Things to Do This Weekend in Boston

Jump to: | Wed., Nov. 20 | Thurs., Nov. 21 | Fri., Nov. 22 | Sat., Nov. 23 | Sun., Nov. 24 | Mon., Nov. 25 | Art & Exhibitions | Upcoming |

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MULTIPLE DAYS
Ongoing through Monday, November 25 (and Beyond)

WINTER FUN

Snowport
The Seaport’s winter transformation centers on the Holiday Market, featuring more than 120 vendors and a cocktail bar, but there’s also a tree market, iceless curling lanes (lessons start November 23) and lots of special events throughout the season—check the schedule for details.
Free, through February 28, 2025, Seaport Blvd., Boston
More: Snowport, a Hugely Popular Winter Holiday Market, Returns to Boston’s Seaport

THEATER

Emma
Actors’ Shakespeare Project takes on Jane Austen via this antic 2022 adaptation by Kate Hamill, which reimagines the story of a chaos-wreaking matchmaker as a screwball comedy, probes it for feminist themes, and indulges in a little fourth wall-breaking fun.
$20-$64, through December 15, Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., Cambridge

Galileo’s Daughter
Transposed from Dava Sobel’s book of the same name, Galileo’s Daughter depicts a playwright’s personal exploration of the correspondence between Galileo and his daughter Maria Celeste, who became a nun in the wake of the controversy surrounding her father’s scientific work, continuing to assist his thinking from a distance.
$26-$97, through December 8, Central Square Theater, 450 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

Mindplay
Drama Desk-winning mentalist Vinny DePonto combines elements of one-man memoir theater and magic shows to create this unique, interactive experience, reading the minds of his audience (or at least seeming to) while exploring the nature of memory from a personal perspective.
$25-$65, through December 1, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston

Noises Off
This comedy of the theater by British playwright Michael Frayn takes audiences behind the scenes of a sexy farce called Nothing On. As light as the material is, it ends up being hilariously marred by a chaotic storm of bitter egos, failures of communication, questionable acting talent, and boneheaded mistakes.
$31-$86, through December 22, Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Boston

Tartuffe
Hub Theater Company gives us their take on this Molière satire, first performed in 1664. The Tartuffe in question is a con artist, intent on bilking a wealthy family out of everything they’ve got. He already has the patriarch, Orgon, wrapped around his fingers, but his canny daughters won’t be so easy.
Pay-what-you-wish (minimum $1), through November 24, Plaza Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston

Sojourners
The first installment of Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Cycle comes to Boston courtesy of The Huntington. It takes place in the late ’70s in Houston, where a recently arrived Nigerian couple, originally intending to get their degrees and go home, find themselves drawn, in different ways, down the American rabbit hole.
$29-$160, through December 1, The Huntington Theater, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston
See also: Mfoniso Udofia Returns Home to Massachusetts

DANCE

Martha Graham Dance Company
Absent from the Celebrity Series roster since 2005, this pioneering ensemble returns with two works from the massively influential Graham, Dark Meadow Suite and Lamentation, alongside Graham contemporary Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo and a new commissioned piece from Jamar Roberts, We the People.
$52-$124, Friday and Saturday, November 22-23, Emerson Cutler Majestic Theater, 219 Tremont St., Boston

COMEDY

Annie Lederman
On her podcast Anniewood, this bawdy comic goes deep and unfiltered with her comedian guests, and she subjects herself to the same treatment on stage—in this clip, she pitilessly recalls a particularly sensitive boyfriend, balancing it out with an extensive self-roast.
$33-$55, Friday and Saturday, November 22-23, Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St., Boston

CIRCUS

Acrobatic Conundrum: The Circus of Second Chances
Acrobats Emma Curtiss, Melissa Knowles, and Terry Crane engage in a “dada circus romp” with rope acrobatics, Cyr wheel, hand balancing, clowning, and live baking—okay, well, the last of those isn’t a circus art, but it’ll probably smell delicious. The theme of the evening is expressed in question form: “What does your heart wish for?”
$20-$75, Tuesday and Wednesday, November 19-20, Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville

