VR Meditation, A Day to Combat Rape Culture, and More Art Affairs This Week

Mind Portals
Opening Thursday, April 27 at Babycastles, 8 pm: $10-15 sliding scale. On view through May 12.

Babycastles has done a pretty good job framing itself as the place to be when it comes to wacky tech-driven art and indie games. This Thursday’s opening will be no exception, as they will be unveiling a host of new video games, VR experiences, and multimedia installations. You can “follow an aries goat on an herb walk” (whatever that means, I’m intrigued) in Young Ascension Hypnosis’s VR video, relax and kick back in Avalon’s sound and flower installation “The Garden,” and find yourself in a flurry of disembodied hands and techno music through Palgal’s cleverly named video game “Palmystery.”

If this opening wasn’t internet-centric enough, net artist Molly Soda will be DJ-ing for the night as well, in addition to sets by Good DJ with High Speed Music, Neo Edo, and A Pigeon Is Born.

Sin Coyote
Opening Friday, April 28 at Dress Shop Gallery, 6 pm to 9 pm. On view through June 10.

This solo exhibition features works by Emmanuel Limon that have been inspired by the artist’s memories of his immigration to Texas with his parents. A statement provided by the gallery (of which Limon is a founding member) describes how they were stopped by armed border patrol agents while crossing over in a blue Ford, and how he noticed the many items confiscated from other immigrants, from liquor and guns to more ordinary items like fruit and electronics.

Many of the works in Sin Coyote combine art-making tactics or tools with items that recall these memories, such as an AK47 covered with leather or a piece of steel that has been manipulated or etched upon.

My Body: Not For Consumption
Opening Sunday, April 30 at Starr Bar, 5 pm to 11 pm. One night only.

In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this all-day event at Mayday Space‘s bar Starr Bar will present photographic art, poetry readings, panel discussions, research presentations, and more, all centered around the theme of rape culture and its impact on our society. Produced as a collaboration by artist Yunique A. Saafir and curator Corinne Kai, the event aims to “provide a counter narrative from the dominate normalization of sexual violence.”

Saafir will have photos on view, putting femme, queer, and trans bodies on display in a way that denounces the idea that nudity and exposed bodies should automatically be seen as sexual and available. Some of the models photographed for the project include the event’s curator Corinne Kai, well-known activist and founder of Creating Consent Culture Amber Amour, and other local artists, performers, and more.

SculptureCenter Spring Exhibitions
Opening Sunday, April 30 at SculptureCenter, 5 pm to 7 pm. On view through July 31.

If you don’t mind the odd and convoluted MTA route from North Brooklyn to Long Island City (or, if you live somewhere more convenient), you’ll be able to take a gander at three artists’s solo exhibitions, who happen to have never exhibited solo work at a U.S. museum before.

The exhibiting artists span a wide range of styles. Peruvian artist Teresa Burga will be showing work that dates all the way back to 1960, including a series of newer playful sculptural works depicting her hand in various positions, coyly titled “Mano mal dibujada,” or “badly drawn hand.” Burga is also notable for her involvement in the feminist art movement in Lima, which was shut down by the country’s political regime in the 1970s.

UK-based artist Charlotte Prodger will be showing a video work she shot solely on her iPhone in addition to works on paper and sculptures, and NY-based artist Sam Anderson will fill SculptureCenter’s lower level galleries with a bevy of sculptures and video work, based on her own interpretation of the “town square” and the archetypal characters who populate it.