Things to do on a Sunday in New York

The garden lights up with its collection of trains that chug along a nearly half-mile track by 150 miniature NYC landmarks like the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Rockefeller Center—all made of natural materials such as leaves, cinnamon sticks, twigs, bark and berries. Due to the pandemic, the show will be limited capacity due to enhanced safety protocols that include social distancing. The only way to see this captivating display is as a member, a patron, a corporate member, or a Bronx Community Partner.  Member, Patron, and Corporate Member Access will be able to visit between now and January 31, and Bronx Community Partners can visit on December 10 and January 17.

History buffs can explore items from 60-plus vendors at this vintage art and antiques fair, from luxurious and incredibly detailed housewares to furniture and artwork. The fair benefits the community-based organization East Side House Settlement, which works to bring quality education and resources to residents of the Bronx and Northern Manhattan. This year, the fair will take place on an immersive online platform, allowing exhibitors to feature curated presentations in a 3D virtual space for international audiences to experience.

The Greens at Pier 17, the socially distanced dining destination that made a splash this summer thanks to its Instagram-ready, reservable mini lawns, is transforming into a new experience for the colder months on Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport. Each week, 28 individual 12’ by 10’ winterized dining cabins will be up for reserving. Each cabin will be able to fit up to 10 guests and will be decorated with fun winter décor and amenities including virtual fireplaces, electric heating, cozy banquettes and, of course, jaw-dropping, floor-to-ceiling views of NYC from its prime location on the East River waterfront. Guests will be able to enjoy seasonally themed dishes and cocktails while looking out on a mountain range sculpture installed on The Rooftop at Pier 17 stage (for the full alpine escape experience.) While the all-day menu will be provided by the on-site rooftop restaurant R17, the cocktails have been created by the newly crowned second best bar in the world Dante. A few of those offerings are the Alpine Negroni (Sipsmith Gin, Genepy, Montana Spruce Roots, Macadamia, Menta) and the Hot Smoked Toddy (Cocao Butter Smoked Whisky Blend, Laphroaig, Manzanilla Sherry, Tempus Fugit Cacao, Ginger, Lemon & Marmalade Cordial, Lapsang Souchon tea.) Food offerings include cozy dishes like cheese fondue and chipotle beef stew.

PS1 is taking an important look at the life of people in prisons and those no longer behind bars through their art that deals with issues of state repression, erasure, and imprisonment, as well as the COVID-19 crisis in U.S. prisons. Installations include Rorschach-like portraits of black Americans who were killed in police-involved shootings, a mural made of 39 prison-issued sheets at 40 feet long and 15 feet tall and more. The exhibition is a powerful exploration of the social and cultural impact of mass incarceration.

The Metropolitan Museum is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and in light of all of those years passing by, the Costume Institute is mounting this exhibition about fashion’s relationship with time. The show explores how fashion’s history is both linear and cyclical: On the one hand, there’s no more reliable marker for a particular period than the clothes being worn at the time; yet on the other hand, fashion itself often looks to the past for inspiration. The Met reaches into its vast collection to explore how fashion often moves forwards by moving back. The Met called on actresses Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore (all who starred in The Hours) to recite passages from Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography, about a young noble who time travels by living for more than 300 years but changes gender, finishing life as a modern woman writer. The excerpts are played on a loop through the exhibit. Each "minute" in the clock room represents a pair of garments—one from our present and one from that past that served as inspiration for the piece. As visitors pass through time and space, they'll see time-inspired designs by Cristóbal Balenciaga, Gabrielle Chanel, Christian Dior, Tom Ford, Hubert de Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Norma Kamali, Donna Karan, Helmut Lang, Karl Lagerfeld (for Chanel), Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, Viktor & Rolf, Gianni Versace, Vivienne Westwood, and many more.

"Photography 4 Humanity" at Fotografiska New York is a showcase of winning works by photographers who captured the struggle for human rights that were submitted in a contest held by Fotografiska New York, Photography 4 Humanity and United Nations Human Rights. This year’s global prize winner is Anindito Mukherjee, whose winning image “The Last Rites” captures both the human and systemic costs of COVID-19 in New Delhi, India. His image was selected out of thousands of entries submitted from 142 countries by an esteemed judging panel, which includes renowned human rights experts, photographers, journalists, photo editors and publishers. Following the month-long installation at the museum, the images will move on to be showcased globally via a virtual exhibit by the United Nations.

