Featured Events in New York in January 2025 (June Updated)

New York’s age of graffiti began on the city streets in the early 1970s. This new movement, often consciously artistic despite its unsanctioned origins, came of age over the next 20 years. Above Ground centers on the many artists who transitioned from illegally writing on subway cars to creating paintings on canvas and exhibiting in galleries and museums. Their works embody an important transitional moment for the movement’s evolution, as it permeated into broader consciousness and significantly influenced global culture. The exhibition provides a window into a vibrant subculture of young creators and highlights previously unseen treasures from the Museum’s major collection of graffiti-based art. The collection, which was donated by the artist Martin Wong 30 years ago, comprises more than 300 canvases and works on paper. Among the highlights on view in this exhibition are works in aerosol, ink, and other mediums by seminal figures in the street art movement, including Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, and Futura 2000. Together, they capture the passions and ambitions of artists transitioning from the street to the walls of prominent galleries in New York and around the world.

Design is a fundamental element of life, an enzyme necessary to our evolution. It helps us cope with change and permeates our personal and social lives, embodying both our strengths and weaknesses. Many designers are intent on creating new behaviors, focusing on habits and circumstances most in need of change. Pirouette: Turning Points in Design features objects—from Post-Its to Spanx—that embodied experiments with new materials, technologies, and concepts; offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems; and had a deep impact both on design and the world at large.

Design is a fundamental element of life, an enzyme necessary to our evolution. It helps us cope with change and permeates our personal and social lives, embodying both our strengths and weaknesses. Many designers are intent on creating new behaviors, focusing on habits and circumstances most in need of change. Pirouette: Turning Points in Design features objects—from Post-Its to Spanx—that embodied experiments with new materials, technologies, and concepts; offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems; and had a deep impact both on design and the world at large.

The traditional East Asian lunar calendar consists of a repeating twelve-year cycle, with each year corresponding to one of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac. The association of these creatures with the Chinese calendar began in the third century BCE and became firmly established by the first century CE. The twelve animals are, in sequence: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Each is believed to embody certain traits that are manifested in the personalities of people born in that year. January 29, 2025, marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake, a creature characterized as alert, calm, and smart.

Kuwata’s fantasias in clay effervesce with verbs. A single work can simultaneously shine, pop, droop, shiver, bubble, peel, sweat, crack, calve, burst, shimmer, sag, and flake. – Garth Johnson

Attention all knitting enthusiasts! The highly anticipated Knitting LIVE! by Vogue Knitting 2025 is set to take New York by storm. Hosted at the iconic New York Marriott Marquis, this event promises to be a stitch above the rest. From January 16th to 19th, the venue will transform into a knitter's paradise, featuring an array of workshops, fashion shows, and marketplaces. Oh boy, expect nothing short of a yarn lover's dream come true! With top industry experts in attendance, attendees will have the opportunity to hone their skills and learn the latest knitting trends." "Knitting LIVE! by Vogue Knitting 2025 isn't just any ordinary event; it's a celebration of the craft that brings people together from all walks of life. Whether a seasoned pro or a needle novice, there's something for everyone at this four-day extravaganza. So, mark your calendars and prepare for an unforgettable experience in the heart of New York this coming January. Hold onto your knitting needles, folks, it's going to be a fantastic time!

Experience the ultimate night of entertainment at Giggly Squad Live: Club Giggly in New York City. This exclusive event will take place on January 16, 2025, at the prestigious Radio City Music Hall, located at 1260 6th Avenue, New York, NY, 10020. Join the Giggly Squad for a night filled with laughter, music, and unforgettable memories. Don't miss your chance to be a part of this exciting experience at one of the most iconic venues in the city. Get your tickets now and get ready to have a fantastic time at Giggly Squad Live: Club Giggly.

Experience the ultimate tribute concert featuring Unforgettable Fire honoring U2 and Fix You celebrating Coldplay at The Paramount in Huntington. Immerse yourself in the electrifying performances on January 17, 2025, at 370 New York Ave, Huntington, NY, 11743. Don't miss this unforgettable evening paying homage to two iconic bands that have shaped the music industry. Get ready to be transported by the timeless hits and captivating energy of U2 and Coldplay, brought to life by these exceptional tribute bands. Mark your calendars for a night of musical excellence that you won't want to miss.

