Hikaru Fujii, The Primary Fact, video still, 2018, seven-channel video, 73 min. Courtesy of the artist. (image via ISCP / Facebook)

The Primary Fact
Opening Tuesday, June 26 at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through October 12.

Did you know there is a recently-excavated mass grave in Athens, Greece with contents dating back to 7 B.C., including “eighty shackled skeletons” with great teeth? Artist and current resident at the International Studio and Curatorial Program Hikaru Fujii does, and he’s spent a lot of time documenting and learning about this curious piece of history. The result of this work will be on view in The Primary Fact, the artist’s first solo exhibition in the U.S. It features predominantly video and photography, focusing on the “inconclusive scientific viewpoints” that have emerged about the grave, its contents, and its history. In addition to displaying actual imagery from the Athenian grave, Fujii also assembled a group of Greek men to recreate the choreographic moment of mass execution (presumably due to a political coup) that led to this grave in the first place.

Miatta Kawinzi, Pouvoir (still) (image courtesy of BRIC)

Alchemy
Opening Wednesday, June 27 at BRIC, 7 pm to 9 pm. On view through August 12.

It can easily be said that the mere act of artmaking is a transformation. You start with one thing, and it ends up as something new. Alchemy, the summer exhibition at BRIC, takes this notion one step further, centering itself around the transformation of non-conventional materials into art. Caution tape becomes embroidery, tar and nail polish act as paint, and fishing line gets recruited to assist in an ASMR experience, among others. A spiritual component also exists in the work; alchemy is more than just sheer transformation, it’s also an ancient practice infused with magic and curiosity. A slew of public programming will accompany the exhibition, such as performances, healing sessions, and discussions.

Image: Samantha Nye, ‘Attractive People, Doing Attractive Things in Attractive Places – Pool Party 1,’ 2018. Oil on Canvas. Courtesy of the Artist. (image via Yossi Milo Gallery / Facebook)

Intimacy
Opening Thursday, June 28 at Yossi Milo Gallery, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through August 24.

How much can change with time? That’s one of the central inquiries of sprawling group exhibition Intimacy , which utilizes multiple mediums to track expressions and renderings of intimacy over the past forty years. Focusing on the 1980’s and early 1990’s, a time period containing both the tragic AIDS crisis and medical advances coupled with increased acceptance of the LGBTQ community, the exhibition, curated by Stephen Truax, demonstrates that while people’s individual intimate relationships to each other wax and wane as time passes, human interaction doesn’t exist in a vacuum, particularly when marginalized communities are concerned. Close to 40 notable artists have work in the show, including Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nicole Eisenman, David Wojnarowicz, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Kia LaBeija.

Image: Catalina Schliebener. Curveball (detail), 2017, Softball gloves, Variable sizes, Courtesy MEN Gallery, New York. (image via Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art / Facebook)

Alternate Routes
Opening Friday, June 29 at Leslie + Lohman Prince Street Project, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through July 2.

If you ask an assortment of people what the definition of “queer art” is, you’re likely to receive a bevy of different responses. This is understandable; the word “queer” itself has a lengthy history of meaning a lot of different things, even today. A comparable degree of diversity will be on view when the 11 members of the Leslie Lohman Queer Artist Fellowship show their work through July 2 at the museum’s Prince Street Project Space. Rather than trying to neatly categorize these 11 queer artists, Alternate Routes allows them to do whatever it is they do best, allowing viewers a slice of what queerness, art, and queer art can be while still reminding them there is so much more out there.