Events on Friday, February 29

The New Salon: Fiction Writers in Conversation feat. Amy Hempel

Books: Reading

Amy Hempel

Friday 2/29 @ Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House

Amy Hempel's short stories are at once highly specific — full of vintage pop-culture references and quirky anecdotal information — and... 

Escort w/ T.H. White, DJ Ayres, and Kool Kear

Music

Escort

Friday 2/29 @ Southpaw

Considering Escort's dozen-plus band members, it makes sense that they'd be happy (relieved, even) to avoid their exorbitant travel costs and... 

Flavorpill presents One Step Beyond feat. DJ Jazzy Jeff w/ DJ Dirty Finger

Party

One Step Beyond feat. DJ Jazzy Jeff

Friday 2/29 @ American Museum of Natural History

Whether you remember him for inventing the transformer scratch or from watching the Fresh Prince's best friend get kicked out of... 

Trouble & Bass feat. Tayo

Music: DJ

Trouble & Bass feat. Tayo

Friday 2/29 @ Love

If Love's rave cave is equipped for anything, it's Trouble & Bass' signature low-end beats. Their track selections range from UK... 

Evangelicals

Music

Evangelicals

Friday 2/29 @ Union Hall

Evangelicals' nutty psych-pop is tailor-made for folks who think the Flaming Lips don't have enough in common with Queen. Wrapping massive... 

Keren Ann w/ Dean & Britta

Music

Keren Ann w/ Dean & Britta

Friday 2/29 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

The sultry sounds of chanteuse Keren Ann evoke a Mazzy Star-like vision of a weary world. The French singer/songwriter's self-titled fifth... 

Easy Lover feat. Move D

Music: DJ

Move D

Friday 2/29 @ APT

David Moufang (aka Move D) has released clicky dance-floor cuts on Philpot; sublime, deep house on Workshop and Compost Black Label;... 

[SOLD OUT] St. Vincent w/ Foreign Born

Music

[SOLD OUT] St. Vincent

Friday 2/29 @ The Bowery Ballroom

[NEW VENUE!] High Places w/ Lucky Dragons

Music

[NEW VENUE!] High Places

Friday 2/29 @ Silent Barn

Awash in naïve, everygirl croons and minimalist electronics, lo-fi duo High Places toe the line between Animal Collective's artifice and Beat... 

Ongoing Events

<em>Paradise Park</em>

Theatre

Paradise Park

Friday 2/29 @ Signature Theatre

Charles Mee's work might not be terribly straightforward, but his collage-like storytelling should suit the multitasking, ADD-prone masses. Paradise Park, the... 

Luc Tuymans: <em>Forever</em>

Art

Luc Tuymans

Friday 2/29 @ David Zwirner

Belgian painter Luc Tuymans makes every effort to stymie easy interpretation of his blurry, photo-derived paintings. A history painter in a... 

CineKink

Film

CineKink

Friday 2/29 @ Various locations

For the fifth year running, CineKink showcases screen-legal perversions — legal, at least, in this city — with nearly a week... 

Yanira Castro + Company: <em>Center of Sleep</em>

Dance

Center of Sleep

Friday 2/29 @ Dance Theater Workshop

Blurring the lines between dance and installation art, Yanira Castro + Company's new Center of Sleep is an immersive multimedia experience.... 

<em>The Art of Marvin Franklin</em>

Art

Marvin Franklin

Friday 2/29 @ New York Transit Museum

Marvin Franklin spent more than two decades of his life working as a night-shift track inspector for the MTA. This may... 

<em>Fuerza Bruta: Look Up </em>

Theatre

Fuerza Bruta: Look Up

Friday 2/29 @ Daryl Roth Theatre

Avid fans of spectacular spectacle De La Guarda are rejoicing with the arrival of Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, a sort of... 

Jen DeNike: <em>Thirteen</em>

Art

Jen DeNike

Friday 2/29 @ Smith-Stewart

At the LES' cozy Amy Smith Stewart gallery, Jen DeNike presents two new videos and a photo series, disparate projects united... 

Tara Donovan

Art

Tara Donovan

Friday 2/29 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bringing new meaning to the term "pack rat," sculptor Tara Donovan accumulates everyday objects such as Styrofoam cups and drinking straws... 

