9 Art Events to Attend in New York City This Week

MONDAY, JULY 20

Performance: Gerard & Kelly at the Guggenheim Museum
Originally presented at New York’s The Kitchen in 2014, the museum recently acquired artist duo Brennan Gerard and Ryan Kelly’s performance Timelining, which features pairs of people involved in close relationships—romantic, familial, and others. Moving in a circle, each couple recites portions of their personal histories, beginning at the present moment and moving backwards in time.
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Ave, 5:45 p.m. every Monday through September 7. Admission is Pay What You Wish

TUESDAY, JULY 21

Screenings: Various Chris Burden videos at Electronic Arts Intermix
In honor of Chris Burden’s recent death, Electronic Arts Intermix is screening the Californian performance artist’s early videos and films throughout the day. Among the works being screened are the classics (Shoot, for example, in which Burden had his friend shoot his arm at close range) and lesser-known videos (a series of “anti-commercials” in which Burden bought time on television and had himself interviewed). Many of these works are hard to find and rarely screened.
Electronic Arts Intermix, 535 West 22nd Street, 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m., free

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22

Opening: “object’hood” at Lesley Heller Workspace
This group show, curated by artists Inna Babaeva and Gelah Penn, focuses on the way that its artists’ objects cannot be cornered into one medium. Featuring an array of styles, this show includes artists who work in painting, installation, drawing, architecture, pattern and decoration, craft, design, video, and photography. The final product usually includes a combination of two or more of those with sculpture.
Lesley Heller Workspace, 54 Orchard Street, 6 p.m.–8 p.m.

Opening: Emilio Bianchic at Postmasters
The title of Emilio Bianchic’s new show at Postmasters, “Nailture,” refers to the Uruguayan-born artist’s word for a democratic culture formed by painting nails. Through films, videos, and performances, Bianchic questions that the idea that those who create content online are the owners of it. In the process, he breaks down the differences between genders, and between the real and virtual worlds.
Postmasters, 54 Franklin Street, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.

Reception: 826NYC at David Zwirner
This show represents a collision between New York’s art and literary worlds, organized by Canadian artist Marcel Dzama and online auction platform Paddle8, and with special thanks to Crown Point Press, Electric Works, Exhibition A, James Fuentes, GCA, JTT, Lisa Cooley, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Rawson Projects, and Salon 94. The show will display artworks by—get ready— Joshua Abelow, Hans Accola, Justin Davis Anderson, Mamma Andersson, Conor Backman, Davide Balliano, Anna Bauer, Ben Berlow, Jules de Balincourt, Sue de Beer, Violet Dennison, Marcel Dzama, Aidan Sofia Earle, Dave Eggers, Samuel Finkelstein, Suzan Frecon, Dan Gratz, Young Sun Han, Brent Harada, Charles Harlan, Meena Hasan, David King, Spike Jonze (in collaboration with Marcel Dzama), Brendan Loper, Rosa Loy, Arezoo Moseni, Oscar Murillo, Liz Nielsen, Chris Ofili, Raymond Pettibon, Richard Prince, Neo Rauch, Scott Reeder, Michael Riedel, Eduardo Sarabia (in collaboration with Marcel Dzama), Harry Schleiff, Mike Schreiber, Emily Shanahan, Dom Smith, Yutaka Sone, Hannah Walsh, James Welling, Dustin Yellin, and Balint Zsako. These works will be auctioned off to benefit the Park Slope, Brooklyn-based (with seven national branches), Dave Eggers-founded 826, a nonprofit that supports children ages 6-18 with their creative writing skills.
David Zwirner, 533 West 19th Street, 6—8 p.m.

Performance: Aki Sasamoto at the High Line
Aki Sasamoto continues her stream of pleasantly bizarre performances with Food Rental, in which visitors get to enter a custom-built food truck and witness several mini-narratives. (It’s unclear whether food will actually be available.) The High Line’s site promises “sneakily shifting stage sets and unruly props.
The High Line at the Rail Yards, 7 p.m., free

Reading: Jonathan Galassi at Sean Kelly
To coincide with the gallery’s current exhibition, “By the Book,” poet and president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux Jonathan Galassi will read from his debut novel, Muse, out last month via Knopf. The story centers on a longstanding rivalry between two publishing magnates, guided by an “iconic, alluring” (according to a press release) writer who is infatuated with them both.
Sean Kelly, 475 10th Avenue, 6—8 p.m. The event is free but RSVP is required.

THURSDAY, JULY 23

Opening: Tom Phillips at Flowers Gallery
Tom Phillips began work on “Pages from a Humument” at approximately noon on November 5, 1966. He recalls:

“As usual on a Saturday morning Ron Kitaj and I were prowling the huge warehouse in search of bargains. When we arrived at the racks of cheap and dusty books left over from house clearances I boasted to Ron that if I took the first one that cost threepence I could make it serve a serious long-term project. My eye quickly chanced on a yellow book with the tempting title A Human Document. Looking inside we found it had the fateful price. “If it’s a dime,” said Ron “then that’s your book: and I’m your witness.”

Phillips’ incidental encounter with W. H. Mallock’s Victorian novel resulted in a half-century long experiment with the text; by drawing and overpainting, and splicing and collaging, Phillips has created five editions of the reworked book, and says the series will not be complete until he has entirely redone his original edition. A press release calls it “a testament to the endless potential for the generation and reinterpretation of ideas.” Notably, this exhibition will be the first time “A Humument” has been displayed on such a grand scale in New York.
Flowers Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, 6-8 p.m.

SATURDAY, JULY 25

Symposium: “‘Albert Oehlen: Home and Garden,’ Contemporary Painting Symposium” at the New Museum
In honor of its Albert Oehlen survey, the New Museum is holding a symposium about contemporary painting. The symposium will be broken into two panels: one about contemporary abstraction, and the other about digital abstraction. In the first panel, Josh Smith, Mika Tajima, and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung will discuss abstraction in relation to a number of different kinds of thought, while in the second panel, Kerstin Brätsch, Florian Meisenberg, and Ken Okiishi will talk about how digital technology has affected painting today.
New Museum, 235 Bowery, 1 p.m.–5 p.m., $10/$8