Featured Events in New York in April 2025 (May Updated)

How do we make sense, or poetry, out of the system of images we face today? This is one of the questions taken up by CAMP, a collaborative artists’ studio in Mumbai, India, that draws on widely available technologies, including CCTV and cell phone cameras as well as the internet, “to think and to build what is possible, what is equitable, and what is interesting, for the future.” The group’s projects rethink our relationship with the technologies that constantly capture us. Founded in 2007 by Shaina Anand, Ashok Sukumaran, and Sanjay Bhangar, this shapeshifting group runs a rooftop cinema, cohosts online video archives, and uses moving images, radio broadcasts, lecture performances, and interventions in public spaces to examine the political and socioeconomic conditions of contemporary life. This exhibition includes three works that trace the arc of CAMP’s output over nearly two decades. Each redefines relationships between video’s producers, distributors, and spectators: a participatory television network in a dense New Delhi neighborhood; a film made from cell phone footage and music in collaboration with sailors navigating trade routes across the Indian Ocean; and a dramatic, multi-channel video panorama of Mumbai filmed by pushing a single surveillance camera to its limits. CAMP’s practice reorients communication devices, transport infrastructures, and surveillance equipment to transform entrenched systems into new opportunities for hope, longing, desire, and collective action.

From a young age, acclaimed Pop artist David Hockney (British, b. 1937) cemented his reputation as one of the most innovative and experimental artists of his generation. Hockney/Origins: Early Works from the Roy B. and Edith J. Simpson Collection examines the early period of Hockney’s career in depth, from his time as a student at the Royal College of Art in London during the early 1960s to his formative years in the 1970s.

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.

Norman Reedus: In Transit, captures the raw, edgy, and moody draw of downtown New York City while showcasing the hidden beauty in the overlooked and abandoned. These selections emphasize the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of beauty. Reedus’ photography is distinctive, marked by its dark aesthetic. He tends to capture unconventional subjects, urban landscapes, and candid moments that exude a sense of mystery and grit.

This exhibition of more than 30 works celebrates the recent acquisition of Gottfried's searing photographs taken during the last decades of the 20th century.

Marjorie Virginia Strider is an American painter, sculptor, and performance artist best known for her three-dimensional paintings and site-specific soft sculpture installations.

Artists: Jean Arp, Dan Bassen, Rudolf Bauer, Sandor Boltnik, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Ronny Cutrone, Sonia Delaunay, Richard Diebenkorn, Jean Dubuffet, Lyonel Feininger, Natalia Goncharova, Francesek Kupka, Wilfredo Lamm, Bart van der Leck, Robert Longo, Roberto Mathieu, Louise Nevelson, Richard Phillips, and Ruscha, Egon Schiele, Kurt Schwitters, David Smith.

The idea of cutting up a medieval manuscript is almost unthinkable today. Historically, however, this practice was relatively common, and it reached a fever pitch in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. People cut up manuscripts for various reasons: Dealers unwilling to pay weight-based import duties on large choir books opted to remove their decorated initials and dispose of the heavy bindings. Art lovers excised pictures from manuscripts and pasted them into albums; many considered this an act of freeing precious artworks from the text-filled books that held them captive. The dismembering of manuscripts was thus regarded not as vandalism but as a tribute to the otherwise hidden illuminations.

In works full of sharp wit and incisive commentary, Christine Sun Kim (b. 1980, Orange County, California) engages sound and the complexities of communication in its various modes. Using musical notation, infographics, and language—both in her native American Sign Language (ASL) and written English—she has produced drawings, videos, sculptures, and installations that often explore non-auditory, political dimensions of sound. In many works, Kim draws directly on the spatial dynamism of ASL, translating it into graphic form. By emphasizing images, the body, and physical space, she upends the societal assumption that spoken languages are superior to those that are signed.

Operation Mincemeat is the 2024 Olivier Award-winning New Musical. It’s London’s hit with 74 Five-Star reviews, making it the good reviewed show in West End history! It has been hailed by Peter Marks in The Washington Post as “the year’s funny musical.” The year is 1943 and we’re losing the war. Luckily, we’re about to gamble all our futures on a stolen corpse. Singin’ in the Rain meets Strangers on a Train, Operation Mincemeat is the fast-paced, hilarious and unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won us World War II. Lauded by the UK’s Daily Mirror as “part Mel Brooks, part SIX, part Hamilton with a side order of One Man, Two Guvnors.”

Oh, Mary! is a dark comedy starring Cole Escola as a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unrequited yearning, alcoholism and suppressed desires abound in this one act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln through the lens of an idiot (Cole Escola).