<em>Open House</em>

Theatre

Open House

Friday 2/29 @ Various locations

Seeing other people's apartments in the city is pleasingly voyeuristic, a sanctioned invasion of space. How clever, then, that the Foundry... 

Matt Leines: <em>The Righteous Age</em>

Art

Matt Leines

Friday 2/29 @ Clementine Gallery

Matt Leines' New York solo debut features his signature drawings, an installation, and a new, limited-edition series of flags. Leines, who... 

Jasper Johns: <em>Drawings 1997-2007</em>

Art

Jasper Johns

Friday 2/29 @ Matthew Marks Gallery

While the Met hosts a survey of Jasper Johns' gray-hued works, Matthew Marks shows 40 of the artist's drawings from the... 

<em>Looking Up</em>

Theatre

Looking Up

Friday 2/29 @ Theater for the New City

Trapeze-theatre piece Looking Up seamlessly combines two unlikely mediums into a surprisingly nice little love story. Solo trapeze artist Wendy and... 

<em>Design and the Elastic Mind</em>

Art

Design and the Elastic Mind

Friday 2/29 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

As technology slowly stretches past the limits of sci-fi fantasy, designers must work within the rapidly evolving space between scientific innovation... 

The Black Comedy Experiment

Comedy

The Black Comedy Experiment

Friday 2/29 @ The Tank

Formulaic 'hood classics and Def Comedy Jam reruns wither and die in the face of this weekend's lineup of local standup... 

<em>Sunday in the Park with George</em>

Theatre

Sunday in the Park with George

Friday 2/29 @ Studio 54

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George is a concept musical based on the beyond-famous Georges Seurat... 

<em>The Vision and Art of  Shinjo Ito</em>

Art

The Vision and Art of Shinjo Ito

Friday 2/29 @ Milk Studios

Master sculptor, calligrapher, engraver, and photographer Shinjo Ito was a devout Buddhist who founded his own branch of the religion that... 

Thicker Than Water 2008

Theatre

Thicker Than Water 2008

Friday 2/29 @ Ensemble Studio Theatre

Showcasing the young and the talented is Ensemble Studio Theatre's Thicker Than Water, a collection of one-acts from the company's ensemble... 

<I>New York States of Mind</I>

Art

New York States of Mind

Friday 2/29 @ Queens Museum of Art

Possibly a veiled reference to the Billy Joel song, New York States of Mind is curator Shaheen Merali's look at what... 

<em>Passing Strange</em>

Theatre

Passing Strange

Friday 2/29 @ The Belasco Theatre

The loose autobiography-in-song of one Mark Stewart (aka Stew), Passing Strange tells the story of a restless Youth (the excellent Daniel... 

<em>WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution</em>

Art

WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution

Friday 2/29 @ P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center

With Hillary Clinton in the political limelight, WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution couldn't be more timely. A survey of 120... 

Jasper Johns: <em>Gray</em>

Art

Jasper Johns

Friday 2/29 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Jasper Johns' Gray, the Met culls a rigorous collection of work from the mid-'50s to the present. Johns, a pop... 

<em>Grace</em>

Theatre

Grace

Friday 2/29 @ Lucille Lortel Theatre

Playwright Mick Gordon calls his plays "theatre essays" because they analyze a specific subject in hand, while portraying the lives of... 

<i>Multiplex: Directions in Art, 1970 to Now</i>

Art

Multiplex: Directions in Art, 1970 to Now

Friday 2/29 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

MoMA's permanent collection gobbles up so many artworks that many aren't ever seen again, which is why Multiplex: Directions in Art,... 

<em>It's a Free World... </em>

Film

It's a Free World...

Friday 2/29 @ BAM Rose Cinemas

British director Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley, 2006) just may be the reigning king of cinematic socialist realism.... 

<em>Questa</em>

Theatre

Questa

Friday 2/29 @ Wings Theatre

Victor Bumbalo's new play, Questa, focuses on Paul, a young victim of an attempted gay-bashing, who accidentally kills his attacker in... 

Xu Zhen:<em> Just Did It </em>

Art

Xu Zhen

Friday 2/29 @ James Cohan Gallery

A masterful obfuscator of facts and images, Xu Zhen (in his artworks, at least) has waged armed assaults on China's neighboring... 

