The Culturalist’s Update: New York City

Groundbreaking exhibitions, world premieres and a celebration of the “now” in American art: spring 2024 will be a busy season for culture-lovers in New York City. Writer Mario Mercado highlights what’s new and notable.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism: This pathbreaking show brings together more than 160 works—painting, sculpture, photography, film—to consider the ways in which Black artists depicted contemporary life in American cities during the period 1920-1940, including New York City’s Harlem and its consequential social and cultural influence. Through July 28

Indian Skies: The Howard Hodgkin Collection of Indian Court Painting: The British painter and printmaker Howard Hodgkin (1932-2017) was a lifelong collector of Indian paintings. On display is a gathering of more than 120 works from the Mughal, Deccai, Rajput and Pahari courts from the 16th to the 19th centuries, 84 of which were recently acquired by the Met—a dazzling array of color and form. Subjects include courtly rulers, mythological and devotional figures, studies of nature and wildlife, with special focus on elephants. Through June 9; moma.org

At the Whitney Museum of American Art

Harold Cohen: AARON: Not so fast. As the world continues to move into the age of artificial intelligence, the work of British-born artist and scholar Harold Cohen and his pioneering development of AI software for artmaking shifts into prominence. The show, AARON, named for the text-to-image software developed in the 1960s by Cohen demonstrates the vibrant possibilities—and limitations—of AI and underscores issues of creativity, authorship and collaboration. Through May

Biennial 2024: The Whitney Biennial, entitled “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” shines the light on 69 artists and two collectives. Organized by curators Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli, this year’s showcase of new American art has extended its scope. For the first time, the film and performance program has been expanded to include five guest curators to supply an overview of innovations in art, film, performance and sound, which are offered online as well as in the museum galleries. From March 24; whitney.org

At the Guggenheim Museum

Jenny Holzer: Light Line: This reimagination of Jenny Holzer’s landmark 1989 site-specific installation at the Guggenheim will again transform the six ramps of the museum’s rotunda with the artist’s scrolling texts, from the early series of truisms and aphorisms to topical language generated by artificial intelligence. May 17-September 29; guggenheim.org

At the The Hispanic Society Museum & Library

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library is celebrating its 120th anniversary throughout 2024 with an exceptional series of exhibitions in its landmark building and Audubon Terrace. "A Collection Without Borders" draws from the museum's collection that celebrates the art of Spain, Portugal, Latin America, Goa and the Philippines, and, over the course of two rotations, is set in the museum's beautifully restored Main Court(first rotation through March 30; second rotation will run July - October). • In the Project Room, the show “Arte en el Alto Manhattan: Dominican Yorks at the Historic Society” considers the work of three Dominican-born, New York visual artists, juxtaposed with that from the museum’s collections (through June 30, 2024). • Outdoors on the recently reopened Upper Audubon Terrace, visitors of all ages will be engaged by the interactive sculpture Penetrable by Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto, and the otherworldly, yet wholly natural Moons (Seeds) by Jaime Miranda-Bambarén, carved from eucalyptus roots. • And later in the year, the show “A Women’s Place: Private Lives and Domestic Display in the Estrados of Viceregal Spain” provides new context for paintings, decorative arts, and rare books and the vibrant settings for this aspect of rarely considered, social life in Spain and Spanish America (October 30, 2024–March 2, 2025). hispanicsociety.org

At the Brooklyn Museum

Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys: Grammy-winning power-couple Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys—both native New Yorkers—are also avid art collectors, and the pair has put much of their private holdings from leading Black diasporic artists on display at the Brooklyn Museum. Expect pieces by the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lorna Simpson, Kehinde Wiley, Artur Jafa and Meleko Mokgosi (including the latter’s largest painting yet). Through July 7; brooklynmuseum.org

At the New-York Historical Society

New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam: In 1624, Dutch settlers established a colony on the southern end of the island of Mannahatta. The settlement, known as New Amsterdam, reached a population of 1,500 people, a mixture of ethnicities and languages, including Native Americans and enslaved Africans. This fascinating exhibition includes rare documents and recently unearthed archaeological discoveries. Its centerpiece, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the colony, is a map, known as the Castello Plan, painted by Dutch artist Johannes Vingboons. The painting provides a bird’s-eye view of 17th century local life with finely illustrated gardens, a windmill, fort, houses and the defensive wall that defined the settlement’s northern perimeter and gave name to the street synonymous with New York’s financial center. March 15–July 14; nyhistory.org

