the book, as well as why Welling decided to photograph images of Greek friezes and then edit them until they appear blurred and layered.
192 Books, 192 10th Avenue, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14

Talk: “The Artist’s Museum” at New York Public Library
Last month, “The Artist’s Museum,” a show about artists whose work addresses the nature of collections, opened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston. At this talk, its curator, Dan Byers, will talk with artists Carol Bove, Anna Craycroft, and Sara VanDerBeek about how their practices engage institutions, and their own work, which spans large-scale installations about the history of modernist design to photographs that ponder the look of marble. Copies of the exhibition’s catalogue, which includes essays by Claire Bishop and Lynne Cooke, will be available.
New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwartzmann Building, 5th Avenue at 42nd Street, 6–7:45 p.m. Register for the talk at this link

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15

Opening: John Ashbery at Tibor de Nagy Gallery
Much like his poetry, John Ashbery’s collages compile unlike ideas and themes, creating a whole that’s difficult to explain and rewarding to analyze. The writer, who was at one point an ARTnews critic, intentionally keeps these works dreamy and oblique, often drawing on the work of Surrealists like Max Ernst and Joseph Cornell. Ahead of a Rizzoli book dedicated to these pieces, Tibor de Nagy will show a new group of Ashbery’s collages. As if we needed it, the works are further proof that, at age 89, Ashbery has a flair for oddball, difficult works of art that has yet to diminish.
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 724 5th Avenue, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

Opening: “XXXmASS” at Kate Werble Gallery
The holidays are often thought of as a wholesome time of the year, one where you spend time with your family and exchange gifts, but “XXXmASS” proposes that Christmas is also an occasion to show R-rated art. A press release promises “extraterrestrial moon pies, nutcracker orgies, satanic reindeer, pagan circus trees, intersexed elves, beastly textiles, glistening vessels, metal mistletoe and a riot grrrl window diorama.” Among the 20 artists who will have work in this show are Polly Apfelbaum, Marc Swanson, and Brandi Twiley.
Kate Werble Gallery, 83 Vandam Street, 6–8 p.m.

Opening: Viola Yeşiltaç at David Lewis
Viola Yeşiltaç’s poetic, quiet work looks at how objects relate to their time and place. Having begun working in performance and later transitioning into being a photographer of sorts, the German-Turkish artist creates minimalist gestures that, despite their slapdash look, are carefully thought through. She’s best known for a series of photographs of folded paper—they explore what happens when a two-dimensional object becomes three-dimensional. For this show, titled “Strawberry of Cosmo,” Yeşiltaç will look to her own background for inspiration, looking at how, in a time where there’s anxiety about immigration, images and people travel across borders.
David Lewis, 88 Eldridge Street, 6–9 p.m.

Panel: “Dark Charisma” at Swiss Institute
This panel focuses on the anger following the recent U.S. election, asking whether we are in “post-truth times,” as a release puts it. Writer Amber A’Lee Frost and artist Daniel Keller will discuss how it’s possible to determine what’s fact and what’s fiction in an age where the two mingle on the internet. Sean Monahan, an artist who was a member of the collective K-HOLE, known for coining the term “normcore,” will moderate.
Swiss Institute, 102 Franklin Street, 7 p.m. RSVP to rsvp@swissinstitute.net

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16

Party: “Night at the Museum” at MoMA PS1
At this holiday party, MoMA PS1 will let visitors see its Mark Leckey show after dark and have on offer spiked hot chocolate. If that doesn’t sound tantalizing enough, here’s a list of all the artists who will be in attendance: Michele Abeles, Marina Abramović, Doug Aitken, Ed Atkins, Charles Atlas, Tauba Auerbach, Kevin Beasley, Gina Beavers, Huma Bhabha, Jonah Bokaer, Carol Bove, Lauren Boyle, Sascha Braunig, Mira Dancy, Lauren Devine, David Hallberg, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Devin Kenny, Ragnar Kjartansson, Jeff Koons, Liz Magic Laser, Deana Lawson, Glenn Ligon, Cinthia Marcelle, Christian Marclay, Julie Mehretu, Donald Moffett, Laurel Nakadate, Lorraine O’Grady, Adam Pendleton, Rob Pruitt, Ugo Rondinone, Jacolby Satterwhite, Dana Schutz, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Avery Singer, Kiki Smith, Casey Spooner, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Ryan Trecartin, Francesco Vezzoli, and Anicka Yi.
MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens, 8 p.m.–12 a.m. Tickets $15

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17

Screening: Carol at Metrograph
Todd Haynes’s Carol (2015) is a Christmas movie of sorts—a homage to Douglas Sirk melodramas that find 1950s American housewives feeling depressed at the most wonderful time of the year. The film stars Rooney Mara as Therese Belivet, a department-store cashier whose life is transformed when Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) purchases a gift for her daughter. The two become casual friends, then close friends, and then something more, resulting in a series of issues that threaten to undo their lives. At this screening, the film will be projected on 35mm, with Ed Lachman, the film’s Oscar-nominated cinematographer, on hand to discuss the film’s meticulously thought-out look afterward.
Metrograph, 11 Ludlow Street, 9 p.m. Tickets $15

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18

Screening: O.J.: Made in America at Museum of Modern Art
One of the year’s most critically acclaimed documentaries, O.J.: Made in America (2016) tells the story of O.J. Simpson’s 1994 trial on charges that he murdered his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Rather than just focusing on the investigation and trial, however, this epic documentary also looks at Simpson as he transformed from an up-and-coming football player into a celebrity and sex symbol, and finally into one of America’s most hated men. Like American Crime Story, the documentary also brings up how sexism and racism were involved in Simpson’s acquittal. For those who stick it out through the eight-hour documentary, which originally aired in several parts on ESPN, director Ezra Edelman and producer Caroline Waterlow will speak afterward.
Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, 11 a.m. Tickets $8/$10/$12