We love a season (“fall”) with a sophisticated nickname (“autumn”) that delivers so much programming it’s hard to squeeze it all in. Here’s a sample of the best festivals and fairs going on this week:
The Brooklyn Book Festival continues this week through 9/30 at various locations
The New York Film Festival kicks off on Friday, running through 10/14
New York Climate Week kicks off across the city, through 9/29 (corresponding with the UN General Assembly)
The Affordable Art Fair runs from Thursday through Sunday (with a VIP preview night on Wednesday)
Sally Rooney’s new book comes out on Tuesday, marking the official start to Big Book Season (a quarter-long festival of sorts in which publishers launch their biggest bets)
All that plus an installation art piece about a slutty slug searching for love, and much more. How did we get so lucky?
🆓 = costs $0, 🎨 = art, 🎼 = music, 🎬 = film, 📚= books, 🌳 = nature, 🎭 = performance, 🧠 = extra smart people, 🍸 = drinks available, 🦩 = party/friendly vibe
🔑 Click the venue link under each listing for full event details.
Monday, September 23
Pioneer Works presents Science & Society: Visions of Climate Futures with Dr. Ayana Johnson
Tonight’s star is Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, author of What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures. Like East Village icon Reverend Billy, she envisions the redemptive possibilities of a future shaped by love and collective wisdom (and science, obviously). She’ll moderate a conversation imagining alternate climate futures with Indigenous rights advocate Jade Begay and climate justice organizer Colette Pichon Battle.
Pioneer Works, Red Hook
Mon at 7p doors, 8p event 📚 🧠 🆓 (but give a donation)
Indra’s Net world premier at the Park Avenue Armory
“Indra’s Net,” an ancient parable on interconnectedness, is the basis for this latest immersive performance/installation piece by Meredith Monk, the 81-year old interdisciplinary artist. We’re not sure what to expect, except for magic. Honestly, you could check your email in the Armory and it would feel spiritually deep, because whatever happens in this giant hall benefits from a heightened sense of just about everything.
Catch an artist talk with Monk on Sunday 9/29 at 5:30p—details here.
The Park Avenue Armory, Upper East Side
Mon at 7:30p, various performances through October 6 🎭
Other Monday events, briefly noted
Last day of the Climate Science Fair at The High Line between 14th and 16th St (Chelsea), 10a-7p 🆓 🧠 🌳
The Wayfinders Film Series: Indigenous Wisdom Leading in the Climate Crisis at the Kaufmann Theater at the American Museum of Natural History (Upper East Side), 7p 🎬
Tuesday, September 24
Thus Spake Sally: Intermezzo launches today
The book is available everywhere today, and lots of bookshops are hosting opening parties to celebrate. Just a reminder to other recovering snobs out there that it’s ok to like what you like, even when what you like is very popular. And folks, we love Sally.
Books are Magic on Smith St, Cobble Hill
Tues from 5-7p 🆓 📚 (and other stores)
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation presents a conversation at Salmagundi Club
Two very New York-y institutions join forces tonight to present a talk about New York’s past, present, and future. Andrew Berman, director of the wonderful Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, will chat with Carl Raymond, host of The Gilded Gentleman history podcast, about recent preservation efforts in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. The event is free with an RSVP, and the people watching at the legendary old Salmagundi club are always A+.
Salmagundi Club’s Skylight Gallery, Greenwich Village
Tues from 6-7p 🆓 (with RSVP) 🧠
Other Tuesday events, briefly noted:
Radical Paper: Art and Invention Book Launch at Pace Prints (Chelsea), 6-7:30p 🆓 📚 🎨
Malkin Lecture Series presents NYU’s Mosette Broderick on Fifth Avenue: History of America's Street of Dreams in the Veterans Rooms at the Park Avenue Armory (Upper East Side), 6p doors, 6:30p lecture 🧠
In Conversation: Shaping our Common Future Through the Power of Art presented at Hauser & Wirth on 18th St (Chelsea), 6-8p 🆓 🧠 🎨
Works in Progress featuring young musicians from the Perlman Music Program at the always dreamy Café Sabarsky (Upper East Side), 7-8p 🎼 🍸
Wednesday, September 25
Edges of Ailey opens at the Whitney
The Whitney could use a win after the biennial (we can discuss another time how the project of a biennial is inherently doomed to fail), and they’ve got one with this new show. Edges of Ailey is “the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate the life, dances, influences, and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey.” The early reviews glow. We’re dying to see this and talk to someone about it—let us know if you end up going!