Do Portugal Circus
Despite its name, this travelling circus company originated in Mexico in the 1950s; it took until 2019 for them to perform their first shows north of the border. Their animal-free roster of talent includes jugglers, aerialists, gymnasts, dancers, magicians, motorcycle daredevils, trapeze artists, and, last but not least, a clown.
$30-$50, through December 1, 305 William F McClellan Hwy, East Boston

FANDOM

Harry Potter: The Exhibition
Kids and adults awaiting the next nugget Harry Potter media can visit the Wizarding World in spirit at this interactive show, a wonderland of props, costumes, and recreated sets and scenes from the main films, the Fantastic Beasts series, and the stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
$25-$51, through January 5, 2025, CambridgeSide, 100 CambridgeSide Pl., Cambridge

The Friends Experience
If you’re ever watched Friends and dreamt of living in a perpetual ’90s New York full of spacious, mysteriously affordable apartments, cute cafés, and good times, this traveling exhibition, with recreated props and whole sets from the iconic sitcom—even the couch from the show’s intro—might be the closest you’ll get.
$29.54-$33.32, through January 19, 2025, 343 Newbury St., Boston

OUTDOORS

New England Aquarium Whale Watch Cruise
How long has it been since your last whale watch? Set sail for Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary, a popular gathering spot for various cetaceans (dolphins, humpbacks, finbacks and minkes) and other marine creatures. The New England Aquarium’s experts will have plenty of fun facts about these remarkable animals.
$70, through November 27, leaves from 1 Long Wharf, Boston

MOVIES

Wicked
The long-awaited Hollywood version of the beloved Broadway smash—easily the most successful piece of Wizard of Oz fan fiction ever produced—is finally here and bigger than ever, with Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, opposite Ariana Grande as Glinda.
$13.99-$17.49, opens Thursday, November 21, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Gladiator II
Perhaps it was all those men thinking about the Roman Empire that manifested this belated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 historical epic. Paul Mescal leads the cast as Lucius, son of Maximus, led by unfortunate events to carry on his father’s blood sport legacy.
$16.50-$18.50, opens Thursday, November 21, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

Paris, Texas
Wim Wenders’ emotionally devastating 1984 drama, which more than proved Harry Dean Stanton’s capacity for starring roles, is back in a 4K restoration. Stanton plays Travis, a middle-aged man racked with trauma and regret who comes to terms with his choices and his broken family.
$12.50-$14.50, Friday and Saturday, November 22-23, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

Wicked Queer: Docs
Catch films about George Michael, Fire Island, female bodybuilding in the 80s, Janis Ian, and more at this doc-only supplement to the main Wicked Queer festival. If that isn’t enough, the concurrent but unrelated Harvard Film Archive series From the Jenni Olson Queer Film Collection will make an excellent complement.
$15, through November 22, various locations, Boston area

Red One
If you think Hollywood ran out of Christmas ideas long ago, you obviously aren’t aware of the new action comedy Red One, in which Dwayne Johnson plays North Pole chief of security Callum Drift, who must team up with ace bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) to rescue a kidnapped Santa (J.K. Simmons).
$10.99-$14.49, opens Thursday, November 14, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Playland
Mixing techniques from fictional and non-fictional filmmaking, Playland takes a surreal and spooky look back at the Playland Café, a center of Boston gay nightlife from the 40s through the 90s. The film takes place—if such a term can be said to apply here—in the abandoned bar itself, where ghosts of the past play out some of its memories.
$16, Monday and Tuesday, November 18-19, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

Black Box Diaries
“When I woke up, I was being raped,” explains Japanese journalist Shiori Itō in this raw documentary recounting her sexual assault at the hands of one of her bosses and her subsequent public revelation of the experience in 2017, which sparked the Japanese wave of the #MeToo movement.
$13.50-$15.50, opens Friday, November 15, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