A creative residency of aerialists and acrobats is performing at City Point's BKLYN STUDIOS every Sunday and Thursday through February 28—and you can see them for free. Some of New York’s top circus performers, who have been furloughed since March, are practicing and displaying their works-in-progress and show-ready acts and of dazzling skills, innovative movements, super-human resiliency and flexibility (while adhering to Covid-19 guidelines). You can catch their showcases twice a week (Thursdays at 7pm and Sundays at noon) and their rehearsals on weekdays from 9am to 1pm and from 6 to 9pm, as well as on Sundays from 10am to 7pm.  Ernst-Alper and photographer Giles Clement also collaborated on New York City Performer Series for an installation featuring images of aerialists, burlesque personalities, clowns, and dancers in the Atrium at City Point. Each image will be sold as a limited-edition print and as part of a set of 10 postcards. Proceeds from sales will be shared with the performing artists to help them through the pandemic.

Discover the artwork of 27 artists along Columbus Avenue from West 67th to 77th Streets, Saturday through January 31, 2021, as part of Art on the Ave NYC. Curator Lisa DuBois of X-Gallery in Harlem chose works from more than 220 submissions that reinforce the gallery walk’s timely theme, “The Art of Healing.” New Yorkers can access recordings of each artist describing their work and an introductory message from actor Michael Imperioli by scanning a QR code on individual storefront windows. Also included is an educational component featuring downloadable lessons accessible through the Art on the Ave website.

Pantone's Color of the Year (Classic Blue) is at the center of ARTECHOUSE's latest multimedia exhibit—"Celestial." Visitors to the underground attraction will be taken on a "journey beyond the skies."  Classic Blue, according to Pantone, brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit, offering refuge. The new installation aim to do the same through sights, sounds and sensations. “During these unprecedented times as a society we have found ourselves in a new state of existence. Before 2020 even began, Pantone selected Classic Blue as the color of the year because they saw it as the hue to sustain us during a time of change,” said Sandro Keserelidze, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of ARTECHOUSE. “2020 ended up bringing changes no one expected, making the hue of Classic Blue, and the qualities it represents, more relatable now than ever before. We couldn’t think of a more timeless and timely theme to end the year and launch a new chapter of experiences.”

Get immersed in the vivid, saturated and dramatic stained glass works of Brian Clarke, who has been one of the world's most prominent stained glass artists. You can walk between and around 20 free-standing, glass screens that almost come to life with changing light. Since the early 1970s, Clarke has collaborated with some of the world’s most prominent architects to create stained-glass designs and installations for hundreds of projects worldwide. 

New York Responds: The First Six Months at the Museum of the City of New York is an extension of the outdoor photography installation that opened this summer and features selections that were made by a community jury, reflecting the changes and challenges of life in New York City from March through August 2020. The exhibit showcases photographs, objects, videos, and works of art that document the impacts of Covid-19 and activism in 2020, including creative handmade masks and social distance markers; photographs of mutual aid efforts, including food donation, community fridges, and volunteers; a pan used in the 7 o’clock clapping for health care workers; photographs of activism for Black Lives Matter, including healthcare workers taking a knee; an innovative ventilator devised by medical personnel at The Mount Sinai Health System; and photographs of essential workers, including food delivery and public transportation.

The garden lights up with its collection of trains that chug along a nearly half-mile track by 150 miniature NYC landmarks like the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Rockefeller Center—all made of natural materials such as leaves, cinnamon sticks, twigs, bark and berries. Due to the pandemic, the show will be limited capacity due to enhanced safety protocols that include social distancing. The only way to see this captivating display is as a member, a patron, a corporate member, or a Bronx Community Partner.  Member, Patron, and Corporate Member Access will be able to visit between now and January 31, and Bronx Community Partners can visit on December 10 and January 17.