This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Old School Survival

A fakir is loosely defined as a Muslim or Hindu religious ascetic who lives solely on alms. But after World War I, fake fakirs emerged on the Berlin variety show circuit, performing fantastical feats like piercing their bodies with nails and pins. Mel Gordon, author of Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, surveys this rarely-discussed phenomenon, exploring how German fakirs were used by Marxist journalists as so-called counter examples to Therese Neumann, the German Catholic mystic and stigmatic.

A show examining how god-damn expensive it is to live in New York City. For this show, The Temporary Office of Urban Disturbances, an autonomous group formed in May 2016, will take over Mitchell Innis & Nash to present If you can’t afford to live here, mo-o-ove!!. The exhibition will expand on Martha Rosler’s 1989 three-show cycle entitled If You Lived Here…, but will focus on the issues of today: displacement, cost of living, income inequality. A million artists and activist groups are participating in this thing—and by a million we mean 43, which is quite a bit of organizing. The Temporary Office of Urban Disturbances will host four town hall discussions throughout the course of the exhibition, on June 14, 16, 21, and 23 from 6-8 pm. We’ll be there.

Trump-inspired political art at CANADA? Not exactly. “Sorry, no Trump here, just another run-of-the-mill summer group show,” confirmed CANADA’s Phil Grauer to ARTINFO. “Although we did borrow the graphic from a well-known political campaign, the show’s content has nothing to do with anything but a group of colleagues showing off what they do best.” But when the line-up includes artists like Katherine Bradford (whose last solo at the LES gallery featuring water and swimmer-focused was a January highlight), this ups the ante on what one expects from “run-of-the-mill summer group show”.

Artists: Katherine Bernhardt, Katherine Bradford, Joe Bradley, Sarah Braman, Matt Connors, Gerald Ferguson, Jason Fox, Daniel Hesidence, Xylor Jane, Sadie Laska, Lily Ludlow, Elena Pankova, Tyson Reeder, Anke Weyer, Wallace Whitney, and Michael Williams

Heading out of town early this weekend? If you find yourself near the Long Wharf in Sag Harbour, check out the docked modified houseboat by Mary Mattingly, who is best known for creating sculptural ecosystems in urban spaces. Part of the water-focused group show, Radical Seafaring, the vessel contains sustainable projects on board, including solar power, rainwater collection and vegetable gardening. Further, visitors can book by appointment a tour on the boat, and ride along the East End waterways.

A show about the sun and instruments used to reflect the sun. Some of the works are pictorial and gesture to the subject – a disc, an orb, a ray of light. Others are metaphorical, and are often about material exploration as well. There’s a good mix of known artists (William Cordova, Rosemarie Fiore) and rising stars (Marsha Cottrell, Igor Eskinja), so the show’s worth checking out just for the roster alone.

Curated by Matthew Nichols

Artists: James Case-Leal, William Cordova, Angeles Cossio, Marsha Cottrell, Chris Duncan, Igor Eskinja, Rosemarie Fiore, Nicolai Howalt, Owen Kydd, Gustavo Prado, and Hanna Sandin

A group show that envisions a terrible future for all of us visa vi an analogue past. Expect to see photographs, paintings on copper, 3D animation and more from a few Bushwick stars and beyond.

Curated by in association with Wendy Cooper

Artists: Bill Albertini, Lisa Beck, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Juliette Losq, Ted Haddon, Oliver Wasow, Matthew Weinstein

TV gossip rags tell us that True Detective: Season Three may never come to fruition. We’re here to tell them they’re wrong. Thanks to organizer Sean J. Patrick Carney and New York-based police officer-cum-artist Joe Manco, a third season will exist in the form of a one-night-only pop-up exhibition of new drawings plus an original performance. Manco’s film still drawings come from True Detective seasons one and two—so perhaps that aspect of the show is a bit more like a True Detective Redux, but the performance is all new. The press release promises experimentation. Brace yourself for whatever that may mean from a cop.

Ander Mikalson is currently artist-in-residence at the Queens Museum, and as part of the institution’s Open A.I.R. Artist Services program, is offering this workshop on finances and taxes for artists. Mikalson, who supports her performance-based practice as a freelance bookkeeper, will run through the nuts and bolts of artist finances, as well as elaborate on alternative models of financial sustainability. If you’re looking for support on budgeting or navigating Obamacare, or wanted to know how you can deal with those student loans, this would be worthwhile to attend.

Let’s face it, if you’ve been participating in the art world for even a brief period of time, you’ve probably seen Nan Goldin’s slideshow of her friends having sex, doing drugs and going to parades and protests. In fact, you’ve probably seen it several times. But it never gets old does it? That’s how nostalgia works, and this portrait of New York life reminds us of how rich and tough New York life can be.

Curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Rajendra Roy, and Lucy Gallun

A free workshop in which the Whitney Museum’s marketing specialist Shama Rahman teaches artists how to write clear and concise artist statements. If you are an artist GO TO THIS. Every artist statement, no matter how clear, could be made better. Let Rahman help you.

What better way to enjoy your Sunday than attending an afternoon runway show? Use Value, it seems, isn’t the name of a solo show, but a brand. The conceptual (and real) brand by artist Chang Yuchen produces “useful handmade commodities.” To wit, the product’s first line are embroidered bags, and the bags’ individual value is calculated based on the hourly rate Yuchen earned as a restaurant hostess, multiplied by how many hours it took her to make each bag, and the additional cost of raw materials. The bags also include a drawing made with silk thread.