Heretic
In a rare fully villainous turn, Hugh Grant plays a seemingly friendly but increasingly disconcerting atheist who lures a couple of young missionaries into his dark world in this thriller from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, writers of A Quiet Place.
$10.99-$14.49, opens Thursday, November 7, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Columbia 100: Noirvember
Film critic Marya E. Gates curated this collection of classic films about down and out men, dangerous ladies, bad decisions, and the dark side of life. Opening with the unnerving Humphrey Bogart vehicle In a Lonely Place, it continues with Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat, the cautionary tale Over-Exposed, Sam Fuller’s Little Tokyo-set The Crimson Kimono, and more deliciously gritty fare.
$12.50-$14.50, Friday, November 8 through November 13, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

Boston Jewish Film Festival
With 23 unique screenings spread across eight local venues, the Boston Jewish Film Festival offers a wide range of perspectives. Highlights include the comedy Bad Shabbos, about an interfaith couple’s very awkward Shabbat with their respective families, Nathan-ism, a documentary profile of a Nuremburg Trials guard who makes art about the experience years later, and The Performance, about a Jewish tap dance troupe in 1930s Germany who accidentally book a show for Hitler.
$16-$360, Wednesday, November 6 through November 16, various venues, Boston area

Anora
The winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, this rags-to-riches romance from Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine) weds a New York sex worker (Mikey Madison) to the scion of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn). They’re happy, but his scandalized parents are determined to undo the marriage.
$13.50-$15.50, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

We Live in Time
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh star in this affecting romantic drama, written by Nick Payne (The Last Letter from Your Lover, The Sense of an Ending) and telling the story of a couple’s relationship over the course of a very consequential decade.
$16-$18.50, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

Revolutions Per Minute Festival
This artist-organized fest focuses on “poetic, personal” cinematic expressions—video essay, documentary, animation, audiovisual performance and more, created by a globe-spanning group of filmmakers and artists, many exploring the reverberations of history and humanity’s impact on the environment. Don’t necessarily expect a plot—some of these films are more about experience than narrative.
Free-$15, through December 8, various locations, mostly Boston and Cambridge

The Substance
This dark commentary on beauty and anti-aging culture from writer-director Coralie Fargeat stars Demi Moore as a middle-aged aerobics guru who turns to a product known simply as the Substance to preserve her looks. It works, at least initially, but the costs prove to be more than monetary.
$16-$18.50, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

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• Where to Eat in Greater Boston for November 2024
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Want to suggest an event? Email us.

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THURSDAY (11/21/24)

MUSIC

Lexa Gates
The vibey “Alone” sets the tone for New York City rapper Lexa Gates’ new album Elite Vessel, amounting to one big, satisfying sigh in the midst of a vintage-hued dreamscape. What follows is a journey through the mind of a young woman capable of rapping about depression with more swag than some rappers have bragging about their accomplishments.
$29, 8 p.m., Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston

SCIENCE

Carnival of Science: Staying Sane in a Changing World
As climate change continues to manifest in increasingly frightening and destructive ways, it’s hard not to feel despair. This edutaining show, presented by a mix of artists and scientists, offers some realistic hope in the face of that despair, focusing on resiliency, as well as some of the solutions in development.
$15, 7:30 p.m., Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston

BOOKS + READINGS

Keke Palmer
An actor, singer, CEO, game show host, and author, Keke Palmer (Hustlers, Nope) will discuss her new book Master of Me, whose title is a retort to anyone who might accuse her of being a “jack of all trades, master of none.” What’s her secret? No spoilers here, but it’s got something to do with the book’s subtitle: Controlling Your Narrative.
$40 (book included), 6:30 p.m., First Parish Church, 1446 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

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FRIDAY (11/22/24)

MUSIC

Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy Zucker
This pair of folk pop singer-songwriters are touring for the first time on their brent series of releases, the most recent of which is the full-length brent iii, which embraces a richer, bigger sound without sacrificing the intimacy that made their original EPs so special.
$46.50-$225.50, 8 p.m., Wang Theater, 270 Tremont St., Boston

Wreckno
A queer icon in the not-so-queer EDM scene, genderfluid producer and rapper Wreckno is nothing if not a force to be reckoned with. Their “Party Girl”, released this year, is a classic “dumb and fun” club anthem, pared down to the absolute essentials.
$30-$35, 9:30 p.m., Middle East Downstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

