MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
Panel discussion: “Why Dance in the Art World?” At Judson Memorial Church
RoseLee Goldberg moderates a panel discussion that will explore the recent proliferation of dance in the art world. We remember the groundbreaking collaboration between Robert Rauschenberg and Merce Cunningham and before that Francis Picabia creating new choreographic forms in the 1920s for the Ballet suédois in Paris. More recently, visual artists have been reviving the dialogue with choreographers, harkening back to these earlier examples. Come hear choreographer and visual artist Ralph Lemon, curator Jenny Schlenzka and art critic David Velasco discuss the history of this trend and where it’s headed. Historian Jennifer Homans will give an introduction. —Rozalia Jovanovic
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York, 6:30-8 p.m., Free
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
Lecture: Alex Kitnick on “Hand Sculpture” at SculptureCenter
As part of the public programming for ScultpureCenter curator Ruba Katrib’s debut group show, “A Disagreeable Object,” art historian Alex Kitnick will discuss “artworks that were made specifically for the hand rather than those that were crafted by it,” according to the museum’s release. This is also a fine opportunity to see the show, which opened on Saturday and includes small but sumptuous photos of pages by Martin Soto Climent, bubbling new sculptures by Anicka Yi and—what seems like the show’s guaranteed hit—a video by Aneta Grzeszkowska that transforms hands (and feet and heads!) into floating, scampering beings. —Andrew Russeth
SculptureCenter, 44-19 Purves Street, Queens, 7–9 p.m.
Book Launch: Terry Smith, “Thinking Contemporary Curating,” at New York University
Critic and art historian Terry Smith will unveil his new book, Thinking Contemporary Curating, an analysis of how curators work today. The book is the first in a series presented by Independent Curators International called Perspectives in Curating. —Michael H. Miller
NYU Department of Art History, 300 Silver Center, Third Floor, 100 Washington Square East, New York, 7-9 p.m.
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19
Opening and Book Party: Etel Adnan at Callicoon Fine Arts
Fresh off her showing at dOCUMENTA (13), the exhibition will be the artist’s first show in New York at the always awesome Callicoon. At the opening Beirut-based writer and critic Kaelen Wilson-Goldie and poet Stacy Szymaszek will read from Adnan’s new book of poetry Sea and Fog, out on Nightboat Books. Great! —Dan Duray
Callicoon Fine Arts, 124 Forsyth Street, New York, 6 to 8 p.m.
Opening: Harry Smith, “String Figures,” at Cabinet
Harry Smith, the filmmaker, archivist, and folk song collector who compiled the iconic Anthology of American Folk Music, is the subject of this new show curated by painter Terry Winters. The exhibition features Smith’s string figures, compiled from the collection of John Cohen, as well as portions of his thousand-page manuscript about the art form, which he left unfinished when he died in 1991. —M.H.M.
Cabinet, 300 Nevins Street, Brooklyn, 7-9 p.m.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
Opening: Artie Vierkant at Higher Pictures
This is going to sound absurd, but it’s true: Artie Verkant’s recent wall hung pieces, titled “Image Objects” (UV prints on machine-cut sintra) hover in that strange ethereal zone between the digital and the real—planes of color in the process of vaporizing into thin air. They’re actual physical things, of course, though that’s hard to believe sometimes. The gallery’s not mincing words: they’re “considered to be at the forefront of new forms of visual art,” the gallery writes in its release. —A.R.
Higher Pictures, 980 Madison Avenue, New York, 6–8 p.m.
Opening: Peter Coffin, “A, E, I, O, U” at Venus Over Manhattan
In his first solo show since 2008, Peter Coffin will present a show of entirely new work, and also a first for Venus Over Manhattan in that it will be the first solo show by an artist in the gallery since it opened. The show also comes with a free zine, which you can pick up at the opening or download on the site. —R.J.
Venus Over Manhattan, 980 Madison Avenue, New York, 8-10 p.m.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Opening: “Funny.” at Flag Art Foundation
Do you like funny art? I do. I think I probably like it more than most people. I laugh at Richard Prince’s joke paintings. I might be an idiot. Regardless, this show sounds great. It’s curated by Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, the CEO and director, and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum and features work by Lisa Anne Auerbach, Mike Kelley, Lutz Bacher, Friedrich Kunath, Darren Bader, Hanna Liden, John Bock, Sarah Lucas, Maurizio Cattelan, Mads Lynnerup, Peter Coffin, Alix Pearlstein, Simon Evans, Jack Pierson, Ceal Floyer, Richard Prince, Fischli/Weiss, Rob Pruitt, Robert Gober, David Shrigley, Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Haim Steinbach, Joseph Grigely, Erwin Wurm, Matthew Higgs, Jim Hodges and Matt Johnson. — D.D.
Flag Art Foundation, 545 West 25 Street, Ninth Floor, New York 6 to 8 p.m.
