This Week’s Must See Events: Beach Blanket Bingo

It’s difficult to imagine that almost 100 years ago Lois Weber was the highest paid filmmaker in Hollywood. It’s a title that has probably not been held by a female filmmaker since. But Weber’s reputation and visibility as an influential artist have been eclipsed by her male contemporaries over the last century. Light Industry will present two films by the pioneering director; a ten-minute short entitled Suspense and an 80-minute feature called The Blot. The latter film dramatizes the plight of underpaid professors, an issue that also hasn’t changed much today.

Hunter East Harlem Gallery will kick off a summer-long program focused on incarcerated women and the aftermaths of their confinement. The works on display will be “by artists who were formally incarcerated, experienced incarceration through their family members, or those who experienced incarceration through their communities.” The focus of the exhibition is “how women experience living in confined spaces, life after release, and family interactions,” and Hunter has ongoing ambitions for the project’s ability to instigate conversations. There will be a library of reading materials, a listening station, a lounge and a letter writing station.  

Ooooh! A pop-up show hosted by Denny Gallery, a LES fixture with a brick and mortar location. The premise of this pop-up is simple: occupants of the cities that reside in the same location can be socialized into not seeing one another. Specifically, the gallery uses the Lower East Side’s variety of residents as an example. Given the artist list, we’re looking forward to see how that curatorial conceit will come together. Expect to see works by Trudy Benson, Erin O’Keefe and even though we’re a little tired of the never-ending election-Ghost of a Dream’s new Trump video piece.

There are a lot of group shows in every neighborhood this week. For Thursday night in Chelsea, you will probably find something to like in this massive roundup of art by people who work at Zwirner. The big-time blue chip gallery has a lot of working artists and it almost always puts on a quality presentation. We’re looking forward to checking out what Clive Murphy has been up to. He blew us away at NADA last year with his “Inflatable Cardboard Box.” And viewers of Work of Art might be curious to see what Young Sun Han has progressed following his reality TV stardom.

We recommend this group show based on the work of one artist—Cortney Andrews’ physically uncomfortable performance/video work. It’s a one night only pop-up show so you’ve only got one chance with this exhibition. Don’t miss it.

Reena Spaulings doesn’t list any information about this show aside from its title and the four artists that are featured. But it’s a good gallery and we haven’t listed them in a while so check it out.

It’s a holiday weekend and not much is happening. We’ve never been to Far Rockaway’s Topless Gallery and it’s a good time to hit the beach so we’re going to give this a shot. The planned installation by Nadia Belerique, Lili Huston-Herterich and Laurie Kang has been presented before at Toronto’s Power Plant gallery (seen above). The show’s description says that it will be altered and adjusted for Topless including the addition of a sound element.

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than by hunkering down in a theater with a 6 1/2-hour, anti-capitalist screed? I saw Ken Jacob’s Star Spangled to Death over the course of a week a few years ago and it lived up to its reputation of being difficult and joyful all at once. Anthology is presenting it in two chunks, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. That may be a little bit of overload for some viewers but since this film isn’t shown that often it’s worth it. If all the little intertitles and disconnected found footage feel like too much to sort out, just sit back and enjoy its time capsule aspects and goofy humor.

As in years prior PSI has given over the Fort Tilden grounds to an artist—this year Katharina Gross. Previously Janet Cardiff installed her now famous Forty-Part Motet in an abandoned church, and Patti Smith performed live. Gross, if the image above is any indication, will spray paint the fuck out of a house on a beach. We like paint and the beach, so we’re showing up.