August is a spectacular mix of new and currently on view art installations, exhibits and events, including outdoor art, music and performances. Here are 45 to add to your list, beginning on August 1st and taking you through the month.
1. Chen Dongfan: the Song of Dragon and Flowers in Chinatown ~ August 1
The Chinatown BID, NYC DOTart, Fou Gallery and ArtBridge have come together to present the street mural Chen Dongfan: The Song of Dragon and Flowers. As part of the Doyers Street Seasonal Street, which begins on August 1st, Dongfan created a colorful 4,800 square foot mural on Doyers Street, once known as the ‘Bloody Angle.’
2. ‘Calling All Earthlings’ at Maysles Cinema Opening August 1
Calling All Earthlings explores one of the first 1950’s movements, led by George Van Tassel, a one-time Howard Hughes confidante. Van Tassel combines extraterrestrial guidance with “outsider science” to build a time machine, which he dubs “The Integratron.”
Calling All Earthlings will be playing at Maysles Cinema, 343 Lenox Avenue in Harlem on August 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
3. James & Karla Murray “Capturing the Faces & Voices of Manhattan’s Neighborhood Storefronts at Jefferson Market Library Opens August 1
James & Karla Murray’s popular photography of culturally significant mom-and-pop stores will be on view at the Little Underground Gallery at Jefferson Market Library! The exhibit will run from August 1st to October 1st, with an Opening Reception held on Friday, August 3rd from 5:00-7:00pm. More info, and register on Eventbrite here. Follow the Event on Facebook.
4. Harlem Havana 2018 ~ August 4
The Annual Event, Harlem Havana, brings together Cuban artists, musicians, dancers fashion designers and chefs, descending upon New York for a week-long music and cultural festival.
5. Summer Streets 2018 ~ The First 3 Saturdays in August, August 4, 11, 18
Taking place on the first three Saturdays in August, between the hours of 7:00am to 1:00pm, Park Avenue from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, will be closed to traffic, allowing nearly 300,000 people to enjoy the annual event ~ Summer Streets 2018. This year’s theme ~ “Finding joy in unexpected moments,” and the schedule of events is out!
6. INSITU Dance Festival 2018 on Queens Waterfront ~ August 4-5
Located in four public parks along the East River waterfront in Queens, INSITU 2018 will take place on August 4-5. Here are the maps and schedule of events.
7. First Annual Puppet Festival Fringe Festival ~ August 6-12
The First International Puppet Fringe Festival of New York City will take place every other year, with its first edition from August 6-12, 2018. The Event will be located at The Clemente Center on the Lower East Side. Schedule and Tickets Here.
8. Harlem Havana International Photo & Art Exhibit ~ August 6
Harlem Havana International Photo & Art Exhibit 2018 is an international exhibit featuring 30 intergenerational artists and photographers who honor the unique and storied history of two iconic and diverse communities — Harlem and Havana. In an eclectic mix of styles and mediums each artist reveals the diverse legacies, the common bonds and humanity that connect us all. This event is part of Harlem Havana 2018.
9. B. Wurtz: Kitchen Trees at City Hall Park ~ August 7
City Hall Park will be the recipient of five new sculptures presented by Public Art Fund, in the exhibition, B. Wurtz: Kitchen Trees at City Hall Park this summer. The exhibit, B. Wurtz: Kitchen Trees will display site-specific sculptures using common kitchen items to create ~ trees. As you might expect, the trees will be adorned with such popular kitchen utensils as colanders, pots and pans, “which will form ‘trunks’ and cascading ‘branches’ with vibrant hanging plastic fruits and vegetables.” Each tree will rise from 15 to 18 feet high, and span 10 to 12 feet in diameter. B. Wurtz: Kitchen Trees is part of a trio of summer art installations by Public Art Fund, on view to December 7, 2018.
10. City Park’s Summer Stage 2018 ~ Schedule for the Month of August, including the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
City Park’s Summer Stage 2018 is the City’s largest free outdoor performing arts festival, bringing more than 100 performances to 18 neighborhood parks across all five boroughs from May to October. All free and open to the public. Here’s what’s on tap in August.
11. Get Lit! West Village Literary Pub Crawl August 10
Get Lit: 7 NYC Bars for Book Lovers will take place on August 10th at 2pm. Meeting location provided with RSVP. And follow on Facebook.
