Art this autumn

It’s that time of year when the artists, well-rested from the summer, spur to action—ready to fill our evenings and weekends with plays, movies, exhibits, and everything else they’ve dreamt up over the warmer months. 

Theater
At Target Margin Theater in Sunset Park, The Nonsense Lab runs from Sept. 17 through Oct. 3, “a three-week performance festival of new work that explores the theme of Nonsense.” Expect dance, a theatrical event, and a shadow puppetry and toy theater event. For more theater, visit Red Hook’s Green Lung Studio later in September, when ClayHouse Theater will perform G.O.A.T. – A Hamlet Adaptation. The studio will also host Victory Lapse (Sept. 11 and 12); for $20, join a dance party, with DJ set by Bo Bishop, to raise money for Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Young Adult Program. 

Film
For a less active evening, the Green Lung Studio will also host free community film evenings (complete with complimentary popcorn), meant to allow participants to discover films that speak to the human condition. The line-up includes Contempt (Sept. 8), Seconds (Sept. 21), Birth (Oct. 6), and The Substance (Sept. 21). For a different type of film, head towards the Waterfront Museum to watch the premiere of short film The Mascot Race (Sept. 17). The evening will be a “one-night celebration of film, music, comedy, and baseball featuring dockside carnival games, complimentary mocktails, and plenty of surprises,” produced by FUMBL Fest (Formerly Unemployed Musicians’ Baseball League). 

Live Music
Meanwhile, live music can be found nearly every night across Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, and Gowanus, particularly at venues like Sunny’s Bar, Jalopy Tavern, and Public Records. Less regular events include Stories + Sips at Liz’s Book Bar (Sept. 17), which will bring together songwriters from New York and Nashville to share their original music in a Nashville-style round, interspersed with throwback questions. In the fall, Principles GI Coffee House, a community-oriented coffee shop in Gowanus, will provide another opportunity to enjoy live performances (music and then some, as the event is open mic style!) at its monthly “Gowanus Salon” (Sept. 27 and Oct. 25). 

Comedy
Rather laugh than tap your feet? While fall comedy shows are already selling out at The Bell House, tickets are still available for shows like a Stand Up Showcase (Sept. 6) and The Moth StorySLAM (Sept. 14). Later in the month, visit Littlefield, also in Gowanus, for Let’s Not Die (Sept. 22). The show will include a mix of stand-up, informative segments with climate experts, featuring Julio Torres, Usama Siddiquee, Stuart Goldsmith, and Zach Schiffman. 

Art Exhibits
Those who prefer their art stationary will find a variety of exhibits around the area. Visit Tappeto Volante Gallery (through Sept. 12) to see Space Shifters, a group show by over a dozen Brooklyn artists, who’ve contributed paintings, sculptures, textiles and more. Nearby, Chapeltown Road (Sept. 5-Oct. 18) at KAJE is a sculpture exhibition that draws from artist Joseph Buckley’s childhood in Chapeltown, Leeds. In Red Hook, artist Janice McDonnell will have a show, WHAT WE HOLD CLOSE, at her gallery (Sept. 9); participants photographed the contents of their go-bags (what belongings they’d grab in an emergency) and the artist painted from those images.

On Location with Artichoke Dance, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based photographer Robin Michals, opens on Sept. 12 (1 p.m. until 5 p.m.) at The Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, with additional opportunities to view the photographs on Sept. 19 and 26, and Oct. 3. 

Then, Pioneer Works will have a public opening (Sept. 11) for a multimedia installation featuring three artists: Helsinki-based Tuomas A. Laitinen draws from research on octopus intelligence, sleep, and consciousness to create a multichannel video; LaJuné McMillian transforms her research on topics like phytoplankton and algal blooms into a spiritual encounter with the ocean; and Finnegan Shannon reimagines a conveyor belt as a vehicle to bring artwork to visitors. 

At Planted486 in Carroll Gardens, SKINS will premiere (Sept. 12), showing off artist Guzzo Pinc’s colorful paintings-mediations on the themes of permeability and individuation. Back in Gowanus at Powerhouse Arts, a new experience kicks off on Oct. 1: Masterpieces is an immersive virtual reality exhibition, developed by ACCIONA Cultura in collaboration with Madrid’s Museo Nacional del Prado, that will invite visitors into a multi-sensory reimagining of one of the world’s greatest museums, including fantastical, in-depth explorations of its most celebrated, and rarely traveled, masterpieces. Later in the month, artist Justin Orvis Steimer’s paintings on sailcloth will be displayed, fittingly, at the Waterfront Museum (Oct. 10, 15, and 16). 

For more casual art viewings, swing by a local business that opts to line its walls with artwork by local artists. Options include Sunny’s Bar, which will be hanging photographs by Barrett Benton (through Oct. 12), and The Scion Project in Carroll Gardens, where you can find a rotating exhibit of works to appreciate while sipping a beverage (perhaps a fancy matcha!).

Events
There will also be several opportunities to take in artwork alongside other community members this fall. Kentler International Drawing Space’s exhibition, 100 Works on Paper, will kick-off with a party (Sept. 19); the exhibition will be on view until Oct. 16, with a benefit the following day. Oct. 16-18 will be an exciting weekend for art and cultural sites across the city, as Open House New York celebrates its 24th annual OHNY Weekend festival. Among the participating sites is Gowanus’s Van Alen Institute, which will host its annual open house. A few days later (Oct. 20), visit the Institute again for its bi-annual community-building event for people working across every part of the public art ecosystem. Finally, the art scene wraps up its October programming with a fundraiser event and art raffle at Ortega y Gasset Projects in Gowanus; What’s the Future? will be an afternoon of spiritual reading, art collecting, and celebrating the arts (ticket information and details forthcoming).