Discover a whole new world at Aladdin , the hit Broadway musical. From the producer of The Lion King comes the timeless story of Aladdin , a thrilling new production filled with unforgettable beauty, magic, comedy and breathtaking spectacle. It's an extraordinary theatrical event where one lamp and three wishes make the possibilities infinite. Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw ( The Book of Mormon , Something Rotten! ), this "fabulous" and "extravagant" ( The New York Times ) new musical boasts an incomparable design team, with sets, costumes and lighting from Tony Award winners Bob Crowley ( Mary Poppins ), Gregg Barnes ( Kinky Boots ), and Natasha Katz ( An American in Paris ). See why audiences and critics agree, Aladdin is "Exactly what you wished for!"

Emmy® and Golden Globe Award® winner Darren Criss ( Little Shop of Horrors ) returns to Broadway alongside Helen J Shen in the new romantic musical comedy Maybe Happy Ending . Inside a one-room apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, Oliver lives a happily quiet life, listening to jazz records and caring for his favorite plant. But what else is there to do when you’re a Helperbot 3, a robot that has long been retired and considered obsolete? When his fellow Helperbot neighbor Claire asks to borrow his charger, what starts as an awkward encounter leads to a unique friendship, a surprising adventure, and maybe even…love? Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award, Maybe Happy Ending is the offbeat and captivating story of two outcasts near the end of their warranty who discover that even robots can be swept off their feet. Helmed by visionary director and Tony Award® winner Michael Arden ( Parade , Once on This Island ), with a dazzling scenic design by Dane Laffrey ( A Christmas Carol ) and book, music, and lyrics by the internationally acclaimed duo Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending is a fresh, original musical about the small things that make any life worth living. 100 minutes, no intermission

The New Objectivity movement is considered one of the most important art movements of the 20th century. It was popular in the German-speaking region of Europe from the 1920s to the 1930s. Its characteristics are that it combines critical realism, social commentary and detailed depiction of contemporary life, gets rid of the high emotional concentration of expressionism, and creates in a realistic way. Practitioners of New Objectivity are roughly divided into two camps based on different philosophical viewpoints. One side is the realists with social critical spirit, represented by Otto Dix, George Grosz, Georg Scholz, and the other side is the classicists who focus on harmony and beauty, represented by Alexander Kanoldt, Georg Schrimpf, Christian Schad. In June 1925, Gustav F. Hartlaub, director of the Mannheim Art Museum in Germany, planned and held the "New Objectivity" exhibition, bringing New Objectivity into the public eye. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the exhibition, the New Gallery in New York will hold an exhibition with the same name. Through different types of works such as painting, sculpture, photography, decorative art, works on paper, and film, the exhibition explores the fierce debate between different camps of the New Objectivity movement and explains the cultural, political and social complexity reflected by New Objectivity.

Step into the heart of Cuba, beyond the glitz of the Tropicana, to a place where blazing trumpets and sizzling guitars set the dance floor on fire. Here, the real sound of Havana is born—and one woman discovers the music that will change her life forever. Inspired by true events, the new Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club™ brings the Grammy® Award-winning album to thrilling life—and tells the story of the legends who lived it. A world-class Afro-Cuban band joins a sensational cast of musicians, actors, and dancers from around the world for an authentic experience unlike any you’ve seen or heard before. Don’t miss this unforgettable tale of big dreams, second chances, and the power of art to help us survive.

From groundbreaking early acquisitions to striking new additions, the Brooklyn Museum’s collection has always championed artists and artworks that catalyze imaginative storytelling and brave conversations. As we ring in our 200th anniversary, Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200 celebrates this unique legacy. Comprising three chapters that boast both longtime favorites and brand-new standouts, the exhibition brings fresh narratives to the fore while exploring the collection’s rich history and future evolution.

In a landmark theatrical event, two-time Academy Award® winner George Clooney makes his Broadway debut in Good Night, and Good Luck , an electrifying stage adaptation of the critically acclaimed film. Tune in to the golden age of broadcast journalism and Edward R. Murrow’s (Clooney) legendary, history-altering, on-air showdown with Senator Joseph McCarthy. As McCarthyism casts a shadow over America, Murrow and his team at CBS choose to confront the growing tide of paranoia and propaganda, even if it means turning the federal government and a worried nation against them. Under the direction of Tony Award®-winner David Cromer, from the original screenwriters Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck chronicles a time in American history when truth and journalistic integrity stood up to fearmongering and disinformation - and won.

Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary presents Catalina Chervin: States of Consciousness, curated by Edward Sullivan, a solo exhibition of the artist’s prints and drawings.