One of the most prominent features of art from the late eighteenth century onwards, particularly after World War II, is artists’ tendency to evolve traditional artmaking methods outside the studio’s boundaries. This exhibition will examine the ways in which contemporary artists enacted new ideas formed by the social and historical contexts of their time and pushed the boundaries of artmaking and materials as a result. By Way Of offers a suite of works from the museum’s permanent collection inspired by the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift. Major artists from the Arte Povera movement of the 1960s and 1970s, like Jannis Kounellis and Mario Merz will share the galleries with artists working today, such as Rashid Johnson, Mona Hatoum, and Senga Nengudi.

Public Art Fund presents Huma Bhabha: Before The End, an exhibition featuring a series of four new large-scale bronze sculptures set against the verdant backdrop of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Drawing inspiration from a diverse array of influences, Bhabha’s works blend aesthetic, cultural, and psychological elements, probing the intersections of art, science fiction, horror, and mythology.

See stunning jewelry pieces that trace the history of hip-hop from the 1980s to today. Ice Cold: An Exhibition of Hip-Hop Jewelry celebrates hip-hop’s cultural influence through exquisite jewelry worn by some of its iconic stars. Highlights include Slick Rick’s dazzling crown, Notorious BIG’s legendary gold “Jesus piece,” a diamond-encrusted Roc-A-Fella medallion from the record label co-founded by Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj’s sparkling “Barbie” pendant, and pieces from Erykah Badu, A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, FERG and Tyler, the Creator, among others. Building on New York City’s celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary as a global phenomenon, Ice Cold will highlight the evolution of hip-hop jewelry over the past fifty years, starting with the oversized gold chains adopted by rap pioneers in the 1980s, all the way to the 1990s, when emcees turned business moguls wore record label pendants sparkling with diamonds and platinum.

In 9999, Cameron A. Granger uses the framework of video games and magic to imagine an alternative method of liberation for Black communities from the compounding effects of racist urban planning. In early role playing video games, due to low computer processing capacity, 9,999 was the numerical damage limit done to a character that could be registered on screen. Yet sometimes, additional damage continued to accrue off-screen – incapacitating, yet unseen. Granger takes this concept of the concealed yet relentless harm, and applies it to the cumulative corrosion of segregative design, environmental racism, and gentrification. To make sense of the convoluted legacies of systemic injustice, Granger visualizes the wounds left by structural violence through “black holes” that rip the city’s fabric. His films, prints, and sculptures create a video game-like narrative that provides puzzles, tips, and charms that aid in deciphering these black holes. In diagnosing the root cause of the issue, Granger proposes that the black holes are the result of a spell cast by nefarious, hidden forces. To break the curse, he speculates what might be possible if the black holes could be used as portals to share knowledge. Seeking answers, Granger turns to stage magicians, root workers, and conjurers. His work references Black magicians such as Henry “Box” Brown (1815-1897) whose performances alluded to his 1849 self-emancipation via mail, and Benjamin Rucker aka Black Herman (1892-1934) whose magic acts and conjuring remedies built a massive following in the 1920s among Black communities. Granger also draws on the practice of conjuring, invoking remedies for locating harm’s source, protecting, and healing. Additionally, he calls upon the Haitian folklore of zombies, originally mythologized as the spirits of enslaved laborers trapped to haunt plantations in their afterlife. Granger reconceptualizes their spirits as a unified force reemerging from the grave to aid in liberation. Sourcing wisdom from Black forebears whose knowledge helped their communities self-emancipate, heal, and thrive, Granger offers a collective vision of empowered futurity. In a dimly lit gallery that mimics the digital landscape of a video game, Granger creates a narrative where memories of and knowledge from Black ancestors provide clues, methods, and tools that once pieced together, may reveal the key to break free. Cameron A. Granger: 9999 is curated by Sarah Cho, Assistant Curator.

Follow Australian Green Sea Turtle Bunji as she embarks on her first solo journey across the high seas and the incredible animals she encounters along the way. In A Turtle Odyssey, narrated by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, explore the amazing life of a sea turtle from hatchling to adult, and the great migrations undertaken by generations before her. As Bunji leaves her Great Barrier Reef habitat and swims hundreds of miles, she encounters many marine animals—including humpback whales, parrot fish, and even a great white shark—as well as threats to her survival, like plastic waste.

