Art Nerd New York’s top event picks for the week – 5/4-5/10

In a city where hundreds of interesting events occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Ahead Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer shares her top picks for 6sqft readers!

Another art fair week is descending onto New York, bringing in collectors, artists, and galleries from every corner of the globe. This year’s Frieze week is a little more chill than last year’s—the fair itself has shortened by a day, and several of the satellite fairs have declined to make a reappearance. However, despite a scaled down event, there are plenty of additional options to fill your social calendar, including sister fairs CONTEXT and Art New York, and a show entirely made up of immersive installations curated by SPRING/BREAK in Brooklyn. For those who are more into design and architecture, the Collective Design Fair opens with the very best from the fusion of the art and design worlds, while Times Square gives us a glimpse into the terrifying vision that Robert Moses had for Lower Manhattan through a new animation.

Joshua Frankel, I LIVE HERE #MidnightMoment ↑
Times Square Screens
Monday May 1-Wednesday May 31, 11:57pm-Midnight
This month, Times Square Arts teams up with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and The Municipal Art Society of New York to bring Joshua Frankel’s animated rendition of Jane Jacobs‘ famous battle with the horrid infrastructure proposals of Robert Moses. Get a glimpse of what almost was—Moses’ proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway—every night across the screens in Times Square.

CONTEXT and Art New York ↑
Pier 94, 711 12th Avenue
Wednesday, May 3-Sunday, May 7
Context and Art New York are like cool sisters. Art New York is a bit older and more polished (showing post-war and modern masters), while Context is young and edgy (with emerging and mid-career artists and galleries). Together they provide a harmonious familial relationship.

Collective Design Fair ↑
550 Washington Street
Wednesday, May 3-Sunday, May 7
Collective Design Fair is full of a zillion art objects you’ll immediately want for your house, an intersection of design and art that is more digestible, and frankly just looks pleasing.

Aga Zak, Scar.f in the Wind ↑
Emmanuel Fremin Gallery,547 W. 27th Street, Suite 510
Thursday, May 4, 6:00-8:00pm
The Polish artist’s realist paintings address themes of human rights and global multiculturalism, and the goal of her work is to celebrate cultural identity and combat issues such as the rising xenophobia related to the recent global migrant crisis.

Julia Sinelnikova, Organ Farm ↑
INDUSTRY CITY Gallery, 220 36th Street, Brooklyn
Thursday, May 5, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Prolific artist Julia Sinelnikova shares three years of her delicate hand-cut resin installations (many illuminate!), paired with projections and performance.

Frieze New York ↑
Randall’s Island Park
Friday, May 5- Sunday, May 7
Frieze is thought to be the creme de la creme of art fairs, balancing blue-chip galleries with cutting edge art. This year also features a preview of artists showing at the upcoming Venice Biennale! Plus, you get to take a ferry to the fair, which is pretty lovely.

AMREF Health Africa Art Ball ↑
Milk Studios, 450 West 15th Street
Saturday, May 6, 7:30pm
An evening of amazing art, cocktails, and dancing to raise money for AMREF Health Africa. This year honors the incredible El Anastui, whose glittering recycled-scapes have shown all over New York, from the High Line to the Brooklyn Museum.

SPRING/BREAK BKLYN Immersive ↑
300 Flatbush Avenue Extension, Brooklyn
Sunday, May 7-Sunday, May 14
SPRING/BREAK’s March fair took over the former offices of Vogue in Times Square. For Frieze week they’ll travel Brooklyn-side for a tightly curated exhibition solely of immersive, interactive installations. How fun is that?

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Lori Zimmer is a writer, curator, and founder of Art Nerd New York, an off-beat art history guide to the city. Lori is also the author of two books, The Art of Cardboard: Big Ideas for Creativity, Collaboration, Storytelling, and Reuse and The Art of Spray Paint. Follow her on Twitter @ArtNerdNY or Instagram @TheLoriZimmer