This week, the Alvin Ailey group performs at BAM and Oona Doherty choreographs dancers to Rachmaninoff and Jamie xx at the Joyce Theater. Pretty good week for dance!
Meanwhile:
Roses are now in bloom across the city’s parks and gardens.
We’re accepting pitches for Summer Hours, a forthcoming guest-edited series in which friends take over to write about the New York-y things they love best. Could be a lengthy essay, could be a 2-point bullet list. Learn more here and drop us a line if you’re interested.
There are so many good, smart events happening this week.
🆓 = 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, June 3
Wild by Design Since 2009: An Evening with Piet Oudolf at the High Line
This talk celebrates 15 years of the High Line and Piet Oudolf, the genius gardener behind its landscaping. Advance RSVPs are sold out but arrive early to try to snag an empty spot. Worst case scenario, you’ll have to entertain yourself elsewhere on the High Line, and what a wonderful way to spend the evening.
The High Line between 15th/16th Streets, Chelsea/Meatpacking border
Mon from 6-7:30p 🆓 🌳
Tuesday, June 4
Michael Peppiatt talks books on Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti
Writer and curator Michael Peppiatt talks two of his books tonight: Francis Bacon, A Self-Portrait in Words and Giacometti in Paris. For the latter book, Peppiatt spent thirty years documenting the Parisian art world and mixing with many of the people Giacometti knew, and we assume that will make this a deliciously fun talk.
192 Books, Chelsea or stream virtually via PCG Studio
Tues at 7p 🆓 🎨 📚
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to BAM
We don’t know much about anything, especially dance, but anything from Alvin Ailey is a big deal. Ailey's first performance was on a BAM stage in 1956, and it all comes full circle today with the company returning to Howard Gilman Opera House for a week of performances.
BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House, Fort Greene
Tues at 7:30p 🎭 🎼 (through Sunday)
Oona Doherty's Navy Blue dance shows opens at Joyce Theater
Again, we know nothing about dance, but we certainly feel a lot about it. And as we’ve said before, whatever happens at Joyce is guaranteed to be moving. We’re excited for this new work from Belfast-raised choreographer Oona Doherty because a Rachmaninoff/Jamie xx sound collab is just genius.
Doherty makes her Joyce Theater debut with Navy Blue, “a thrilling amalgamation of ensemble movement, spoken word poetry, and political candor, set to an eclectic soundtrack of compositions by Sergeï Rachmaninoff and electronic music composer Jamie xx.”
Joyce Theater, Chelsea
Tues at 7:30p with performances through June 9 🎭 🎼
Other Tuesday events, briefly noted
Bach Fest kicks off at Carnegie Hall (Midtown), various times throughout June 🎼
222 Tuesdays at Giorno Poetry Systems (Bowery), 4-7p 🆓 🦩 🎨 📚
Screening of Blossom of Choice by Friend of the List Tuğçe Evirgen Özmen as part of the Brooklyn Film Festival at the Wythe Hotel (Williamsburg), 6p 🎬
Leslie Wayne’s This Land opening reception at Jack Shainman Gallery (Chelsea), 6-8p 🆓 🎨
Phantom Waves with Odeya Nini at Green-Wood’s Chapel and Catacombs (Greenwood Heights), sets at 6:30p and 8:30p 🌳 🎼
Maggie Smith and Isaac Fitzgerald on You Could Make This Place Beautiful at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Dweck Center (Grand Army Plaza), 7-8:30p 🆓 📚
Wednesday, June 5
New Museum’s Demo Festival opens today
DEMO2024 is “a multi-day festival and gathering for people at the leading edge of art, culture, and technology. Anchored by the work of NEW INC'S Year 10 Members, the festival gathers national and international thought leaders for a series of demos, exhibitions, and broadcasts giving shape to the next generation of creative leaders.” Check the full schedule here for a better idea of what that actually means.
161 Water Street, Seaport
Wed starting at noon at noon, runs through June 7 🎭 🎨
Member Summer Nights at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
It’s week two of Wednesday Member Summer Nights at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which runs through September 4. Roses are hitting peak bloom, so tonight’s as good as any to sneak in some wine and enjoy the outdoors.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Crown Heights
Wed from 6-8:30p 🌳
North American Premier of Inside Light at the Park Avenue Armory
We love a durational performance that tests the limits of attention and practicality. Inside Light is a 7-part opera by contemporary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who worked on the piece for nearly 30 years. Each part represents one day; played at once, the opera runs 29 hours.
For this premier at the Park Avenue Armory, the full piece has been condensed into two parts which you can see on their own. Part 1 runs 2.5 hours, Part 2 is a bit longer than that, and you have an option to see both parts together during marathon performances that include two intermissions and a dinner break.
The Park Avenue Armory, Upper East Side
Wed at 7p 🎼, performances through June 14
Other Wednesday events, briefly noted
Bryan A. Garner presents a lecture, Why I Collect Books at The Grolier Club (Upper East Side), 6-7:30p (buddy you do not have to tell us) 🆓 📚
Phantom Waves musical performances with Odeya Nini at Green-Wood’s Chapel and Catacombs (Greenwood Heights), sets at 6:30p and 8:30p 🌳 🎼
Joel Whitney presents Flights: Radicals on the Run in conversation with Amitav Ghosh at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Dweck Center (Grand Army Plaza), 7-8:30p 🆓 📚
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House (Fort Greene), 7:30p 🎭 🎼
HIP-HOP IS HISTORY: Questlove in Conversation with Marc Lamont Hill on a 50 Year History of Hip-Hop at BAM (Fort Greene), 8p 🎭 📚
Thursday, June 6
Discuss Thomas Wolfe’s Only the Dead Know Brooklyn at the Center for Fiction
If a full book and an ongoing book club is too much dedication for you, may we suggest this lovely evening discussion of Thomas Wolfe’s short story Only the Dead Know Brooklyn, a sorta clunky but important piece of literature that takes place entirely on the subway. Tonight’s virtual discussion is run by Richie Narvaez.
