Friday, July 4
American contemporary artist Jeff Koons is being celebrated across the city with a huge museum presentation showing at The Whitney and a 37 feet sculptural garden titled “Split-Rocker” installed at Rockefeller Center. The Whitney show, “Jeff Koons: A Retrospective,” is the final exhibition to take place at the Whitney’s Madison Avenue location, and the first to fill nearly the entirety of the Whitney’s Marcel Breuer building with a single artist’s work. 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. today at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side, $20. “Split-Rocker” is located at Rockefeller Center Plaza, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 49th and 50th Streets, Midtown. Free.
Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks explode tonight in the sky above the East River, near the Brooklyn Bridge. Check out the DNAinfo guide for the best spots - rain or shine, here. An annual ritual since 1976’s bicentennial celebrations, there will be 40,000 fireworks choreographed to a 25-minute score by The DIVA Jazz Orchestra. The light show starts at 9 p.m, arrive early to get a good spot. Free.
Saturday, July 5
Today, the Museum Of The Moving Image’s “See It Big! Science Fiction” series is screening Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey” using a rare 70mm print. Two screenings, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. 36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria, Queens. $12.
As part of the Lincoln Center Festival’s presentation of The Heisei Nakamura-za company’s kabuki play “Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki” a Japanese Artisan Village has been constructed in the Josie Robertson Plaza near the fountain. Consisting of a series of shop stalls modeled on traditional Japanese bungalows, the village has traditional Japanese handicrafts available for sale, including hand-painted dolls, fine cotton towels, and hair ornaments. From 12 p.m, Lincoln Center, Upper West Side. Free.
Sunday, July 6
On “Holdouts! A Manhattan Walking Tour” discover the buildings and the stories behind Midtown Manhattan's great real estate holdouts — those properties that have eluded developers who have wished to knock them down for the sake of new construction. The two hour tour, led by Robert Amell, will include 16 sites found in the landscape of East Midtown Manhattan. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., meetup will be inside the lower atrium of 875 Third Avenue, East Midtown, $20. Advance booking is required.
“Gatsby to Garp: Modern Masterpieces from the Carter Burden Collection” contains nearly a hundred first-edition books, manuscripts, notebooks, letters, and revised galley proofs from the collection of Carter Burden, a cultural benefactor and former New York City councilman. Burden assembled, between 1973 and 1996, what has been described as the greatest collection of modern American literature in private hands. Included are books by William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, John Irving, Henry James and Jack Kerouac. On display from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, Midtown. $18/$12.