Dylan Schneider
In contrast to some of the more hypermasculine country dudes, aspiring Nashville star Dylan Schneider casts himself as a bit of a romantic. His 2022 track “Ain’t Missin’ You” takes aim at an abusive guy, albeit from the perspective of his ex’s rebound; in “Bad Decisions”, from his new album Puzzled, he confesses his addiction to a problematic situationship.
$16, 8:30 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Boston

COMEDY

B. Simone
This energetic comic has been a familiar face on MTV’s Wild ‘n Out for several seasons. In this 2019 clip, she shares her wisdom from seven years of single life, breaking it down into three phases: happy, sad, and lit. On her popular podcast Let’s Try This Again, she shows a different side of her personality, focusing on self-help and inspirational content.
$36-$86, 7:30 p.m., Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

Whitney Cummings
Co-creator of the 2010s sitcom 2 Broke Girls and star of five standup specials to date, Whitney Cummings recently had the honor of being the first ever guest on the podcast Talk Tuah. In her new standup show, Big Baby, she applies her larger than life energy to the inexhaustible topic of motherhood.
$39-$65, 10 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston

BOOKS + READINGS

Jim O’Heir
The actor who played Jerry Gergich on Parks and Recreation shares stories from the set compiled in his new book Welcome to Pawnee, which brings together not only his recollections but those of fellow cast members like Chris Pratt, Retta, and Rob Lowe, as well as showrunners Greg Daniels and Mike Schur.
$20, 6:30 p.m., WBUR CitySpace, 890 Comm. Ave., Boston

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SATURDAY (11/23/24)

MUSIC

J Mascis
If Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis had only succeeded in making guitar solos cool again after a decade of punk resistance, he’d still be a legend, but he’s done a lot more than that over the past 40 years. The 58-year-old Western Massachusetts native released his fifth solo record, What Do We Do Now, in February.
$30, 8 p.m., The Sinclair 52 Church St., Cambridge

Sun June
Applying an indie rock moodiness to an Americana base, this Texan band will break your heart in style. After the fakeout synthesized haze of opener “Eager”, their 2023 album Bad Dream Jaguar embraces a subtle, windswept grandeur, centering on the fragile passion of Laura Colwell’s vocals.
$18, 8 p.m., The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville

COMEDY

Ryan Hamilton
With his earnest demeanor and classic observational style, Ryan Hamilton almost seems like a throwback, but he’s a creature of the present, and he’s more pointed than he might seem—in this clip from his Netflix special Happy Face, the Idaho native offers a beautifully succinct five-minute roast of New York City smugness.
$25-$57.75, 7 p.m.., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston

DANCE

Boston Bhangra Competition
Each year, Bhangra teams from across the continent (and even further afield) converge in Boston to strut their stuff in a high-energy display of colorful costumes, synchronized dance routines, and thunderous beats—the biggest of its kind in North America. This year’s special guest is Punjabi singer and prolific songwriter Balvir Boparai.
$20-$100, 6 p.m., Strand Theater, 543 Columbia Rd., Dorchester

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SUNDAY (11/24/24)

MUSIC

Tanerélle
With her smoky contralto vocals, Tanerélle gives off an air of elegant mystery—even just a listen to a song like this year’s “Better Days” can make you vicariously feel a little bit cooler. Another recent track, “For You (Chemtrails)”, use the titular conspiracy theory as a metaphor for the lingering toxins of love.
$29-$92, 8 p.m., Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allsto

Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan
Almost twenty years of performing together have honed cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan’s chemistry to near perfection. For this appearance, they’ll play a set of sonatas by Brahms and Shostakovich. The last of these, originally written for viola and piano, was Shostakovich’s very last.
$44-$119, 3 p.m. Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St., Boston

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MONDAY (11/25/24)

COMEDY

Tinder Live with Lane Moore
It’s been ten years since New York comedian Lane Moore began using Tinder in front of a live audience, letting them decide whether she swipes left or right, and the notorious hookup app is still providing a return on investment. Some things never change!
$25, 8 p.m., The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville

