It’s a big year for New York art exhibitions in 2012; the city has a huge amount going on in the world of art so make the most of it. Book into one of the cheap New York hotels and you’ll be able to afford to stay for even longer to explore the arty city. On the 12 June 2012 the annual Free Museum Mile festival will be on, when you can gain access to the best of the city’s museums for free. The whole mile will be closed to cars for 23 blocks and live bands, entertainment and street art will fill the streets, but as for the rest of the year…

Photo Credit : Cindy Sherman – MOMA – New York - Chromogenic color print, 97 1/8 x 63 15/16″

MOMA

The Cindy Sherman exhibition celebrates the influential artist’s career so far. For the last 30 years Cindy has worked as her own model, photographer, make-up artist, hairdresser, stylist and wardrobe mistress to become the respected artist she is today. This retrospective brings together more than 180 photographs tracing her career from the mid-70s to today, including the ground-breaking series “Untitled Film Stills, which feature Cindy in stereotypical female roles inspired by 50s and 60s Hollywood, film noir and European art-house films. This is set to be one of the MOMAs best exhibitions for 2012 with a major publication accompanying the works and specially selected films to be shown in the theatre while the show runs.

February 26 – June 11, 2012

Entrance fee: $25

Students: $14

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

January sees the Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution exhibition come to the Met. Fu Baoshi’s figure paintings and landscapes proved to be some of the most popular in China’s modern period. This celebration of the past 40 years of work includes 70 paintings including some from China’s Nanjing Museum and others from private collections.

January 21 – April 15, 2102

Entrance Fee: $25

Students: $12

Museum of the City of New York

The September exhibition of maps, photographs, newspapers and original artefacts relating to Staten Island’s historical transformation is united in From Farm to City: Staten Island 1661-2012. The exhibition looks at current debates about land preservation, environmental sustainability and redevelopment.

Sep 18 2012

Entrance fee $10

Students: $6

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is just a 30-minute walk from Greenwich Village. In June a new exhibition opens called ‘Graphic Design: Now in Production’. It covers the issue of the wealth of user-generated content available now, and what that means for design. You’ll be shown design-driven magazines, newspapers, books and posters of the past few years. The exhibition will be at Governers Island as the Cooper-Hewitt is closed for refurbishment.

June 2 – September 3, 2012

Entrance fee: free

American Museum of Natural History

The Beyond Planet Earth workshops are not to be missed. Discover the world outside of our planet with discussions about life on Mars, hands-on activities, visits to the Beyond Planet Earth exhibition and journeys in the Hayden Planetarium.

January 10 – February 16, 2012

Entrance fee: $19

Students: $14.50

The Jewish Museum

Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940, comes to The Jewish Museum in May 2012. The exhibition looks back on his entire career with a fresh eye. Concentrating on six aspects of his work – his artistic beginnings, La Revue Blanche, The picture and the Frame, New Patrons and Later Portraits – the retrospective gives an in-depth look at this trailbreaker artist.

May 04, 2012 – September 23, 2012

Entrance fee: $12

Students: $7.50

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Being Singular Plural is a truly interactive and modern exhibition with film, video and interactive sound-based installations from some of the most innovative and visionary media artists and filmmakers working in India today. Visitors will enjoy works that have never been in North American museums before, some even the world.

March 2 – June 6, 2012

Entrance fee: $18

Students: $15

Goethe-Institut New York

At Goethe-Institut New York, just a 15-minute walk away from Greenwich Village, you’ll find the Gob’s Squad Resource Room. The Berlin-based Gob Squad are bringing two shows – Super Night Shot and Gob Squad’s Kitchen to the gallery. It’s a rare chance to enjoy the talented company’s interactive, humorous and provocative take on the human condition.

Entrance fee: free

Neue Galerie New York

At the Neue Galerie New York you’ll find the Heinrich Kuhn and his American Circle:  Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen exhibition. It focuses on the work of the illustrious Austrian photographer and explores his positioning among his peers and the close friendships he built. As well as his influence on the use of colour images in photography.

April 26 – August 27, 2012

Entrance fee: $20

Students: $10

Frieze New York Gallery

The contemporary art gallery comes to New York with around 170 pieces from the most exciting galleries in the world. The fair will take place on Randall’s Island, Manhattan, within a unique bespoke structure overlooking the East River. It promises to be one of the most exciting dynamic contemporary art events in New York for 2012.

4-7 May 2012

Entrance fee: approx. $30

Photo Credit: Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum