©ROTIMI FANI-KAYODE/COURTESY AUTOGRAPH, ABP/GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, NEW YORK
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24
Exhibition: “Kyoto: Capital of Artistic Imagination” at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bringing together over 80 works, including paintings, lacquers, ceramics, metalwork, and textiles, “Kyoto: Capital of Artistic Imagination” traces the cultural history of the Japanese city from ancient to modern times. Some highlights in the exhibition, which will also spotlight several recent acquisitions, are a 14th-century suit of armor, 18th-century Noh robes, and a selection of traditional tea wares.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Exhibition: “Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now” at Guggenheim Museum
Earlier this year, the Guggenheim Museum opened a survey of Robert Mapplethorpe that included his portraits of celebrity figures, his images of S&M culture, and his pictures of black men (which have proven controversial). Mapplethorpe’s queer aesthetic has been influential for younger generations of artists, and this show—the second half of the earlier showing—will explore his influence on his followers. A number of Mapplethorpe’s images will be shown alongside works by Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Lyle Ashton Harris, Glenn Ligon, Zanele Muholi, Catherine Opie, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya.
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Performance: Maze at the Shed
This dance-theater commission is co-directed by FlexN dance crew leader Reggie ‘Regg Roc’ Gray and theater artist Kaneza Schaal. Each dance, a series of vignettes, is shaped by the dancer’s personal experience with abuses of power; the result is a meditation on human coexistence told through the Jamaican dance tradition of bruk up. The 90-minute performance will be accompanied by live drumming and vocals and performed within a light landscape designed by designer Tobias G. Rylander.
The Shed, 545 West 30th Street, 7:30 p.m. Some performances have sold out; consult the Shed’s website for dates and pricing
©HERBIE FLETCHER/COURTESY FLETCHER FAMILY AND GAGOSIAN
THURSDAY, JULY 25
Opening: “The Fletcher Family: A Lifetime in Surf” at Gagosian
This exhibition is opening in tandem with the publication of the book Fletcher: A Lifetime in Surf, which chronicles the family’s role in surf and skate culture. The show will feature artworks from four series by Herbie Fletcher, including his “Wrecktangles,” sculptures made from custom surfboards, and “Blood Water” paintings. A selection of ephemera—photographs, posters, sketches, maps, surf magazines, boards, and more—will also be on view.
Gagosian, 976 Madison Avenue, 6–8 p.m.
Performance: Jerron Herman at Whitney Museum
To honor the 29th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Whitney will stage a performance of Many Ways to Raise a Fist by Jerron Herman. Described by the New York Times as “inexhaustible,” Herman is a playwright, principal dancer, choreographer, and development director with Heidi Latsky Dance. His work combats the perception of physical disability as artistic limitation. After a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, doctors warned Herman that bodily autonomy would be difficult, if not impossible; Many Ways to Raise a Fist is billed by the Whitney as a celebration of “both personal and collective defiance.”
Whitney Museum, 99 Gansevoort Street, 6:30 p.m.
Symposium: “Convening for Contemporary Art, Education, and Social Justice” at New Museum
The New Museum’s inaugural multi-day “Convening for Contemporary Art, Education, and Social Justice” invites educators, activists, and artists to consider the social and economic inequities within the school system, and develop new strategies for inclusivity in the classroom. Programming will intersect with the museum’s 2019 Summer Social Justice Residency and Exhibition, “Mirror/Echo/Tilt,” which features work by Melanie Crean, Shaun Leonardo, and Sable Elyse Smith. The artists will be on hand for a conversation, and various leaders will also present on community and self care.
New Museum, 235 Bowery, 7 p.m. Programming continues on Friday, July 26, and Saturday, July 27
FRIDAY, JULY 26
Screening: Danny Lyon at Anthology Film Archives
Though best known for his stylized documentary photography, Danny Lyon has also worked extensively as a filmmaker, and the Anthology Film Archives is showcasing his moving-image work in a three-day series called “Danny Lyon: Then and Now.” First up in the series is this screening of two films from the 1970s: Llanito (1971) and Little Boy (1977). The former film focuses on various residents of Bernalillo, New Mexico, from Chicano boys to developmentally disabled Catholics. One of its subjects, Willie Jaramillo, went on to become the protagonist of Lyons’s most famous film, Willie (1987).
Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, 7:30 p.m. Tickets $7/$9/$12
SATURDAY, JULY 27
Screening: Barbara Hammer at Museum of the Moving Image
As part of a survey of the late filmmaker Barbara Hammer‘s work, the Museum of Moving Image will screen one of her famous piece, Nitrate Kisses (1992), an experimental documentary about several gay couples. Shot in black-and-white, and combining readymade and newly shot footage, the documentary aims to revise notions about what a queer image might look like. Screening with it is Generations (2010), in which Hammer, 70 years old at the time, hands off the filmmaking duties to a younger filmmaker, Joey Carducci, in a meditation on aging. Carducci will be on hand to speak about Generations.
Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Avenue, 4 p.m. Tickets $9/$11/$15
Performance: Yonatan Gat and the the Eastern Medicine Singers at Green-Wood Cemetery
Commissioned by Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, this performance will bring experimental music to the nearly-200-year-old Green-Wood Cemetery. The performance is part of an ongoing collaboration with the Native American group the Eastern Medicine Singers, whom the musician Yonatan Gat first met at the festival SXSW. Their new performance, Graveyard Shift, includes a procession through the cemetery’s paths.
Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th Street, Brooklyn, 7 p.m. Tickets $25