Editors’ Picks: 7 Great Art and Design Events This Week

Here are Galerie’s picks of the must-see art and design events in New York this week, from summer soirées at MoMA and the Glass House to a talk with the curators of the Whitney Biennial.

Via MoMA website

1. Party in the Garden 2019
The Museum of Modern Art

In honor of Alice and Tom Tisch, Yvonne Rainer, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York City’s Museum of Modern Art invites museumgoers to an exciting evening in the museum’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. Attendees will enjoy specialty cocktails at 7 p.m., followed by a seated dinner and a lively musical performance by pop artist Maggie Rogers. This after-hours benefit will continue into the night with DJ artists Nina Sky and The Knocks as well as several more musical guests and surprises. Tickets can be purchased at the door, and online ticketing is available until 5:30 p.m. on June 4.

Where: 11 West 53rd Street, New York

When: Tuesday, June 4, 7 p.m.

Recommended: 3 Public Artworks That Will Thrill New Yorkers This Spring

Diedrick Brackens, How to Return, 2018. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

2. Diedrick Brackens: Darling Divined
The New Museum 

Rising star Diedrick Brackens has been shaking up the art world with his stunning contemporary tapestries, painstakingly crafted with a single loom. In his first institutional solo show in New York, the Texas artist will showcase a new site-specific textile installation in the New Museum lobby. Brackens, who recently won Artadia’s inaugural Marciano Artadia Award and the Studio Museum’s $50,000 Wien Prize, uses complex woven algorithms that draw on West African, American, and European textile histories to present narratives exploring notions of race, gender, marginalized communities, and sexuality. Don’t miss the accompanying talk on June 27 between the artist and writer and activist Darnell L. Moore. —Lucy Rees

Where: New Museum, 235 Bowery

When: June 4–September 9

Installation view of Untitled, a billboard by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, as it was originally displayed in Sheridan Square, New York, from March to September 1989. Organized by the Public Art Fund. Photo: Courtesy of Public Art Fund, NY, © Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Courtesy of The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation

3. Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Untitled (1989)
Public Art Fund

As the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising approaches, New York’s Public Art Fund will present Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s iconic billboard, Untitled (1989). The artist, who died in 1996, addressed LGBTQ rights with his works and described this piece as “a visual reference, an architectural sign of being, a monument for a community that has been ‘historically invisible.’” On view beginning on June 4 and in conjunction with the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, Untitled will be visible from its original location above Village Cigars and adjacent to the infamous Stonewall Inn bar in Greenwich Village. In a statement, Public Art Fund director and chief curator Nicholas Baume described Gonzalez-Torres as “among the most significant and influential artists of his generation. Direct public engagement is fundamental to his artistic practice, which expanded the possibilities for creative expression both within and beyond the museum walls.” —Kaela Walker

Where: 1 Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village, New York

When: June 4–June 30

Recommended: This Long-Overdue Exhibition Marks 50 Years Since the Stonewall Uprising

Mrinalini Mukherjee, Black Devil, 1980. Photo: Courtesy of The Met Breuer.

4. Mrinalini Mukherjee
The Met Breuer

This week, the astounding work of Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee gets its first comprehensive display in the United States at The Met Breuer. “Phenomenal Nature: Mrinalini Mukherjee,” which opens June 4, presents nearly 60 works in dyed and woven hemp, ceramics and bronze, by the artist, who died in 2015. The fiber works are both menacing and seductive in their presence, and the subtleness of their dyes is a pleasure to experience. The show is organized by Shanay Jhaveri, assistant curator of South Asian art in the modern and contemporary art department. —Rozalia Jovanovic

Where: The Met Breuer

When: June 4–September 29

Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta. Photo: Scott Rudd

5. “Curating the Whitney Biennial”
The Whitney Museum of American Art 

The Whitney Biennial aims to present a contemporary snapshot of the current state of contemporary art in America, and curating the exhibition is no mean feat. To prepare for the 79th edition, the cocurators Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta visited some 300 artist studios across the country. This Thursday, they will join the museum’s deputy director and chief curator, Scott Rothkopf, in a conversation about their research and selection process, the challenges they faced, and their observations about contemporary art today. —L.R.

Where: Whitney Museum, 99 Gansevoort Street, 7 p.m.

When: Thursday, June 6, 7 p.m.

Recommended: Why These 4 Whitney Biennial Artists Are Making Waves

The Summer Party 2018 at the Glass House Photo: Courtesy of The Glass House

6. The Summer Party
The Philip Johnson Glass House

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Philip Johnson’s storied structure and its 49-acre site, the Glass House is hosting an afternoon of food, music, art, games, and performances. Enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds and watch famed high-wire artist Philippe Petit (the Frenchman who walked between the World Trade Center’s twin towers) perform a site-specific aerial walk and listen to the stirring beats of the Marching Cobras, a Harlem drum line and dance team. Then visit the exhibition “Gay Gatherings: Philip Johnson, David Whitney, and the Modern Arts” at the on-site gallery. The event and benefit auction will support the preservation and restoration of the historic New Canaan, Connecticut, space. —Jill Sieracki

Where: 199 Elm Street, New Canaan, Connecticut

When: June 8, 12–4 p.m.

7. HMI School’s Out 2019
East Hampton

Celebrating 40 Years of Service, the Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI) kicks off the summer with its annual School’s Out benefit to support LGBTQ youth. Galerie‘s founder, Lisa Fayne Cohen, will host the benefit for the fifth consecutive year at her East Hampton residence alongside design world veterans Tom Filicia, Brian Sawyer, and Kevin Sharkey with dinner to follow at the home of Joe Hall and Martin Dagata. Get your tickets here.

Where: Cocktails at the home of Lisa & James Cohen, dinner at the Home of Joe Hall and Martin Dagata, East Hampton

When: June 8, cocktails at 6 – 8:30 p.m., dinner at 8:30 – 10:30 p.m.