12. Kathleen Granados: Present Histories: An East Harlem Photo Album ~ August 11
Present Histories: An East Harlem Photo Album is a collection of images, laser etched into plexiglass and woven into the grid of the decorative fence at Harlem Art Park. The images were collected by artist Kathleen Granados from neighborhood residents, community groups, and cultural institutions, depicting the rich and thriving history in this rapidly changing community.
13. The Color Factory opens August 20
The Color Factory is headed to New York this Summer! It will be located at 251 Spring Street, in a 20,000 square-foot pop-up museum beginning August 20th.
Still on view:
14. Xaviera Simmons: Convene at Hunter’s Point South Park
Xaviera Simmons: Convene is a sculptural installation of aluminum canoes painted with designs that abstractly and explicitly evoke national flags symbolic of the diverse historical and contemporary demographic makeup of Astoria and Long Island City. The work is installed on land along the East River in Hunter’s Point South Park in Long Island City.
15. ‘Black Art is Now Many Treasurers’ at Essie Green Galleries
Essie Green Galleries opened its doors to the new exhibition, ‘Black Art is Now Many Treasures.’ Some of the work on view, taken from its vast collection, will be by renowned artists, Charles Ethan Porter, John Wesley Hardrick, Norman Lewis, Charles Alston, and Romare Bearden. The exhibit is on view to August 22, 2018.
16. Jazzmobile SummerFest55
Robin Bell-Stevens, Director and Executive Producer ~ Jazzmobile
Another fabulous season of music just announced by Jazzmobile. Jazzmobile SummerFest55 ~ Check it out!
17. ‘Ziemia’ Arrives in Msgr. McGolrick Park, Brooklyn
Martynka Wawrzyniak : Ziemia (translated means ‘Earth’) will be on view in Msgr. McGolrick Park, Brooklyn to June 8, 2019. It is presented by the Polish Cultural Institute and the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn.
18. Meg Minkley: Fiesta Forever in Powers Street Garden, Brooklyn
The artist Meg Minkley celebrated the beginning of Spring this year with her installation Fiesta Forever in Powers Street Garden, Brooklyn. This project is part of NYC Parks GreenThumb’s Art in the Gardens, and will be on view to May 31, 2019.
19. ASKEW ONE ~ a Refurbished Basketball Court in Brooklyn
A newly refurbished basketball court in Marcy Playground now boasts an artistic mural at Marcy Playground in Brooklyn. The mural is designed by artist ASKEW ONE, and based on the TBS television series The Last O.G. In addition, the playground includes new asphalt, and four new polycarbonate backboards. The mural will be on view to April 16, 2019.
20. Tamara Johnson: Picnic at Maria Hernandez Park, Brooklyn
The site-specific installation Tamara Johnson: Picnic was created to symbolize the many relaxing gatherings and experiences with friends and family. It is a hand-cast concrete picnic, turning a “temporary happening” into a monument. Picnic is sponsored in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). It ill be on view to March 20, 2019 in Maria Hernandez Park, Brooklyn.
21. Grimanesa Amoros: HEDERA in Prospect Park
The artist Grimanesa Amoros, known for her spectacular light installations (we remember her Breast Cancer Awareness Month installation at the Peninsula Hotel), was commissioned as part of BRIC’s 40th anniversary season to create HEDERA, at the Prospect Park Bandshell.
Grimanesa Amoros: HEDERA will be on view to August 11, 2018 ~ so better hurry before it comes down.
22. Onkel Oskar’s Suspenders in Sherman Creek Park
Six carved wood and mixed-media sculptures, created by the artist Peter Bulow, are creations of his past ~ his Great Aunt Trude, Great Uncle Oskar, his Hungarian Mother, Giselle and so on ~ placed throughout Sherman Creek Park. Peter Bulow: Onkel Oskar’s Suspenders will be on view to November 14, 2018 in Sherman Creek Park, Inwood. Come and meet the family.