A mandala is a diagram of the universe—a map of true reality that in Tibet is used to conceptualize a rapid path to enlightenment. This exhibition explores the imagery of the Himalayan Buddhist devotional art through over 100 paintings, sculptures, textiles, instruments, and an array of ritual objects, mostly dating between the 12th and 15th centuries. This dazzling visual experience provides a roadmap for understanding Himalayan Buddhist worship through early masterworks, juxtaposed with a newly commissioned contemporary installation by Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol.

This exhibition—part of the American Wing’s 100th anniversary year programming—highlights select additions to the department’s works-on-paper holdings over the past decade. These distinctive drawings and prints, dating from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, have been selected from more than 175 that have recently joined the collection. As a group, they reveal the American Wing’s renewed commitment to strengthening and expanding our collecting of works on paper by both well-known and historically understudied figures, including women and artists of color, from diverse communities and across a broad geographic range. Most of the featured artists worked in various media and are also represented in the Museum by paintings, sculptures, or decorative objects, such as Fidelia Bridges, William Glackens, Laura Coombs Hills, Charles Ethan Porter, and John Singer Sargent.

The posters in this display represent a snapshot within Bućan’s expansive career, focusing on the monumental works he created for his first season with the Croatian National Theatre in Split, who hired him between 1982 and 1986. While he had previously produced a few large-format posters for other organizations or events, these images made up of six separate sheets of paper became his best-known designs, transforming exterior walls into urban canvases for his artistic explorations. Each image references numerous moments in art history and yet remains extremely modern, so much so that many of the posters from the first and second seasons of his tenure at the theater were given their own exhibition the following year. In 1984, the posters were seen as so particularly Yugoslavian that they were chosen to represent the country at the 41st Venice Biennale, revealing his work to a global audience and solidifying him as one of the most exciting and innovative poster designers in the world.

Pets and the City explores the visual history of New Yorkers and their animal companions over the last two and a half centuries, tracing the ever-evolving relationship between Gotham’s people and its animals as the city grew increasingly urbanized and industrialized. Through a broad spectrum of works of art, objects, documents, memorabilia, and clips from film and television, the exhibition surveys the evolution of pets—from their presence among the Lenape and Haudenosaunee and the hunting culture of settlers through their insinuation into the urban family and onto the pampered pets of today, which enjoy their own public rights.

To mark the 2024 centenary of its life as a public institution, the Morgan Library & Museum presents a major exhibition devoted to the life and career of its inaugural director, Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950). Widely recognized as an authority on illuminated manuscripts and deeply respected as a cultural heritage executive, Greene was one of the most prominent librarians in American history. She was the daughter of Genevieve Ida Fleet Greener (1849–1941) and Richard T. Greener (1844–1922), the first Black graduate of Harvard College, and was at birth known by a different name: Belle Marion Greener. After her parents separated in the 1890s, her mother changed the family surname to Greene, Belle and her brother adopted variations of the middle name da Costa, and the family began to pass as white in a racist and segregated America.

What belongs in a museum, and who decides? How can we be more democratic in defining value? As a leading arbiter of taste, style, and form, The Museum of Modern Art played an instrumental role in shaping the history of modern design. Norman Teague invites us to reimagine the past by moving beyond "good modern design" as defined by institutions like MoMA. Drawing inspiration from artists and designers traditionally excluded from museums, and assisted by generative AI, he offers a reinterpretation of design history. These reimaginings—posters and full-scale prototypes shown alongside objects from MoMA’s collection—foreground makers of color and embody the cooperative, inventive spirit that guides Norman Teague Design Studios. Teague balances reverence for design innovation with an acknowledgment of the power dynamics that shaped it. With the rise of AI forcing a wholesale reevaluation of human creativity, he reminds us of the creative potential of inviting a diversity of voices into the chorus. As in a musical jam session, collaboration, respect, and improvisation bring us back to the question that sparks every act of imagination—the what if—inviting us to contemplate both the past and the future as realms of boundless possibility.

‘Annie Leibovitz: Stream of Consciousness’ presents a group of works - landscapes, still lifes and portraits - made by the distinguished American artist over the last two decades. Forgoing a linear timeline and conventional thematic constraints, the exhibition reveals Leibovitz’s associative thought processes and the fluid visual dialogue created among photographs that call attention to significant cultural markers of our time.