Stereophonic

The celebrated new play about a session in a California recording studio with a 70s rock band (think Led Zeppelin) from Playwrights Horizons transfers to Broadway. Directed by Daniel Aukin with original songs by Will Butler. Golden Theatre; from April 3. stereophonicplay.com

Uncle Vanya

Steve Carell (in his Broadway debut) and Alfred Molina lead an extraordinary company of actors in Chekov’s drama about disappointment and resentment. The play is set on a country estate, where in summer’s heat, unrealized desires boil to the surface. This Lincoln Center Theater production is staged by Lila Neugebauer. Beaumont Theatre; April 2–June 16. vanyabroadway.com

Water for Elephants

Based on Sara Gruen’s acclaimed novel, with a book by Rick Ellice and music by the collective PigPen Theatre Co., this musical takes on the remarkable story of a young man on the run who finds solace—and love—in the family of a traveling circus. Grant Guskin, Isabelle McCalla and Gregg Edelman star in this innovative spectacle (acrobatics, puppetry), directed by Jessica Stone (Kimberly Akimbo). Imperial Theatre; March 21–September 8. waterforelephantsthemusical.com

Hell’s Kitchen

The new musical with music and lyrics by Alicia Keys sold out its Public Theatre run in three hours. With a cast that features Shoshana Bean, Brandon Victor Dixon and Kecia Lewis, and directed by Michael Greif, the show moves to the big time on a wave of terrific reviews. Shubert Theatre; from March 28. hellskitchen.com

The Wiz

A lavish, exhilarating revival of the 70s musical, with an updated, hipper book has been touring the country to critical and popular praise. It makes an extended stop in New York for a 20-week run on Broadway. Schele Williams directs the production starring Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy. Marquis Theatre; from March 29. wizmusical.com

Mother Play

Jessica Lange stars alongside Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger in this world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Paula Vogel’s latest play. Directed by Tina Landau, the biting dramedy follows a strict mother and her two children as they move into a new apartment on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. in 1962—when U.S. society was undergoing seismic movements of its own. Hayes Theater; from April 2. 2st.com

At the Metropolitan Opera

The Met observes the centenary of Puccini’s death with two productions. The moving but rarely produced La Rondine, the composer’s poignant, bittersweet romance, features soprano Angel Blue and tenor Jonathan Tetelman, in his role debut as Ruggero. March 26–April 20. Puccini’s final opera Turandot, set in a mythic China, returns for an extended run of performances in the audaciously spectacular staging by Franco Zeffirelli. February 28–June 7. • Gounod’s luxuriantly ardent Roméo et Juliette features soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Benjamin Bernheim in this adaptation of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers directed by Bartlett Sher. March 7–30. • The company revives its acclaimed 2021 production of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, with a libretto by Kasi Lemmons, based on the book by Charles M. Blow, and a cast that includes Ryan Speedo Green, Latonia Moore and Brittany Renee. April 8–May 2. metopera.org

Miller Theatre

The Miller Theatre at Columbia University has a distinguished record of presenting the finest in early music and period instrument performing groups. This season, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra celebrates its 45th anniversary with a tour of the United States, its first since 2019. On Sunday, March 10, the Canadian group presents a program from the exuberant Orchestral Suite in B-flat major by Telemann to Vivaldi’s concerto La Notte, a work of acute virtuosity for bassoon. • On April 13, British vocal ensemble Stile Antico presents a narrative of Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy through lyrics set to music by Renaissance masters, including Orlando de Lasso, Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria. The performance takes place at the atmospheric Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Midtown. millertheatre.com

New York Philharmonic

This season marks the conclusion of Jaap van Zweden’s tenure as music director of the Philharmonic and the conductor and orchestra are celebrating throughout the winter and spring. Among the highlights: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453, with soloist Conrad Tao (March 16); the New York premiere of a concerto for trombone, Three Muses in Video Game, by Tan Dun, featuring Joseph Alessi (March 23); and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, soprano, Ekaterina Gubanova, mezzo-soprano and the Philharmonic Chorus, all led by van Zweden (June 8), in the Philharmonic’s renovated Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall. nyphil.org