<em>The 39 Steps</em>

Theatre

The 39 Steps 

Friday 2/29 @ American Airlines Theater

Throughout The 39 Steps, Patrick Barlow's quick-witted adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's classic spy movie (originally a 1915 novel by John Buchan),... 

Theatre

Rum & Coke

Friday 2/29 @ June Havoc Theatre

In Carmen Peláez's one-woman show Rum & Coke, the protagonist begins a search for beauty and a forgotten Cuba after finding... 

Cao Fei: <em>RMB City</em>

Art

Cao Fei

Friday 2/29 @ Lombard-Freid Gallery

Chinese artist Cao Fei's RMB City is a virtual metropolis designed for the online world Second Life, and Lombard-Freid Gallery is... 

<em>Life in a Marital Institution</em>

Theatre

Life in a Marital Institution

Friday 2/29 @ 59E59 Theaters

In the funniest, most bizarre scene in James Braly's Life in a Marital Institution, Braly's wife Susan drags him to a... 

Michel Gondry: <em>Be Kind Rewind</em>

Art

Be Kind Rewind

Friday 2/29 @ Deitch Projects

In his newest film, Be Kind Rewind, Michel Gondry tells the story of two childhood friends who work to recreate a... 

Cai Guo-Qiang: <em>I Want to Believe</em>

Art

Cai Guo-Qiang

Friday 2/29 @ Guggenheim Museum

Inopportune: Stage One is characteristic of Cai Guo-Qiang's grand ambitions and themes — a cascade of nine upended cars exploding with... 

<em>Adding Machine</em>

Theatre

Adding Machine

Friday 2/29 @ Minetta Lane Theatre

After 25 years of tedious number crunching, Mr. Zero finds out that he is being replaced by an adding machine. Driven... 

Robert Mapplethorpe: <em>Certain People</em>

Art: Photography

Robert Mapplethorpe

Friday 2/29 @ Sean Kelly Gallery

Famous for his sensual photographs of flowers and notorious for his S&M images, Robert Mapplethorpe also took excellent portraits. Sean Kelly... 

<em>Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions</em>

Art

Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions

Friday 2/29 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

France's first superstar painter, Nicolas Poussin trained in Rome during the baroque era, at the height of Italy's artistic dominance. His... 

Blue Coyote Theater Group: <em>Happy Endings</em>

Theatre

Happy Endings

Friday 2/29 @ Access Theater

In a revolt against love-story banality, Blue Coyote Theater Group commissioned nine playwrights to write shorts based on the lives of... 

Irving Penn: <em>Close Encounters: Portraits of Artists and Writers</em>

Art: Photography

Irving Penn

Friday 2/29 @ The Morgan Library

Although photographer Irving Penn has worked in a variety of styles (including fashion spreads and early forays into painting), he is... 

<em>Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art </em>

Art: Photography

Archive Fever

Friday 2/29 @ International Center of Photography

Exploring identity and memory through archived imagery, curator Okwui Enwezor has collected over 20 artists to explore the often formal institution... 

<em>Gray Area</em>

Theatre

Gray Area

Friday 2/29 @ Barrow Group Theatre

When a jaded New York City theatre critic berates Civil War re-enactors on the radio, his cruel jests reach the ears... 

Sterling Ruby: <em>CHRON</em>

Art

Sterling Ruby

Friday 2/29 @ The Drawing Center

Soho's venerable Drawing Center hosts a broad range of 2-D works by LA-based sculptor Sterling Ruby in its Drawing Room project... 

<em>The Play About the Naked Guy</em>

Theatre

The Play About the Naked Guy

Friday 2/29 @ Baruch Center for the Performing Arts, Nagelberg Theatre

Fast-paced and exuberantly profane, The Play About the Naked Guy skewers Off-Broadway's longstanding "art vs commerce" debate. Christopher Borg's Eddie saves... 

<em>Pricked: Extreme Embroidery</em>

Art

Extreme Embroidery

Friday 2/29 @ Museum of Art and Design

Following the success of its Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting exhibition, the Museum of Arts and Design again draws glares from... 

John Zorn: <em>The Dreamers</em> and <em>Essential Cinema</em>

Music: Classical

John Zorn

Friday 2/29 @ St. Ann's Warehouse

Tzadik impresario, East Village-composer kingpin, and MacArthur Grant recipient John Zorn can rustle up a fine racket, but... 

