There’s a lot going on at the Brooklyn Museum, which announced several new projects this week, including upcoming events, exhibitions and redesigned galleries.
The museum’s African art collection, one of the largest in the U.S., will get a new permanent home on the museum’s third floor. The inaugural installation will feature over 300 works from the collection and plans to open in fall 2027.
This fall, the Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection returns in full to the museum before the collection gets divided between LACMA, MoMa and the Brooklyn Museum. The collection features more than 50 modern European works from the likes of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas and more.
And to cap it off, the Brooklyn Museum will celebrate Earth Day and National Poetry Month through lectures, workshops, interactive programs and more.
With all of this art, education and culture right in our borough, it can be difficult to decide what’s worth visiting. Let us know what exhibitions you’ll be attending by emailing [email protected]!
—Mandie-Beth Chau
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Arts and culture news:
Coney Island’s amusement parks, Luna Park and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, opened this past weekend. The official season opening also celebrated the Cyclone’s 99th birthday and featured performances, free rides and more. Read about the festivities.
A Bay Ridge attorney penned a children’s book featuring Brooklyn landmarks from a butterfly’s point of view. Learn more about “Brooklyn is the World: A Butterfly’s Journey.”
Two Brooklyn bars are nominated for a prestigious James Beard Award: Whoopsie Daisy in Crown Heights and Four Horsemen in Williamsburg. Learn more about the nominees.
Alex Aliume, a 32-year-old Ukrainian-born artist whose phosphorescent canvases have drawn thousands of visitors to his Seigel Street live-work loft since 2023, is relocating to a dedicated gallery at 41 Porter Ave. in Bushwick. The “experiential night gallery” will open mid-May.
The family of Brooklyn drill rapper Pop Smoke opened a coffee shop in Canarsie this week called Pop’s Place.
Last week, the Center for Black Literature hosted the 18th annual National Black Writers Conference at Medgar Evers College, where three influential Black writers were honored.
Events:
The City Reliquary Museum hosts a free night of trivia and NYC history on Friday, April 3, at 7 p.m. as the museum celebrates its 20th anniversary in Williamsburg.
The Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra presents “Born and Buried in Brooklyn,” a program dedicated to Brooklyn musicians who shaped American music, such as Leonard Bernstein, Adam Copland and George Gershwin. The performance takes place on Saturday, April 11.
The Other Art Fair Brooklyn takes place at Brooklyn Navy Yard from Thursday, April 16, to Sunday, April 19, with DJs, performances, interactive installations and more.
DUMBO Open Studios returns on Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, with several galleries and artists opening their spaces to the public.
Calling Brooklyn-based filmmakers: The Bushwick Film Festival now accepts submissions for podcasts and animation through March 31, along with its other categories.
The Trisha Brown Dance Company will stage Robert Rauschenberg’s “Pelican,” the artist’s inaugural choreography work, at Xanadu Roller Arts in Bushwick on May 18 — the first production of the piece in 60 years.
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Photo: Thomas McKean
Artist Thomas McKean has gained notoriety for his tributes to the MetroCard, but his art is really a tribute to his family.
McKean comes from a long line of New Yorkers and has family ties to many locations throughout the city. Anyone who visits his art on view at the New York Transit Museum’s “Inspired by MetroCard” exhibition, for example, will notice the collages of characters depicted in vivid scenes at specific New York locations.
One of these works, the collage that kicked off McKean’s family history series, depicts his great aunt Rita. She participated in the Brooklyn Eagle’s January 1955 strike, where Eagle staffers protested not being paid as much as Manhattan newspaper workers. The strike led to the Eagle’s closure later that year.
“The Journey” by Risha Gorig, presented by NYC Parks’ Art in the Park program and the Prospect Park Alliance, is a sculpture near Prospect Park’s historic Boathouse on view through Aug. 31. “The Journey” depicts a flock of neon pink kinetic birds suspended 15 feet in the air, wings catching and releasing with the wind.
Exhibit viewers will have the chance to meet the Brooklyn-based multimedia artist at an opening reception as part of the park’s Earth Day Celebration on April 19.
Photo: Steven Pisano
From the beginning of Jane Comfort’s dance career, she has incorporated overt political themes in her work. The artistic director and choreographer premiered her latest work, “The Gulf of America,” along with two older but relevant pieces at La MaMa in the East Village last week.
Comfort credited choreographer and director Mark Dendy with giving her the “strength and nerve” to embed her observations of current events in her work. Originally from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a town that played a pivotal role in the Manhattan Project, Comfort said her education also encouraged her to use her voice and question things.
“I grew up with sons and daughters of theoretical physicists in a town that was not like the South. Most of my fellow classmates were really smart at math and physics, and I wasn’t,” said Comfort. “The teachers jumped on my artistic skills and started encouraging me really early. That was incredibly helpful.”
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This newsletter is written by Mandie-Beth Chau. Email [email protected] with any questions or comments.