Jeff Koons. Seated Ballerina, 2017. Installation view at Rockefeller Center. Photo courtesy of Street Art News.
New York City opened a new public art installation last week, co-presented by the Art Production Fund and Kiehl’s. Jeff Koons’ large-scale inflatable ballerina, a 45-foot work titled Seated Ballerina, was unveiled Friday at Rockefeller Center, where it will be on view through June 2.
Also this week, James Turrell will be presented with the 2017 SMFA Medal Award by the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University.
Events & exhibitions
New York City
- Sunday, May 21, 7pm—New York Close Up’s newest artist Raúl de Nieves will be performing K8 Hardy’s Beautiful Radiating Energy at Participant Inc. The piece first debuted at Reena Spaulings Fine Art in 2004, and features a “part-cheerleader, part-militant” character who screams “Ready!” over and over again.
Chicago
- Monday, May 15, 7pm—Kerry James Marshall is delivering the Rosenberger Medal Lecture at the University of Chicago. Entitled “As Luck Would Have It…” the event is free and open to the public. Get tickets.
- Wednesday, May 17, 6pm—Pedro Reyes is giving a talk titled “Art + Engineering” at the Block Museum of Art. Get tickets.
- Thursday, May 18, 4pm—Pedro Reyes is also presenting the seminar “What is the Use of Art?” at Northwestern University.
San Francisco
- Thursday, May 18, 6:30-7:30pm—Leonardo Drew is giving an artist talk at the de Young Museum titled “On and Beyond Number 197,” in conjunction with his large-scale installation on view in the museum’s atrium.
London
- A sound installation by Bruce Nauman opens at Tate Modern today. Raw Materials premiered over 10 years ago in Turbine Hall, and is composed of 22 speech fragments recorded over 40 years and transmitted from 22 speakers. It will be on view through August 20.
Norwich, England
- Friday, May 19, 8pm—Laurie Anderson will be performing at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, in a rare collaborative performance with Philip Glass.
Porto, Portugal
- A solo exhibition by artist Julie Mehretu is opening this week at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. A Universal History of Everything and Nothing opens this Friday, May 19 and will be on view through September 3.
Shanghai
- This is the last week to see the Long Museum’s retrospective on the work of James Turrell. James Turrell: Immersive Light closes this Sunday, May 21. [Read a review in the South China Morning Post.]
It’s impossible to include all the incredible exhibitions and art events happening this week in a single post. If there’s something you feel should have been included in today’s roundup, leave a comment below!