Featuring over 90 artworks to be presented in the museum’s iconic rotunda, this major exhibition will examine the vibrant abstract art of Orphism. It will explore the transnational movement’s developments in Paris, addressing the impact dance, music, and poetry had on the art, among other themes. Orphism emerged in the early 1910s, when the innovations brought about by modern life were radically altering conceptions of time and space. Artists connected to Orphism engaged with ideas of simultaneity in kaleidoscopic compositions, investigating the transformative possibilities of color, form, and motion. Selected works by artists including Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Mainie Jellett, František Kupka, Francis Picabia, and Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, and by the Synchromists Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Morgan Russell, will be on view.

Encapsulating 100 years of moving-image history, Christian Marclay’s The Clock (2010) is a 24-hour montage composed from thousands of film and television clips depicting clocks and other references to time. James Bond checks his watch at 12:20 a.m.; Meryl Streep turns off an alarm clock at 6:30 a.m.; a pocket watch ticks at 11:53 a.m. as the Titanic departs. With each clip synchronized to the local time, The Clock collapses the fictional time presented on screen with the actual time of each passing minute. The work is both a cinematic tour-de-force and a functioning timepiece. Building on his background as a musician in Boston and New York’s underground scenes of the late 1970s and 1980s, Marclay has for five decades combined visual and sonic fragments to explore the complex relationships between image and sound. His resulting works have taken form across a wide range of mediums: sculpture, painting, photography, print, performance, and video. With the help of assistants searching for footage, Marclay spent three years meticulously editing The Clock—the culmination of his innovative approach to looking at the world anew through found material. The Clock speaks to cinema’s rich history as both a mirror of and escape from reality, a paradox that is ever more central to daily life in today’s era of instant broadcast, streaming services, and artificial intelligence. Marclay’s assemblage of carefully selected clips takes us on a journey through the past in order to heighten our awareness of an ever-elusive and unfolding present. By editing together fragments from cinema’s vast archive to tell the current time, Marclay reframes our collective memory of movies as an uncanny confrontation with ourselves.

Art of Commerce: Trade Catalogs in Watson Library features a selection of the library’s extensive holdings of sale catalogs. Watson Library has almost two thousand trade catalogs published in many countries from the eighteenth century to the present. Objects featured include furniture, jewelry, tiles, ironwork, glasswork, lighting, stoves, tableware, textiles, decorative paper, artist’s materials, fashion, typography, automobiles, and musical instruments. Numerous catalogs illustrate works of art or related objects now in The Met collection.

Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary presents Debora Hirsch: Herbaria, a solo exhibition of the artist’s recent cibachrome and inkjet prints, paintings, and video works.

Explore the dreamlike escape at ARTECHOUSE NYC with their newest immersive exhibit, Tingle Bells: An ASMR-Inspired Holiday Special. From November 21 to January 5, this captivating event offers a serene oasis amidst the holiday chaos. Immerse yourself in a world of wonder and tranquility as cutting-edge digital art merges with nostalgic holiday warmth. Inspired by the mesmerizing effects of ASMR, Tingle Bells is designed to elicit tingling sensations through auditory and visual stimuli. This uniquely satisfying experience features three distinct scene blocks and interactive installations. Witness gift wrap transforming into playful Tetris pieces and encounter captivating "slice-of-life" scenes that seamlessly blend the digital and tangible. Every detail has been carefully curated to ignite curiosity and promote relaxation for the mind, body, and soul. Escape the overwhelming hustle and bustle of New York City during the holidays and find solace in the enchanting ambiance of Tingle Bells. Delicate sounds, gentle whispers, and entrancing visuals will transport you to a place of comfort and calm. General admission tickets start at $25, allowing you to indulge in this extraordinary holiday journey. Don't let stress overshadow the joy of the holiday season. Join us at ARTECHOUSE NYC for Tingle Bells: An ASMR-Inspired Holiday Special and discover a sanctuary of tranquility amidst the holiday frenzy.

This exhibition presents a selection of paintings and drawings by Piet Mondrian from the Guggenheim’s singular collection, one of the most representative in the world. Throughout his career, Mondrian made distinctive contributions to the development of abstract art. He sought to move painting away from the representation of nature to render a universal essence or spirit.