Thursday June 26 5-6 pm: Karen Finley | Performance / Let Me Bitch A Little at Freight + Volume

As part of her current exhibition, Karen Finley will perform her spoken word piece, Let Me Bitch A Little followed by a walk-through of the show, More Desperate Than Ever, which closes in two weeks.

The centerpiece of this show is a large ongoing installation titled Disappeared Words: A Memorial, 2025 which takes words themselves as subject rather than bearer of meaning. On March 7th, 2025, The New York Times published a list of words and phrases that the Trump administration has highlighted as unacceptable for use in federal documents, websites, court orders, or educational curricula. Under these new guidelines, everyday words - such as Belonging, Women, Identity, and Equality - become dangerous markers of seditious anti-American sentiment. 

Made up of 373 five-by-seven-inch panels, the work brings these banned words to the fore. Written on grounds of swirling blue and picked out in gold, the canvas tiles call to mind illuminated medieval manuscripts, elevating the words to holy icons and images in their own right; a Rosetta Stone of defiance. The work highlights the absurdity of this level of censorship, the laughable fear of language exhibited by the impulse to suppress it. 

Finley is no stranger to censorship, having been on the receiving end of it numerous times. Most famously in 1990, Finley, along with artists Tim Miller, John Fleck, and Holly Hughes were denied access to funds awarded to them by the National Endowment for the Arts, by then Chairperson John Frohnmayer on the grounds that their performances were obscene, a questionable overreach of authority. Frohnmayer argued that nudity was inherently sexual, that critique was inherently terroristic, and that the moral integrity of the art viewing public would be threatened by anything that may inspire a moment of critical thought. The echoes of the resulting Supreme Court case are evident in the recent gutting of the NEA itself.

Freight + Volume, 39 Lispenard Street, New York, NY Info

Thursday, June 26, 6 – 8 pm: Clifford Owens | I’m Now Here at Kordansky

For three decades, Owens has questioned the foundational narratives by which contemporary art is seen, exhibited, and historicized. He has become increasingly recognized as a visionary maker and thinker who moves fluidly between genres. I’m New Here will give viewers the opportunity to experience the many facets of Owens’s project in a single space. 

The artist will continue to emphasize the presence of the audience as a vital, living element in visual art, demonstrating how performance is an indispensable element throughout a broad range of contemporary practices. This takes shape in his ongoing commitment to establishing a radical pedagogy of performance art, one in which the presence of Black artists and intergenerational dialogue are foundational pillars. Owenswill present additional new performances during the exhibition's run on Thursday, July 10; Thursday, July 24; and Thursday, August 7.

David Kordansky Gallery, 520 W. 20th St., New York Info

Friday, June 27, 6-8pm, Process in Practice at Pratt

From branding and type design to social impact work and fine art, the alumni featured in Process in Practice span the breadth of design’s potential. Their practices cross disciplines and geographies, covering public art in New York, children’s book storytelling in Mexico, type innovation in Bangkok, sustainability in publishing and user experience, and beyond. Above: Linda Daniels, Turquoise-Blue Yellow-Green with White, 2021

“By asking designers to present the development of a project rather than the outcome alone, we aimed to highlight the dynamic problem-solving and layered storytelling that design entails,” said Duggan and Fox.Participants includes Aryn Beitz, Joseph Cuillier III, Vincent Drayne, David Good, Beatriz Gutiérrez Hernández, Xinyi Li, Kadir Nelson, Snigdha Pamula, design collective Partner & Partners, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Stefan Sagmeister, and Anuthin Wongsunkakon.

Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011, and is open from 11am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday. To learn more, visit pratt.edu.

Saturday, June 28, 6-8 pm: Aquaintance | The Happiness Project at Lubov

A reasonable question at an art exhibition might be, “Are you acquainted with the work of such-and-such?” One searches for recognition in another — the shared acknowledgement of a line, a gesture, some sensation — manufacturing from the inanimate a human connection, a familial experience. In this exchange, the viewer not only identifies an artistic practice, they bond with a kindred spirit.  

Organized by José Freire, this is his first contemporary art venture since the closure of his Team Gallery five years ago.\, who says, “Any group exhibition is an opportunity to encourage comparisons, however, these three artists, while having so much in common, are each mining a distinctive strain of abstraction. For all their shared DNA, this is a group of highly iconoclastic figures, their individuated approaches precise and distinct.”Acquaintance, as an exhibition, functions as a reunion for its three artists and its curator as they had worked together extensively in the late 80s and early 90s.

Linda Daniels is represented by three of her dynamic abstractions, which begin with the cobbling together and dissection of circular forms that end up as mysterious shapes rendered in pulsating colors on sensuous white grounds. Marilyn Lerner will include three of her tight, geometric fantasias, organized around dynamic tensions between color and form. Like outpourings of code and data, they appear highly calculated. Jill Levine presents her painted sculptures of interlocking, puzzle-like shapes where line, color and form are shared by the applied paint and the shapes on which it rests. 

Lubov, 5 East Broadway FL4, New York, NY Info

Saturday, June 28, 11am-1pm: Coffee With The Artists Amy Boone-McCreesh and Eric Hibit at Morgan Lehmann

Celebrate the closing of Eric Hibit's exhibition "The Big Seed" and Amy Boone-McCreesh's exhibition, "Future Histories." A great opportunity to enjoy a cup of coffee and chat with the artists about their work. No rsvp

Morgan Lehmann Gallery, 526 West 26^th Street, FL4, New York, NY Info

Saturday, June 28, 1-2:3-pm: House of a Thousand Flowers Workshop at Guv’s Island

Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky invite you to make unique paper flowers using punches, colored paper, watercolor paints, and markers. Take your creations home or donate them to become an integral piece of Maison Millefleurs, an illuminated public art installation opening August 2 in Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, in Lower Manhattan .RSVP | Free Admission

The Arts Center at Governors Island, Studio A4, New York, NY Info