Rochester’s cultural season continues to bring captivating and interactive museum exhibits to life in Rochester, NY. As the winter chill sets in, the offerings at local museums continue to heat up. Explore the newest exhibits that are open and on display this season in the cultural capital of New York.
Yayoi Kusama, INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER, 2017
Memorial Art Gallery, September 14, 2023–May 5, 2024
Yayoi Kusama is globally acknowledged to be one of the most important artists of our time. The Memorial Art Gallery presents INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER, 2017, on loan from the Art Gallery of Ontario.
LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER is truly an environment unto itself—visitors do not “view” the exhibit but rather “experience” it. Building on her frequent themes of repetition and obliteration, the work invites visitors into a seemingly infinite field of silver orbs and captivates them with mirrored spheres suspended from the ceiling and arranged on the floor.
Please note: entering the installation requires a timed entry ticket. When you arrive for your visit, check in at the Admissions Desk to reserve your timed ticket for entering the installation.
CRASHING INTO THE 60S: FILM POSTERS FROM THE COLLECTION
George Eastman Museum, February 2, 2024 – September 8, 2024
Films from the 1960s depicted the turbulence of the time. Poster artists from across the globe assigned to capture the essence of these films brought their own wildly differing creative interpretations of the subject matter to the masses.
The 1960s was an era of political, cultural, and sexual revolutions, and was a decade of great changes and great tragedies determined by such world-impacting events as The Space Race, the Cold War, Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, the JFK assassination, as well as the cultural influences of The Beatles, James Bond, and even fashions, including the popularity of jeans and bikinis. This period was also one of the greatest decades in film history.
George Eastman Museum, June 30–December 31, 2023
American photographer Gillian Laub (b. New York, 1975) has spent the last two decades investigating political conflicts, exploring family relationships, and challenging assumptions about cultural identity. In Southern Rites, Laub engages her skills as a photographer, filmmaker, and visual activist to examine the realities of racism and raise questions that are both painful and essential to understanding the American consciousness.
SURVIVAL OF THE SLOWEST: COUNTERINTUITIVE ADAPTATIONS
RMSC Museum & Science Center, October 13, 2023–May 19, 2024
Discover species that use their weaknesses to survive in a world where large, strong, and fast animals are typically at the top of the food chain. This live animal exhibit features species known for moving slowly, including a two-toed sloth, russian tortoise, blue tongue skink, a hedgehog and more.
Many animals have evolved to slow down as part of their survival strategy and Survival of the Slowest encourages visitors to slow down and consider some of the advantages of being slow and some of the disadvantages of being fast.
"Becoming Gendered: Garment as Gender Artifact"
Genesee Country Village & Museum, through October 2024
Becoming Gendered offers guests a wide variety of historic gendered garments for men, women, and children spanning over a century. Hegemonic gendered clothing for adult men and women is compared to the development of recreational and leisurewear. Understructures for men, women and children are exhibited as evolving tools worn to achieve gendered ideals. Challenging these 19th-century gendered norms in fashion and garment are the Dandy, the Bloomer, Dress Reformers and Women’s Rights advocates, the lady cyclist, female impersonators, and religious leaders such as the Public Universal Friend. Hodinöhsö:ni’ garment is exhibited as an entry-point into the discussion of how the Western gender binary system directly affects the gendering of 19th-century Hodinöhsö:ni’ clothing.
The Strong National Museum of Play, through January 7. 2024
Black Dolls, produced by the New-York Historical Society, presents a landmark exhibition that explores handmade Black dolls through the lens of race, gender, and history. Black Dolls immerses guests in the world of dolls, doll play, and doll making while examining the formation of racial stereotypes and confronting the persistence of racism in American history. The exhibition examines how these toys serve as expressions of resilience and creativity, perseverance and pride, and love and longing. They provide a unique view of the history of race in America, revealing difficult truths and inviting guests to engage in the urgent national conversation about the legacy of slavery and racism.
The Strong National Museum of Play, Opens November 10, 2023
Be among some of the first to view War Toys: Ukraine, an exhibit exploring the impact of armed conflict on children. The exhibit, which debuts at The Strong, showcases the power of children’s play, creativity, and resilience amid adversity.
View a wide range of artwork and creations by Ukrainian children, photographed by renowned photographer Brian McCarthy, to learn more about their lives, dreams, and the impact that war had on their communities.