23. ‘Functional Bodies’ in MacDonald Park, Queens
The installation, Functional Bodies, was conceived by social sculpture artist Yvonne Shortt and Mayo Fujino, engaging the community in the project, involving students from PS 99, Seniors from Young Israel of Forest Hills Senior Center, Friends of MacDonald Park, and RPGA Studio. It is an installation with a message focused on prompting more people to volunteer in their parks. More than 50 people participated in the project, which consists of two sculpture pieces. Functional Bodies will be on view to June 8, 2019 in MacDonald Park, Queens.
24. East New York: We Walk in a Field of Dreams
As part of an inaugural collaboration to integrate the arts into civic life called CivLabs, Arts East New York and the New York City Department of City Planning (Brooklyn) have teamed up to activate Success Garden on Livonia Avenue in East New York. Artists Walis Johnson and Paul Sue Pat collaborate to create East New York: We Walk in a Field of Dreams, a socially engaged multi-media art installation that incorporates community oral histories, a labyrinth walk and sculptural creations. East New York: We Walk in a Field of Dreams will be on view to August 31, 2018 in Success Garden.
25. Maren Hassinger: Monuments in Marcus Garvey park
26. Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams at MoMA
Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams is a whimsical and wonderful wish for a more harmonious society throughout the world, now on view at MoMA to January 1, 2019 at The Museum of Modern Art.
27. Celebrating Bill Cunningham at New York Historical Society
Bill Cunningham with camera, October 1974
New-York Historical Society Library, Melanie Tinnelly Collection of Photographs of or by Bill Cunningham and Toni “Suzette” Cimino. Image courtesy of New York Historical Society
‘On the Street’ and its author at The New York Times, the late Bill Cunningham, have been part of the fabric of being a New Yorker for as long as we can remember. In celebration, The New York Historical Society celebrates the life of this iconic figure in its exhibit, Celebrating Bill Cunningham, on view to September 9, 2018.
28. The Future: A Year-Long Exploration at The Rubin Museum of Art
From February 23 to December 31, 2018, viewers will be invited to step into a world where past, present, and future exist all at once ~ The Future: A Year-Long Exploration at The Rubin Museum. This spectacular year-long Event will feature exhibitions, talks, programs and experiences “unpacking our commonly held ideas about the future.”
29. ‘We Come in Peace’ on The Roof Garden at The MET
The above eighteen-foot long, bowing sculpture, entitled Urdu ~ meaning ‘without name’, is one of two large figures that make up the installation. The artist’s sci-fi characters are set against a 360 degree backdrop of Central Park and the skyscrapers of Manhattan, adding to the narrative of a first contact between humans and aliens. Huma Bhabha: We Come in Peace will be on view to October 28, 2018 on The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden.
30. Kathy Ruttenberg on Broadway: in dreams awake
The Broadway Mall Association presents its art installation for Spring/Winter 2018, with Kathy Ruttenberg on Broadway: in dreams awake. Artist, Kathy Ruttenberg created six site-specific sculptures that run along the Broadway Mall from 64th Street to 157th Street.
31. Diana Al-Hadid: Delirious Matter in Madison Square Park
The Madison Square Garden Conservancy kicks-off its thirty-sixth outdoor art exhibition with the installation, Diana Al-Hadid: Delirious Matter, six site-specific sculptures.
While you’re in the Park, check out the park’s five Bee Hives that call Madison Square Park home.
Simultaneous to Delirious Matter’s display in Madison Square Park, the Bronx Museum of the Arts has organized Diana Al-Hadid: Delirious Matter, which will be on view in the Bronx from July 18 to October 14, 2018. Register on Eventbrite Here.
32. Rebirth: Kang Muxiang on the Garment District Plazas
Taiwanese master-sculptor, Kang Muxiang and the Garment District Alliance have unveiled Rebirth: Kang Muxiang on the Broadway Mall between 36th and 38th Streets. The seven graceful installations will be on view from May 17 to September 15, 2018 as part of the Garment District Alliance’s Art on the Plazas program in conjunction with the NYC DOT’s Arterventions program.
33. Stanley Kubrick: Through a Different Lens at The Museum of the City of New York
The exhibition, Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs, opened at The Museum of the City of New York, featuring more than 120 photographs by Stanley Kubrick from the Museum’s Look Magazine archive. The exhibition will be on view through October 28, 2018.