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Ongoing

SHOPPING

Somerville Winter Farmers Market
With many outdoor farmers markets moving into hibernation, this weekly indoor market, with close to 70 vendors offering produce, dairy, meat, pastries, coffee, specialty items, and more, is an excellent cold weather alternative.
Free, Saturdays through April 12, Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville

Copley Square Farmers Market
Farmers markets spring up across the Boston area this time of year, but Copley Square hosts the largest, offering a cornucopia of local produce, meats, dairy, baked goods, and prepared meals, as well as some non-edible products.
Free, Tuesdays and Fridays through November 26, Copley Square, 227-230 Dartmouth St., Boston

TOURS

Museum of Illusions
Experience the delights of confusing your brain at this new downtown attraction, featuring a set of images, installations, and “illusion rooms” designed to make reality feel a little less normal—and to provide some fun and crazy photo ops for the Gram.
$38, opens Saturday, November 23, 200 State St., Boston

View Boston
If you’ve got visitors and you want to give them a killer 360-degree view of the city, or if you just want a peep yourself, you can hardly do better than View Boston, at the top of the Prudential Center. You can spring for a guided tour or just take it in yourself. The view isn’t all you’ll find up there—there’s also a restaurant, The Beacon, and Stratus, a cocktail bar. Higher-level ticket packages include a sample drink.
$29.99-59.99, open daily, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St., Boston

The Innovation Trail
This new tour focuses not on colonial and revolutionary Boston—that’s been thoroughly covered—but on the city’s history, down to the present, as a hub of science, medicine, and technology. You can pay for a guided tour on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday through the end of October, or opt for a self-guided experience whenever you want.
Free-$20, now open, starts in Central Square, Cambridge or Downtown Crossing, Boston

WNDR Museum
This new gallery space in Downtown Crossing is hitting the ground running with iconic Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Let’s Survive Forever and more than 20 other immersive installations, including The Wisdom Project, where visitors can add their own response to the question “What do you know for sure?,” and WNDR’s signature Light Floor, which changes in response to visitors’ movement.
$32-$38, 500 Washington St., Boston

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ART + EXHIBITIONS (Ongoing)

Deep Waters: Four Artists and the Sea
John Singleton Copley, J.M.W. Turner, and contemporary artists John Akomfrah and Ayana V. Jackson are brought together in this show by virtue of their explorations of the role of oceanic travel in the transatlantic slave trade, highlighting the real-life tragedy behind the swashbuckling romantic narratives of the European imperialist imagination.
$27, through November 9, 2025, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Sea Monsters: Wonders of Nature and Imagination
Using historic illustrations, maps, artifacts, and specimens, this exhibition explores the exotic marine beasts cooked up in the dreams of sailors and bards down the centuries, as well as the real-life creatures, like the giant squid, whose scarcely believable existence inspired many of these legends.
$15, through June 26, 2026, Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

Art of the Black World
If you’ve ever wondered what might be like to take class at Harvard, this exhibition, a companion to the university’s undergraduate course of the same name may provide a small taste. Art of the Black World includes works by Romare Bearden, Gordon Parks, Elizabeth Catlett, and other great artists.
Free, through January 5, 2025, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge

Power of the People: Art and Democracy
The Museum of Fine Arts has scoured its extensive collection to assemble this eclectic exploration of the ways in which artists have celebrated democracy, exhorted viewers to participate, and raised the alarm about its health. Objects range from the silver work of Paul Revere to Roman coinage to the stylish posters of Shepard Fairey.
$27, through February 16, 2025, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Titanic: the Artifact Exhibition
Although Robert Ballad, the leader of the team that discovered the wreck of the Titanic, hoped no one would ever go back look for cool stuff there, people totally did. This show, offering a fascinating and intimate glimpse into the famous ocean liner’s lost world, is the first chance Bostonians have had in several years to view these objects.
$39.50-$65, through February 2, 2025, The Castle at Park Plaza, 130 Columbus Ave., Boston

Hugh Hayden: Home Work
Artist Hugh Hayden‘s first New England exhibition is now at Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum. The surrealist sculptor’s show explores the complexities of the American Dream through unsettling transformations of everyday objects. Taking up 7,000 square feet of gallery space, the exhibition turns familiar items like tables and school desks into challenging artworks. The centerpiece, “Hedges (2019),” features a model suburban house with branches bursting through its walls, placed in a mirrored infinity room that creates endless reflections. Through these works, Hayden comments on both psychological barriers and social inequalities that make the American Dream nearly impossible to achieve for so many today. —JACI CONRY
Rose Art Museum, through June 1, 415 South St., Waltham, 781-736-3434.

