Show Off, Show Out

Cultural cognoscente and collector of glow-in-the-dark wares, CARRIE CONTA is interested in the weird and the wonderful in the world of art. So it makes sense that her aha moment is found inside the part-list-part-crit of THE BEST MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS IN NYC RIGHT NOW. It’s a roundup and rundown of the area exhibits for the season, ranging from archival libraries to snapshot factories. Displays sprawl across gardens and stretch under skylights, offering an antidote to anyone with fear of missing art.

Take The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures, exalting rare and rarefied items from its research halls, with displays including the only surviving letter from Christoper Columbus announcing his “discovery” of the Americas to the first Gutenberg Bible brought across the Atlantic. Or consider Designer of Dreams, a new curation where the hallowed House of Dior hits Brooklyn’s eponymous museum. Creatures of Light explores organisms that glow, gleam, and glitter; Andy Warhol: Photo Factory salutes the pop art pioneer’s New York photo studio.

With the list of on-site shows comes an offer to explore any of the exhibits as a duo, trio, or quartet. Carrie’s invitation is an affecting reminder that ahas are inherently shareable, and not always in the retweet, repost, duet churn of the internet. Ahas are often online, sure, but they’re meant to be brought off. Done correctly, an aha is creative camaraderie, a gettogether around new thinking. Sometimes, it says, the search for inspiration begins with an extended hand.