34. Tony Cragg: Monumental Sculptures on the Park Avenue Mall
Let’s take a stroll and see the five Tony Cragg: Monumental Sculptures that now grace the Park Avenue Mall from 52nd Street to 79th Street. The installation is presented by Marian Goodman Gallery, along with NYC Parks and the Fund for Park Avenue. They will be on view through October, 2018.
35. Rockaway! 2018: Narcissus Garden by Yayoi Kusama
MoMA PS1 presents a site-specific installation by Yayoi Kusama entitled ‘Narcissus Garden,‘ as the third iteration of Rockaway!, a free public art festival with Rockaway Artists Alliance, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, National Park Service, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The installation will be on view through September 3, 2018.
36. The Future Culture 2018 Presents Sonic Gates + Court Yard Fridays on Staten Island
Photo by Sam Samore. Image courtesy Design Trust for Public Space
The Design Trust for Public Space and Staten Island Arts announce the Future Culture 2018 Public Art Program Winners ~ Sonic Gates + Court Yard Fridays ~ a series of nine public artworks, which will be installed in July, consisting of eight sound sculptures, one murals, and four world music concerts, created by, and featuring Staten Island-based artists and community members. The installations will be on view to June 1, 2019.
37. ‘Come Closer’ in Tribeca Park
The artist Rebecca Manson invites viewers to “Come Closer and the View Gets Wilder” with her new art installation in Tribeca Park. Come Closer will be on view through July, 2019.
38. Mel Chin’s ‘Wake’ + ‘Unmoored’ in Times Square
As part of the summer installation, All Over The Place, presented by the Queens Museum and No Longer Empty, Mel Chin unveils Wake and Unmoored in Times Square to September 5, 2018.
39. ‘Laugh Back’ ~ a Group Exhibition at Smack Mellon
How ’bout a little laughter to threaten authority. Smack Mellon probes the transgressive potential this might have in our increasingly tense political landscape, in the group exhibition, Laugh Back.
40. Tanya Aguiñiga: Craft & Care
Photo by Jenna Bascom. Courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Design.
Positioning photographic documentation, radio broadcasts, ephemera, data, and an installation generated by the project, AMBOS, as well as seven other projects from Aguiñiga’s ongoing design and artistic practice, Tanya Aguiñiga: Craft & Care at MAD demonstrates the link that the artist is forging between design thinking and community work. “Design thinking,” which refers to the creative strategies for problem solving, is situated here as something inherent to craft—a vehicle utilized by Aguiñiga for self-care and community building. And the work the artist has been doing near the Tijuana border crossing is timely, indeed.
While you’re there, check out Surface/Depth: The Decorative After Miriam Schapiro on view to September 9, 2018.
41. JR ~ Horizontal: a Solo Exhibition at Perrotin NYC
The renowned French artist JR, who has captured the faces of immigrants so vividly throughout the world, couldn’t be having a solo exhibition in NYC at a better time ~ with hundreds of immigrant children, taken from their parents at our borders, arriving in East Harlem in July. The exhibition ‘JR: Horizontal’ will be on view at Perrotin NYC to August 17, 2018.
And while you’re there, Aloalo Mahafaly Sculptures of the Efiaimbelos are also on view to August, 17th, on the third floor.
42. The Mural Project at World Trade
We’ve been following the Downtown ‘Mural Project‘ in and around the 2WTC and 3WTC construction lots, now surrounded by a number of gorgeous new murals. With the Oculus in the background, the large-scale mural project takes viewers from Vesey and Greenwich Streets, down Church and Dey Streets to Cortlandt Street. Let’s take a walk…..
43. Tristan Eaton at The Bowery Art Wall
Currently on view at The Bowery Art Wall, Tristan Eaton: Intermission.
44. #100GatesProject on Staten Island
Expanding beyond their Lower East Side borders, we followed The 100 Gates Project to Staten Island where they brought local artists together with local businesses. This month, #100GatesProject will be expanding to Brooklyn! Stay tuned. Take a look at #100GatesProject, a work in progress, in East Harlem.
45. ‘Sand & Surf’ in the Channel Gardens
A new installation is going up in one of the most beautiful gardens in New York City – The Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center is getting a sand castle. ‘Sand & Surf’ will be on view to September 7, 2018 in the Channel Gardens.
Fabulous !
Yes fabulous!