Mary Ellen Mark: A Seattle Family, 1983-2014
The Gardner devotes its Fenway Gallery to renowned photojournalist Mary Ellen Mark’s personal and artistic relationship with Erin “Tiny” Blackwell, a Seattle resident who met Mark as a teenage runaway and consented to having her life documented—a project that went on for a remarkable 30 years.
$22, through January 20, 2025, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, Boston

Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore
The San Diego Museum of Art assembled this traveling show comparing two of the biggest names in 20^th century art, with 60 works from O’Keeffe and 90 from Moore, alongside recreations of both artists’ studios. While Moore’s huge figurative sculptures and O’Keeffe’s portraits of flowers may seem unrelated, the pair prove to have a surprising amount in common.
$34, through January 20, 2025, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Manet: A Model Family
In the first exhibition of its kind, the Gardner Museum explores Édouard Manet’s frequent use of his family as models and subjects, delving into their relationships with him and each other—which, as with most families, were filled with both love and tension.
$22, through January 20, 2025, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, Boston

Charles Atlas: About Time
Immerse yourself in the 50-year career of Missouri-born interdisciplinary artist Charles Atlas, who made his name filming the dances of Merce Cunningham. Eventually, he struck out on his own, but capturing dance and other performances—often in ways that challenged sexual and gender norms—remained central to his practice.
$20, through March 16, 2025, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend
Instantly recognizable among cetaceans for its remarkably long horn, the narwhal is unlike any other sea creature, seemingly ripped from the pages of a fanciful medieval world map. Not satisfied to stop at the narwhal’s mere oddness, this Smithsonian exhibition dives deep into its changing artic world, with input from scientists and members of the Inuit communities who’ve known it the longest.
$20, through June 15, 2025, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a mania for contacting the dead spread across Europe and the United States—it was the era of Spiritualism. This show brings together a wide array of objects and art—paintings, posters, photos, stage contraptions, and more—to try to get to the bottom of this macabre and often sensationalist pop cultural epoch. See paintings, posters, photographs, stage apparatuses, costumes, film, publications, and other objects that transport visitors to the age of Harry Houdini, Margery the Medium, Howard Thurston, and the Fox Sisters, among others.
$20, through February 2, 2025, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation
What does it mean to be German today, as the monoculture of old gives way to increasing diversity? This selection of work from 23 different German artists, dating back to 1980, highlights the strains placed on traditional ideas of nationality by increased immigration and the plight of those economically left behind.
Free, through January 5, 2025, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge

Dalí: Disruption and Devotion
Famous for his bizarre imagery, eccentric behavior, and unrivaled technical skill, the outlandish artist Salvador Dalí was also deeply rooted in tradition. The first-ever exhibition of work by Dalí at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston examines this sustained engagement with European art of the past. The exhibition presents nearly 30 paintings and works on paper on loan from the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as books and prints from a private collection, which are shown alongside works from the MFA’s European collection made by artists who inspired him. Highlights include The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952–1954), a reworking of Dalí’s single most famous picture, painted two decades earlier, which shows his preoccupation with the elasticity of time. — JACI CONRY
$27 (included with general admission), through December 24, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, 617-267-9300.

