1. Samara Golden: The Flat Side of the Knife is open at MoMA PS1 until September 1, 2015.
Multimedia artist Samara Golden creates immersive installations by mixing video, sound, ink-jet prints, foam, insulation, mirrors, and anything else readily and cheaply available. Her first solo exhibition The Flat Side of the Knife at MoMA PS1 is her largest installation to date. She has filled the Queens-based institution’s Duplex gallery with staircases, beds, couches, lamps, musical instruments, video, and sound to illustrate different layers consciousness—a theme the Columbia MFA grad continues to explore—allowing viewers to experience her “sixth dimension.”
2. Chris Ofili: Night and Day is open at the New Museum until January 25, 2015.
Only two years after graduating from the Royal College of Art in London, turner Prize-winning YBA member Chris Ofili had solo shows in London and New York. For two decades his paintings have mesmerized with their dotted surfaces and themes of racial stereotypes and religious beliefs. Comprising of the artist’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures, Night and Day occupies New Museum’s three main galleries exploring Ofili’s ever-changing approach and inspiration.
3. Picasso and the Camera is open at the Gagosian until January 3, 2015.
It goes without saying that as one of our time’s most famous visual artists, Picasso was also one of the most photographed. But while his life and work were documented by photographers as diverse as Jean Cocteau, Cecil Beaton, Man Ray, Lee Miller, Edward Quinn, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Lucien Clergue, Michel Sima, and Arnold Newman, Pablo Picasso also played around with photography himself. He used the camera to capture life in the studio and at home, to try out new ideas, to study his works and document their creation, and to shape his own image as an artist at work. Picasso and the Camera explores how he used photography not only as a source of inspiration, but as an integral part of his studio practice.
4. Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests is open at BAM until November 30, 2014.
The films of Andy Warhol are provocative milestones of underground cinema, flaunting convention simply by letting the gritty world be itself. They include a motionless eight-hour shot of the Empire State Building, a short of Lou Reed drinking a Coke, and erotic acts aplenty. In conjunction with Exposed: Songs for Unseen Warhol Films, BAM Visual Art presents a selection of 12 screen tests by Andy Warhol. Included are Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Nico and many more.
5. Zero Tolerance is open at MoMA PS1 until March 8, 2015.
Over the past two decades, some national and international governments have garnered attention for imposing draconian laws that restrict the rights of citizens under the guise of improving quality of life. Rio de Janeiro has “cleaned up” slums by imposing a militarized police force and Istanbul has put pressure on minority communities by gentrifying the neighborhoods in which they reside. In Russia, the arrest of two members of the art band Pussy Riot for speaking against President Vladimir Putin, along with the passage of anti-gay legislation, has generated international ire. Such restrictive policies have marked everyday life in major cities around the world. Comprised of work from artists such as Halil Altindere (Turkish, b. 1971) and Amal Kenawy (Egyptian, 1974-2012), Zero Tolerance addresses the freedom of expression and the role of the artist within society.