The Whitney, Meatpacking District
Wed from 10:30a-6p 🎨 (runs through Feb 9, 2025)
NYU Institute of Fine Arts presents the Whitney Biennial curators in discussion
Speaking of the biennial, what do the curators have to say about it? NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts hosts the curators for a discussion on what it was like to make Even Better Than the Real Thing. See it in-person or watch virtually.
NYU IFA (Upper East Side) and virtually
Wed at 6p 🆓 🎨
Other Wednesday events, briefly noted:
Robbie Lawrence: Long Walk Home talk + signing at Printed Matter (Chelsea), 6-8p 🆓 📚 🎨
The Holes Are Alive: A Garden Tour with BBG artist in residence Patrick Costello at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Crown Heights), at 6:30p and again at 8:30p 🎭 🎨 🌳 (also on Thursday night, same times)
In Conversation with Sean Decatur (President of the American Museum of Natural History): Healthier Futures in a Changing Climate at the Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the AMNH (Upper East Side), 7p 🆓 (with RSVP) 🧠
Judy Blume hosts a Selected Shorts night of Banned Books at Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater (Upper West Side), 7p 📚🎭
Thursday, September 26
The Affordable Art Fair opens in Chelsea
We love this fair. It’s not fussy and you can buy art for $50 or $500 or $5,000. It’s not “art world cool” but truly, who cares? We bought a dope print by Tim Head from London’s Jealous Studios at an Affordable Art Fair a million years ago and it’s still one of our favorite things we own.
The Metropolitan Pavilion, Chelsea
Thurs from 12-8p 🎨 (runs through Sunday)
Guided sunset paddle tour on the Gowanus Canal
It sounds gross, and it sort of is, but a little boat ride on the Gowanus Canal at sunset is also so gorgeous you’ll surprise yourself.
Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club (at the bunker on 19th St off 3rd Ave), Gowanus
Thurs at 6:30-8:30p 🌳
David Salle’s New Pastorals opening reception Gladstone Gallery
The great David Salle plays around with AI for this new show at Gladstone. The shift isn’t totally surprising—Salle has been grabbing this and that from the pop cultural and art historical subconscious for ages, not unlike AI rummaging around the internet to put things together. But we love Salle and are annoyingly skeptical of AI art so who knows how this will land. We hope they offer free drinks tonight becuase we’re nervous and we might need ‘em.
Gladstone Gallery, Chelsea
Thurs from 6-8p 🆓 🎨
Other Thursday events, briefly noted:
Critic Svetlana Alpers in discussion with the Guggenheim’s Mariët Westermann for a Q&A and signing on Is Art History? at Rizzoli Bookstore (Nomad), 6p 🆓 📚
An evening of readings and conversation with New York State Poet Laureate Patricia Spears Jones at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Harlem), 6:30-8:30p 🎭 🧠 📚
Artists on Artists Lecture Series: Paul Pfeiffer on Bruce Nauman at Dia Chelsea (Chelsea), 6:30-7:30p 🆓 🎨 🧠
Pace Live presents: In Conversation: Richard Tuttle & Dieter Schwarz at 125 Newbury (Tribeca), 6:30-8p 🆓 🎨
A night of sound performances that is hard to explain, just go and experience it at the always fun Topos Too (Ridgewood), 8p 🆓 🎼 🎨 🍸 🦩
Friday, September 27
New York Film Festival kicks off in and around Lincoln Center
Ask your filmhead friends what to see! We haven’t had a chance to dig into the programming, but you’ll never be mad attending a NYFF screening. Reminder that P.J. Clarke’s is the most reliable post-screening spot for food and drinks. The martinis are bad but large and we love this classic New York-y spot.
Lincoln Center, Upper West Side
Runs through October 14 🎬
Anne Duk Hee Jordan’s Snailing (Slippy slimy slug slut) opening at Canal Projects
This show!!! It’s an immersive installation about a snail named Jeremy who wants to find love on an earth being destroyed by people. A cautionary tale! A slutty love story! This is catnip for us, tbh. This is Korean-born, Berlin-based artist Anne Duk Hee’s first solo show in New York and wow are our expectations through the roof.
