A few of our favourite reveals this week are all about giving new life to outdated issues and taking a look at our environments from a unique perspective: inventive reuse, recycling and repurposing objects, and re-envisioning structure as inviting and inclusive. Whereas Kiah Celeste and Yuji Agematsu create artwork from utilitarian objects and refuse in vastly alternative ways, an exhibition on the legacy of feminist architect Phyllis Birkby presents alternate options to “hostile architecture.” As a complement to that present, ensure to take a look at Gordon Corridor’s Palms and Knees at The Kitchen, closing this weekend. And Xingzi Gu’s intimate, tender work are all the time laborious to withstand. —Natalie Haddad, Critiques Editor
Kiah Celeste: To Be Held for a Lengthy Time
Swivel Gallery, 555 Greenwich Road, Hudson Sq., ManhattanThrough June 1
Set up view of Kiah Celeste: To Be Held for a Lengthy Time at Swivel Gallery (picture Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)
“Celeste focuses less on the concept of salvaging discarded things than on discovering alternative identities for industrial or utilitarian objects that would otherwise sit in garbage heaps.” —NH
Learn the complete evaluation right here.
Xingzi Gu: Fluffing the Foliage
Clearing, 260 Bowery, Nolita, ManhattanThrough June 21
Xingzi Gu, “Light sleeper” (2025), oil and acrylic on canvas (picture courtesy CLEARING, New York and Los Angeles)
“There is a sadness to these paintings, which might be their truest subject.” —John Yau
Learn the complete evaluation right here.
Yuji Agematsu: 2023–2024
Judd Basis, 101 Spring Road, Soho; and 229 Lenox Avenue, Harlem, ManhattanThrough August 30
Element of Yuji Agematsu, “Zip: 01-01-2024–12-31-2024″ (2024), mixed media in cigarette pack cellophane wrapper (art © Yuji Agematsu; photo by Reggie Shiobara, image courtesy the artist)
“With 366 objects in a room, I wondered if my attention would wane. But Agematsu’s compositions kept delivering distinctive jolts of unexpected convivence” —Debra Brehmer
Learn the complete evaluation right here.
Fantasizing Design: Phyllis Birkby Builds Lesbian Feminist Structure
Heart for Structure, 536 LaGuardia Place, Greenwich Village, ManhattanThrough September 2
Rehearsing, “You Can’t Criminalize a Fantasy Built By Hand” in Fantasizing Design: Phyllis Birkby Builds Lesbian Feminist Structure on the Heart for Structure (picture Alexis Clements/Hyperallergic)
“I was struck by the emphasis on collectivity and support in these works by queer women and trans artists, on stripping away an architecture of isolation, singular use, and protectionism.” —Alexis Clements
Learn the complete evaluation right here.
