COLLECTION OF LESLIE LOHMAN MUSEUM, GIFT OF ANDREW F. SIE IN MEMORY OF ANGELA Y SIE
Lecture: “How AIDS Changed American Art” at Fashion Institute of Technology
Organized by the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, this talk will be led by Jonathan David Katz, whose show “Art AIDS America” is currently on view at the Bronx Museum of Art. That exhibition looks at the history of AIDS and contemporary art, and Katz will talk here about how AIDS effectively altered how artists work today. Rather than simply being a background element that influenced the ’80s and ’90s, AIDS, Katz suggests, actually moved art in a different direction. Here, he will discuss his ideas through an illustrated talk.
Fashion Institute of Technology, 27th Street at 7th Avenue, 7 p.m.
PRESERVED BY ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES, NEW YORK/COURTESY LIGHT INDUSTRY
You may know Douglas Crimp best for his writing about postmodern art, particularly that of the Pictures Generation, but did you know he’s a cinephile? In his new memoir, Before Pictures, Crimp writes, “Going to movies everyday was both enjoyable and educational, but it didn’t leave much time for making a living . . .” (We agree.) At this talk, Crimp will read a chapter from Before Pictures and present a screening of Joseph Cornell’s 1936 collage film Rose Hobart, which Crimp recalls seeing in the ’70s when it played as part of Anthology Film Archives’s “Essential Cinema” series. Crimp will discuss the film after the screening with Light Industry co-founder Thomas Beard.
Light Industry, 155 Freeman Street, 7:30 p.m. Tickets $8
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Lecture: Josh Kline at Parsons Fine Arts
After a particularly strong show at 47 Canal earlier this year, Josh Kline will do a lecture this week. Parsons doesn’t give any information about what he will talk about, but it will probably somehow relate to his art, which is about the ways that human nature has been changed by digital technology. Most probably know Kline from his New Museum Triennial installation, a far-reaching allegory for the Occupy Wall Street movement and its reliance on social media. Featuring Teletubbies memorably wearing NYPD garb, the installation struck a chord with critics and viewers alike, making him one of the most sought-after young artists. For the most part, Kline has kept quiet, however, so this talk sounds promising.
Parsons Fine Arts, 25 East 13th Street, 5th Floor, 7–8:30 p.m.
COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MOR CHARPENTIER, PARIS
This theoretically minded group show focuses on artists whose work relies on communities and networks, using them as a way to mix art and daily life. A summary of this show reads like press-release speak, but the works in it sound intriguing, if not surprisingly accessible. On view here will be two older works from the ’70s, by Connie Bresson/Halprin Workshops and Ravio Puusemp, and several more by emerging contemporary artists. Promising Studio Museum in Harlem artist in residence Jibade-Khalil Huffman will show a new video that combines the aesthetics of poetry and advertising, while Liz Magic Laser will exhibit a work in which children radicalize and become their own political class.
Swiss Institute, 102 Franklin Street, 6–8 p.m.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Talk: Dara Birnbaum at Electronic Arts Intermix
Part of Electronic Arts Intermix’s “Edited at EAI” series, this talk features Dara Birnbaum in conversation with former EAI editors Matt Danowski, Pat Ivers, and Ann Volkes. Loosely a member of the Pictures Generation, Birnbaum’s early experiments with video technology brought her to fame—in particular Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman (1978–79), in which Birnbaum loops segments of a television show to look at the representation of women in mass media. Several rare videos by Birnbaum will screen here. Lori Zippay will moderate the discussion.
Electronic Arts Intermix, 535 West 22nd Street, 5th Floor, 6:30 p.m. Tickets $5/$7, RSVP to info@eai.org
©SALLY MANN/COURTESY GAGOSIAN GALLERY
Sally Mann and Cy Twombly may seem to have little to do with one another—the former is a photographer, the latter was a painter; the former prefers figurative and honest imagery, the latter opted for abstract, formal ideas. Nevertheless, the two artists do share one common thread: they were born in Virginia. According to Mann, both artists hailed from a part of the South that “allows us such a remove, the distance of another time.” And time is, in fact, the main character in her photographs of Twombly’s studio, taken between 1999 and 2012. These dreamy, meditative images evoke ephemeral phenomena—for example, that the light that slices across one corner will, in a matter of hours, perhaps even minutes, no longer be there.
Gagosian Gallery, 976 Lexington Avenue, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Julie Mehretu at Marian Goodman Gallery
What do Julie Mehretu’s newest paintings look like? Somehow, these grayish works are some of the most oblique ones she’s ever produced, and that’s something of a feat, given that the Ethiopian artist’s work often features tangled forms that are hard to understand. With these works, she seems to be channeling the oldest works in art history—cave paintings made using schematic figures and light strokes. (This show’s title, “Hoodnyx, Voodo and Stelae,” also alludes to the past.) Inky forms appear to float against cloudy backgrounds; rarely ever are the subjects clear. Alongside these new paintings will be drawings based on architectural elements in Damascus, Syria.
Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 West 57th Street, 6–8 p.m.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Performance: Ieva Misevičiūtė at the Kitchen
Normally, we summarize events for you, but this release is worth quoting at length: “Ieva Misevičiūtė, Master in Political Science, Master in Cultural Analysis, will finally get her PhD, in one hour, right in front of you, granted by her tongue! The tongue bares the memory of the animal, the instinctual, but also is the main tool with which we express our humanness. It is a bridge between madness and intelligence. I want to get my PhD from THIS institution!” Yes, that’s right—Misevičiūtė, whose work could be seen earlier this year in SculptureCenter’s show “The Eccentrics,” will do an entire performance about the tongue that involves all sorts of theater and dance. It sounds bizarre, but that shouldn’t be surprising for anyone familiar with the New York–based artist’s work.
The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, 8 p.m. Tickets $12/15
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
Opening: “First Exhibition” at Elizabeth Dee Gallery
“First Exhibition” actually isn’t the first exhibition at Elizabeth Dee Gallery. Well, technically it is, at the gallery’s Harlem space, which is brand new. This show group show will “highlight our program for the coming year and also reveal the gallery’s new direction,” the gallery notes in a release. It features a number of good artists, among them John Giorno, Julie Wachtel, and Adrian Piper, and the opening lasts all day, so it’s worth at least just stopping by.
Elizabeth Dee Gallery, 2033/2037 5th Avenue, 12–7 p.m.