Canal Projects, Tribeca
Fri from 6-8p 🆓 🎨
Other Friday events, briefly noted:
Hello From The Data Vandals... exhibition opening and 3 days of events kick off at the Civil Projects Lab at Cooper Union (East Village), 6-9p 🆓 🎨
Girl Group Performance: Arlene Shechet x Annie-B Parson at Storm King Art Center (New Windsor), 5-7p 🎨 🌳
Milo Rau presents Antigone in the Amazon theatrical performance at NYU’s Skirball Center (Greenwich Village), 7:30p 🎭 (also Saturday at 2p and 7:30p)
Poetry Night at Spoonbill & Sugartown Bookshop (Williamsburg), 7:30p 🆓 🎭 📚
Saturday, September 28
Sequence & Print: A Photobook-making Workshop at Secret Riso Club
Any photographers out there who want to make a printed book? (We’re looking at you, Filmkins). Bushwick gem Secret Riso Club hosts a two-day workshop for that very purpose.
Secret Riso Club, Bushwick
Sat from 9a-8p and Sun at 9am-TBD 📚 🎨 (this is a two-day course)
Goodbye to Deli Gallery
Deli Gallery is closing. We’ll miss ‘em! We work around the corner and are grateful to have spent fantastic lunch breaks with their shows and their staff. Say goodbye today, while catching the final exhibition: Jose de Jesus Rodriguez’s Long-Winded.
Deli Gallery, Tribeca
Sat from 11a-6p 🆓 🎨
SARA’s and Dunkunsthalle presents a short film screening series at the Roxy
This evening’s programming is curated by writer Vera Dika and presented by SARA’S, Dunkunsthalle and The Roxy. From SARA’s: “The shorts program features early film and video productions by Jack Goldstein, Cindy Sherman, Glenda Hydler, Robert Longo, Gretchen Bender and Sandy Tait. These works engage popular culture, and gender issues, but always with a keen eye to the material and history of their medium, be it 16mm film, analog video, MTV video, or experimental narrative film.”
If you think hotels are cheeseballs, you’re not wrong, but you’re not totally right. The Roxy’s bar is great, and you’d be surprised how fun and romantically old New York the jazz nights and film screenings feel at this place.
The Roxy Hotel’s screening room, Tribeca
Sat at 5:30p 🎬 🍸
The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar site-specific theatrical event opens tonight
To know Sunny’s Bar is to love it. To understand this experiential theater that moves throughout the Red Hook neighborhood, we think you have to experience it because we aren’t really sure what to expect. But we’re intrigued with this description, and the good news is you’ll end up at Sunny’s.
Meet at Waterfront Museum barge, Red Hook
Sat at 6p, performances through Oct 27 🎭
Other Saturday events, briefly noted:
Downtown Artists: Neighborhood Tour presented by the New Museum (Bowery), 11a 🎨 🧠
Last day to see Isaac Julien’s genius, perfect Lessons of the Hour at MoMA’s 2nd Floor Galleries (Midtown), 10:30a - 7p 🎨
Last day to see Enchanted Gardens group show at IRL Gallery (Two Bridges), 12-6p 🆓 🎨
Sunday, September 29
Seth Price reads “BEFORE AND AFTER WRITING” at Earth
We love the readings at Earth, Dean Kissick et al’s still sorta new arts/books/events space at 49 Orchard Street, which solidly mixes writing people, art people, and art-writing people. Tonight, the artist and multi-talented human Seth Price reads from Before and After Writing. The piece is “a rumination on humanity etc published as a brochure for a show of the same name” at Gisela Capitain Naples.
Earth, Lower East Side
Sun at 7:30p 🧠 🎨 📚
Other Sunday events, briefly noted:
Last day to see Jenny Holzer: Light Line at the Guggenheim (Upper East Side), 11a-6p 🎨
Last day to see Lost New York at the New York Historical Society (Upper West Side), 11a-6p 🎨
Last day to see Preservation in Progress: Picturing Immigration, a rare opportunity to witness the restoration of one of the most significant items in the Museum’s collection: Samuel Bell Waugh’s massive painting The Bay and Harbor of New York (1855, 8.25 x 16.5 ft) at the Museum of the City of New York (East Harlem), 10a-6p 🎨
Swiss Institute presents Energies | Reactivation of Gordon Matta-Clark’s Rosebush at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery (East Village), 2p 🆓 🎨
Summer Jazz: Siren Xypher at Brooklyn Museum (Crown Heights), 2-4p 🆓 🎼
NADA House picnic featuring a walk-through with Soojin Choi at NADA House (Governor’s Island), 2-5p 🆓 🎨
Artist Talk on Indra’s Net, world premiering this week at the Park Avenue Armory (Upper East Side), 5:30p 🎭
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir present Sunday Services at Earth Chxrch (East Village), 5p 🆓
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THAT’S ALL, FOLKS
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