Tau Lewis: Spirit Level
Toronto-born, Jamaican-descended artist Tau Lewis crafts densely textured objects from a variety of found materials with some personal meaning—fabrics, photos, stuff from the beach, etc. In doing so, she reclaims the power to produce in a factory-made world and participates in a diasporic tradition of upcycling ingenuity.
$20, through Jan 20, 2025, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

J Rowen O’Dwyer: DEVOTIONS, to a dirty queer home
Bringing together paintings, zines, and other objects, this exhibition explores the notion of home from the perspective of trans and leather dyke communities, embracing not just the expected domestic spaces but parties and bars as well—any place of comfort, belonging, and chosen family.
Free, through December 7, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 551 Tremont St., Boston

Agustina Woodgate: Ballroom
Visitors to this installation pass over a set of globes on the floor, all carefully altered to erase national borders and other human-declared lines of divison. What’s the message—one of earthly unity, or humanity’s self-destruction? The answer is left for us to ponder.
$20, through February 23, 2025, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Innovation: Earth
Explore the newest advancements in sustainability at this interactive, “choose your own adventure”-style exhibit, part of the Museum of Science’s Year of the Earthshot. You’ll get the latest on urban farming, electric vehicles, and solar panels, as well as less-discussed topics, like using mushrooms to make leather, and you’ll get to simulate the impact of all of them.
$31, through December 31, Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston

Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith
Immerse yourself in the fascinating world of Harry Smith, a multimedia artist, scholar, and collector who drifted through the 20^th century avant-garde world on both sides of the United States. Smith is best known for his Anthology of American Folk Music, an invaluable compilation first pressed to wax in 1952.
Free, through December 1, Carpenter Center, Harvard University, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge

The Salem Witch Trials 1692
Even when the story of the Salem Witch Trials is told with accuracy, the distance of centuries can make it hard to imagine. With this ongoing exhibition, the Peabody Essex Museum tries to close that gap a bit, bringing the timeline and context of the infamous miscarriage of justice to life through original documents and artifacts.
$20, ongoing, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Displacement
How do humans change their environment, and what happens when that environment responds? Given the ever-increasing chaos of climate change, these are some of the most important of our time, and this multimedia exhibition, featuring sculpture, video, textiles, and even scent-based art, shows contemporary artists exploring them from myriad angles.
Free, through December 8, MassArt Art Museum, 621 Huntington Ave., Boston

Service and Sacrifice: World War II—A Shared Experience
World War II was a conflagration that not only brought millions of Americans into military service overseas but also pervaded every aspect of life at home. No one was left untouched, from the most marginalized citizens at the time to the highest echelons of society, including the Kennedy family. In this vast exhibition, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum highlights how all Americans were affected in both honorable and unjust ways. Amid countless artifacts and documents, visitors can see JFK’s U.S. Navy dress jacket and wartime correspondence, the flight suit worn by Tuskegee airman Woodrow W. Crockett, and Ansel Adams’s photographs of Japanese Americans held in an infamous internment camp. —MATTHEW REED BAKER
$3-$18, through January 5, 2025, Columbia Point, Boston, jfklibrary.org.

Wordplay
The Institute of Contemporary Art has mined its own collection for work highlighting the use of words in visual art, with pieces from Kenturah Davis, Taylor Davis, Joe Wardwell, Rivane Neuenschwander, Shepard Fairey, Jenny Holzer, Glenn Ligon, and more.
$20, through January 5, 2025, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

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OUT OF TOWN

Tony Sarg: Genius at Play
Organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in partnership with the Nantucket Historical Association, this exhibition opened this summer at the Nantucket Whaling Museum as the first comprehensive show exploring the life, art, and adventures of Tony Sarg (1880–1942). Known as the father of modern puppetry in North America and the originator of the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloons, Sarg was an accomplished illustrator, animator, designer, and nimble entrepreneur who summered on—and took inspiration from—Nantucket for nearly twenty years. “Genius at Play” features original artwork, illustrations, marionettes, animations, books, commercial products, archival photographs, and ephemera from Sarg’s dynamic life and career. Highlighting Sarg’s tremendous talent and legacy within the fields of puppetry and illustration, the exhibition also reveals how Nantucket inspired the many ways that this influential artist gave back to the island he loved so much. —JACI CONRY

Through January 31, 13 Broad St., Nantucket, 508-228-1894, nha.org.

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UPCOMING

2024

December

Thurs., Dec. 12. The Jesus Lizard at Roadrunner. [Info]
Friday, Dec. 13. Suki Waterhouse at Roadrunner. [Info]

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