The Center for Fiction, virtual
Thurs from 7-8:30p 📚
Joel Mesler: Kitchens are good rooms to cry in opening at Lévy Gorvy Dayan
The artist Joel Mesler is about to have a really good New York summer. On July 2, his public installation Pool Party opens at the Rink at Rockefeller Center. But first, a show at a Days & Nights favorite Lévy Gorvy Dayan entitled Kitchens are good rooms to cry in which we’ve fact-checked over the years and always find to be true. We’re a sucker for Mesler’s work which often is both dumb and smart, kind of like us, and generally fun to look at, which we aspire to be. We’re excited to see the beach balls cast from bronze, which will help get you into the summertime spirit if you need a little inspiration.
Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Upper East Side
Thurs from 6-8p 🆓 🎨
Other Thursday events, briefly noted
Ich bin Ich / I Am Me (the first major U.S. exhibition on Paula Modersohn-Becker) opens at Neue Galerie (Upper East Side), 11a-6p 🎨
Curator’s Tour— Concerned Photography (with Elisabeth Sherman, ICP's Senior Curator and Director of Exhibitions focusing on Robert Capa’s iconic D-Day landing photograph known as The Face in the Surf) at the International Center of Photography (Lower East Side), 2-3p 🎨
Shahzia Sikander in conversation with her Pace Prints collaborators at Pace Prints (Chelsea), 5p 🆓 (RSVP required here) 🎨
SARA’S presents Gregory Nachmanovitch’s the feeling of being safely enclosed in a shell opening reception at Dunkunsthalle (Financial District), 6-8p 🆓 🎨
TBW Books Multi-Title Launch event celebrating multiple books releasing from Oakland-based publisher TBW at Printed Matter (Chelsea), 6-8p 🆓 📚🎨
Friday, June 7
See art in Tribeca on Friday night
May we suggest this itinerary for Friday after work:
Get to the neighborhood before Charles Moffett closes at 6p to catch the last day of Not Too Late group show—Charles Moffett (Tribeca), 11a-6p 🆓 🎨
Swing by the fantastic Superhouse for the opening reception of The Odd Couple: American Art Furniture , 1980 - Now, a group show with various artists — Superhouse (Tribeca), 6-8p 🆓 🎨 (first, rsvp to hello@superhouse.us to let ‘em know you’ll be there)
Finish your evening art hop at Unfeigned Mysteries, a three-person exhibition from New York artists Whit Harris, Sarah Alice Moran and Elena Redmond opening at DIMIN (Tribeca), 6-8p 🆓 🎨
Other Friday events, briefly noted
Open Studio Sale at the Jono Pandolfi Studio (Union City NJ), 10a-5p 🆓 🎨
Free First Fridays at Storm King Art Center (New Windsor), 10a-7p 🆓 🎨 🌳
Tour the Park Avenue Armory (Upper East Side), 11a 🎨 (also on Saturday)
Saturday, June 8
Free sketching course with David Huang at the Noguchi Museum (Long Island City), 10a-12:30p 🆓 (with RSVP) 🎨
Free admission: Community Days at the Noguchi Museum (Long Island City), 11a-6p 🆓 🎨
Last day to see Santiago Licata’s Angelito at Deli Gallery (Tribeca), 11-6p 🆓 🎨
Last day to see Night Lights group show at IRL Gallery (Two Bridges), 12-6p 🆓 🎨
Sunday, June 9
Stay Gold, Stay Proud: a fundraising event at Here & Now
Friend of the List Tobly McSmith is one of the all-time greats: he founded Here & Now, the Lower East Side’s best, most welcoming kava bar (which is open despite incredible obstacles from the New York City Health Department, who we’re still mad at). He wrote two fantastic young adult books centering trans kids: Stay Gold and Act Cool (with another in the works!). He’s written like, a dozen parody musicals, which have been written about in the New York Times and The New Yorker and toured across the globe. And he’s the founder of the wonderful Stay Gold Fund, a charity advancing access to gender-affirming resources for trans people, from clothing to financial support.
This evening, catch a Pride month fundraiser for the Stay Gold Fund at Here & Now. There will be prizes, games, and the kind of beautiful community magic that Tobly does best. Be generous, ok? And if you’ve never had kava, get ready for the best slop of your life. It tastes bad but once it does its magic, ooh baby you’ll feel good.
Here & Now, 99 Allen Street on the Lower East Side
Sun at 6p 🆓 🦩
Other Sunday events, briefly noted
Hudson River Park Nature Walk at Pier 45 (West Village), 9:30a 🆓 🌳
Artist Talk on Inside Light at the Park Avenue Armory (Upper East Side), 3p 🎭 🧠 🎨
Happiness and Capitalism: Work, Wealth, and Misery course kicks off through the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research (virtual), 2-5p through June 30 🧠
Meet the BIG LIST
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THAT’S ALL, FOLKS
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