Paul Ramírez Jonas, detail, “Alternative Facts,” 2017 (photo courtesy of the artist)
New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Thursday, July 13 & 27, August 3 & 10, pay-what-you-wish, 7:00 – 9:00
212-219-1222
www.newmuseum.org
“I create as I speak. From the beginning of my career in 1989 I have always considered myself merely a reader of texts,” Paul Ramírez Jonas explains in his official artist statement. On July 13 and 27 and August 3 and 10, the California-born Jonas will be creating, speaking, and reading at the New Museum as part of his residency and exhibition, “Half-Truths,” on the fifth floor. He will perform “Alternative Facts” during the pay-what-you-wish Thursday nights from 7:00 to 9:00, serving as a notary (once he uncovers an untruth) as he facilitates meetings with visitors, turning spare change into gold coins that pay for a pair of certification documents, one that becomes part of the exhibition while the other is given to the visitor. A presentation of the Department of Education and Public Engagement’s annual R&D Summers, “Alternative Facts” also takes place whenever the museum is open, facilitated by members of the Teen Apprentice Program, who also activate Jonas’s “Fake ID,” in which participants get a new identification card based on whatever information is currently on their person, from licenses and credit cards to currency and memberships. “Half-Truths” continues through September 17; also on view at the New Museum now are “Carol Rama: Antibodies,” “Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Under-Song for a Cipher,” “Kaari Upson: Good thing you are not alone,” “Elaine Cameron-Weir: viscera has questions about itself,” and “Ugo Rondinone: I ♥ John Giorno.”