Two days before the outbreak of World War II, a scientific paper was published explaining the theoretical process of nuclear fission in which the controlled splitting of an atomic nucleus releases a vast amount of energy. Over the next decade, scientists around the world would perfect the process of harnessing that energy, developing two of the most impactful inventions of the modern era: the nuclear bomb and the nuclear power station. This exhibition chronicles the global development of the nuclear industry, for peaceful and offensive means, examining posters that both promoted and protested its use throughout the second half of the 20th century. It features the entire General Dynamics series, long heralded as one of the finest examples of corporate propaganda ever created, as well as over 60 other posters criticizing the proliferation of nuclear technology. Tim Medland is an independent curator who focuses on the history of visual and material culture. He holds an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, with a concentration in socially engaged practice. His research interests include environmental activism and sustainability, and the histories of transport, propaganda, colonialism, and migration.

The Last Five Years follows two New Yorkers, rising author Jamie (Grammy Award® and Golden Globe nominee Nick Jonas) and aspiring actress Cathy (Tony Award® winner Adrienne Warren), as they fall in and out of love over the course of five years. With an acclaimed score by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, the musical explores whether a couple, once united by their dreams, can remain connected as their paths diverge. Experience the Broadway production of beloved musicals of all time in a bold, new production, directed by Tony Award nominee Whitney White.

Sadie Sink stars in this bitingly funny new play from Kimberly Belflower that flips the script on the American classic. At a high school in a one-stoplight town in Georgia, an English class is studying The Crucible. The students, however, are more preoccupied with navigating young love, sex ed, and a few school scandals than what’s in their syllabus. But as they delve into this literary classic, the class begins to question the play’s perspective, especially whether John Proctor is the hero they’ve been taught he is. Directed by Tony Award® winner Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain is a new comedy from a major new American voice, capturing a generation in mid-transformation, running on pop music, optimism, and fury - and discovering that their future is not bound by the past.

The first US solo museum exhibition of New York City-based artist Julien Ceccaldi (French/Canadian, b. 1987) features a newly commissioned large-scale painting that transforms the first-floor MoMA PS1 galleries at an architectural scale, casting visitors into a distorted episode drawn from the experience of everyday digital subjugation and hyperconsumerism. Ceccaldi exploits techniques common to both the animation studio and the Italian Renaissance, including trompe l’oeil, overlay, and freeze frame.

This spring, MoMA PS1 presents a retrospective of artist, activist, and musician Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki, b. 1932), one of Canada’s most renowned filmmakers. Opening March 27, the exhibition spans six decades of her multidisciplinary practice, bringing together a selection of films, sculptures, and sound, as well as rarely seen ephemera that sheds light on their production. Tracing her lasting contributions to social change, The Children Have to Hear Another Story brings Obomsawin’s innovative model of Indigenous cinema into focus.

It’s the summer of 1987, and Ana García dreamsof flying away from East Los Angeles.But when her family’s garment business receives a make-or-break order for 200 dresses, Ana finds herself juggling her own ambitions, her mother’s expectations, and a community of women all trying to make it work against the odds. Based on the play by Josefina López that inspired the iconic hit film, the show features songs by Grammy Award–winning songwriter Joy Huerta (Jesse & Joy) and Benjamin Velez (Kiss My Aztec), a book by Lisa Loomer (Girl, Interrupted) with Nell Benjamin (Mean Girls), music supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo (Waitress), and choreography and direction by Tony® winner Sergio Trujillo (Ain’t Too Proud).

“The full-of-riches new musical brings the classic record to life.” – The New York Times Step into the heart of Cuba, beyond the glitz of the Tropicana, to a place where blazing trumpets and sizzling guitars set the dance floor on fire. Here, the real sound of Havana is born—and one woman discovers the music that will change her life forever. Inspired by true events, the new Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club ™ brings the Grammy® Award-winning album to thrilling life—and tells the story of the legends who lived it. A world-class Afro-Cuban band joins a sensational cast of musicians, actors, and dancers from around the world for an authentic experience unlike any you’ve seen or heard before. Don’t miss this unforgettable tale of big dreams, second chances, and the power of art to help us survive. “Give yourself over to Buena Vista Social Club .”

CARVALHO PARK presents the first United States exhibition of French artist, Élise Peroi. Her debut New York solo, For Thirsting Flowers, features eight standing wooden structures, encasing her delicate tapestries.

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical is a stage show celebrating the life and music of the legendary singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. The musical takes the audience on a journey through Diamond's life, from his early days as a struggling songwriter to his rise to fame in the 1960s and beyond. Along the way, the show explores the stories behind some of Diamond's most beloved songs and the moments that inspired them.