Neri Oxman at the Museum of Modern Art

New York Art Tours celebrates the Museum of Modern Art’s reopening to the public today with a closer look at a panel by Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT’s Media Lab Neri Oxman from her reopened exhibition, ‘Material Ecology.’ This wax and resin panel is the first piece visitors encounter in an exhibition that showcases materials and processes that collaborate with nature. The panel’s attractively undulating structure is determined by the need to transmit light and accommodate heat change.  (On view through Oct 18th.  View MoMA’s new guidelines before visiting.)

Neri Oxman, detail of Cartesian Wax, rigid polyurethane casting resin composite and machinable wax, 2007. Collaborators and contributors: Mikey Siegel; MIT Center for Bits and Atoms.

Han Qin in ‘Blue’ at the Nassau County Museum of Art

Created in Hangzhou, China last summer and now on display just outside of New York City at the Nassau County Museum of Art’s ‘Blue’ exhibition, Han Qin’s ‘The Direction of Migration’ was inspired by the artist’s own journeys between China and Long Island.  Using a cyanotype process that involves exposing treated paper to sunlight, Han Qin – a professional dancer who choreographed a dance to accompany this work – arranged emigrant friends in dance poses on the paper.  Ethereal and suggesting natural upward movement, the piece pictures hopeful journeys.  (On view through Nov 1st.  Tickets must be purchased in advance).

Han Qin, The Direction of Migration (Diptych), cyanotype on paper, 3307 x 94.5 cm, 2019.

Karl Lagerfeld in ‘Camp: Notes on Fashion’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

‘Camp:  Notes on Fashion’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ends with a bang in a two-tiered gallery showcasing outrageous garments, from a wrapper resembling the contents of a TV dinner to a tiered ball gown of ruffled pink fabric that juts out from the shoulders and continues expanding as it descends to the ground.  Here, alongside earrings shaped like old-fashioned faucet handles, Karl Lagerfeld’s shower head necklace makes a clean break from tradition.  (On view on the Upper East Side through Sept 8th).

Karl Lagerfeld for Chloe, Necklace, autumn/winter, 1983-84, silver metal, pink, blue and clear crystals and pearl beads.

Alicja Kwade at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Berlin-based Polish artist Alicja Kwade explains that the invitation to install a piece on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was like being asked to crown the summarized history of humanity in the galleries below.  In response, she created a steel framed structure that symbolizes human systems and which incorporates stones sourced from India, Finland, Italy, China and beyond.  From the roof, viewing the New York’s rising skyline is unavoidable; Kwade draws in the surroundings as part of her artwork, inviting visitors to consider neighboring buildings as symbols of capitalism, a structure that can be examined as readily as the ones she erects. (On view through Oct 27th).

Installation view of Alicja Kwade’s ‘Parapivot’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, summer 2019.

Thomas Holton in ‘Interior Lives’ at the Museum of the City of New York

Despite the pressures of a busy life, whether she was at home, at work or at her mother’s house, Shirley Lam always put a meal on the table for her family.  Thomas Holton’s documentary photos of the Lam family’s life in their 350 sq ft apartment on Ludlow Street is one of three remarkable photo series now on view at the Museum of the City of New York that elaborate on capability and sacrifice in New York’s Chinese communities.  (on view through March 24th).

Thomas Holton, Dinner for Seven, 2011, installation view of ‘Interior Lives’ at the Museum of the City of New York, January 2019.