<I>Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century</I>

Art

Unmonumental

Friday 2/29 @ New Museum of Contemporary Art

The new New Museum inaugurates its faux-gritty emporium with three-part exhibition Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century. An ace curatorial... 

Lee Friedlander: <em>A Ramble in Olmsted Parks</em>

Art

Lee Friedlander

Friday 2/29 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lee Friedlander made his name wandering across the US in the '50s and '60s, taking pictures of motel television sets, shop... 

<em>Betrayed</em>

Theatre

Betrayed

Friday 2/29 @ Culture Project

George Packer's complex and devastating new play draws on extensive interviews with Iraqi interpreters for US forces over the past five... 

Lucian Freud: <em>The Painter's Etchings</em>

Art

Lucian Freud

Friday 2/29 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Known for mountainous, fleshy portraits, like the painting of Leigh Bowery's backside at the Met, Lucian Freud (grandson of Sigmund) seemingly... 

Paragraph

City Gems

Paragraph

Friday 2/29 @ Paragraph

Joy Parisi and Lila Cecil understand the importance of having a room of one's own. At Paragraph, their Union Square writing... 

<em>The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, or, The Friends of Dr. Rushower</em>

Theatre

The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island

Friday 2/29 @ Vineyard Theatre

Ben Katchor's epic indie-rock musical The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, or, The Friends of Dr. Rushower returns, upgrading to the... 

Francis Alÿs: <i>Fabiola</i>

Art

Francis Alÿs

Friday 2/29 @ Hispanic Society of America

While Dia searches for a new home, the arts org has teamed up with Washington Heights' Hispanic Society on a three-year... 

<em>The Unforeseen</em>

Film: Documentary

The Unforeseen

Friday 2/29 @ Angelika Film Center

For a treatise on suburban sprawl and its impact on the environment, The Unforeseen is surprisingly soft-spoken. Maybe that's because this... 

<i>August: Osage County</i>

Theatre

August: Osage County

Friday 2/29 @ Imperial Theatre

Set in present-day Oklahoma, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County has a bad case of "the plains," as... 

Carrie Mae Weems: <em>A Survey</em>

Art: Photography

Carrie Mae Weems

Friday 2/29 @ Jack Shainman Gallery

  African American photographer Carrie Mae Weems marks her return to New York with a mini-retrospective at Chelsea's... 

<em>Pop Subversion</em>

Art

Pop Subversion

Friday 2/29 @ Ad Hoc Art

Over 30 artists fill Ad Hoc's walls with twisted fairy-tale imagery, tortured visages, and disemboweled beauties in Pop Subversion. Some confront... 

Jaishri Abichandani: <I>Reconciliations</I>

Art

Jaishri Abichandani

Friday 2/29 @ Queens Museum of Art

Born in Bombay (now Mumbai), Jaishri Abichandani immigrated to Queens when she was 14 and has since become both an accomplished... 

<em>Jump</em>

Theatre

Jump

Friday 2/29 @ Union Square Theatre

After achieving worldwide success, Korean phenomenon Jump has landed at Union Square — and it's easy to see what makes its... 

Nayland Blake: <em>What the Whiskey Said, What the Sun Is Saying </em>

Art

Nayland Blake

Friday 2/29 @ Matthew Marks Gallery

For many years, Nayland Blake's surrogate was a big white bunny that showed up in his drawings and sculptures. But in... 

Gustave Courbet

Art

Gustave Courbet

Friday 2/29 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gustave Courbet was the Damien Hirst of his day, never shying away from controversy; he was also a terrific artist, making... 

<em>Hunting and Gathering</em>

Theatre

Hunting and Gathering

Friday 2/29 @ 59E59 Theaters

Hunting and Gathering's simple, sweet appeal lies in its hyper-real portrait of young NYC. Ruth is a thirtysomething who keeps her... 

Jan de Cock: <em>Denkmal 11</em>

Art

Jan de Cock

Friday 2/29 @ MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

A relentless photographer and image archiver, Jan de Cock collects his findings in hefty books dubbed denkmals (German for "monument"). The... 

<I>blog.mode: addressing fashion</I>

Special Event

blog.mode

Friday 2/29 @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fashion is a relative newcomer to the reputable Metropolitan, but now the Upper East Side institution is stepping into the fracas...