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Hyperallergic’s New York newsletter rounds up reviews of Arthur Jafa’s New Museum retrospective, Taryn Simon’s Guggenheim show, and Teresa Margoles at MoMA PS1. Meanwhile, unionized staff at the Whitney, Brooklyn Museum, and American Folk Art Museum are pressing for fair contracts, with the Whitney setting an October 5 strike deadline.
New York’s art world emerged from a rain-soaked post-Armory Week with three major exhibitions now under critical review — Arthur Jafa’s retrospective at the New Museum, Taryn Simon’s Guggenheim rotunda show, and Teresa Margolles’s solo exhibition at MoMA PS1 — even as unionized staff at the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and American Folk Art Museum push for fair contracts, with the Whitney union setting an October 5 strike deadline.
Hyperallergic’s newsletter, published in the week following Armory Week, collected reviews of the season’s headline exhibitions. Stephanie Wambugu, author of Lonely Crowds (2025), reviewed Arthur Jafa’s “I Am Tony” at the New Museum, calling it the largest exhibition of the artist’s work to date and noting it occupies two levels of the Lower Manhattan building. Wambugu identified what she described as “a trail of prescriptive esotericism” running between the art, its curation, and its title.
At the Guggenheim, veteran critic Aruna D’Souza reviewed Taryn Simon’s “Father Country I Do Love You,” a spiral of material installed around the museum’s famous rotunda. Across the river at MoMA PS1, contributor Alex Santana examined Teresa Margolles’s exhibition “En el lugar de los hechos (At the Scene),” which uses distilled minimalist gestures to address systemic violence across borders.
On the labor front, Hyperallergic reported that unionized staff at the Brooklyn Museum and American Folk Art Museum are deliberating on tentative agreements proposed in recent days, while the Whitney union set October 5 as its strike deadline. The newsletter framed the contract pushes as unfolding “amid the buzz of art fairs and exhibition openings.”
Why the Union Deadlines Matter
The concurrent negotiations at three institutions mark an active phase in the broader wave of museum unionization in New York, where cultural workers have organized across major institutions in recent years. A strike at the Whitney, if it proceeds past the October 5 deadline, would be one of the most visible labor actions of the season, coinciding with the busy fall exhibition calendar when visitor traffic and institutional revenue peak.
The tentative agreements at the Brooklyn Museum and American Folk Art Museum, if ratified, would represent concrete outcomes for workers who have argued that fair wages and conditions are required to sustain the city’s cultural labor force. The newsletter’s pairing of labor news with exhibition coverage underscores that the city’s art season depends on both the work on the walls and the people who run the institutions.
The Season After Armory Week
The reviews arrive immediately after Armory Week, the cluster of art fairs and openings that fills New York’s early fall calendar. Hyperallergic’s own Hakim Bishara described this year’s Armory Show as “awfully quiet and downcast,” comparing it unfavorably even to the financial-sector trade show staged on the floor below.
The week’s other openings include the Museum of the City of New York’s new permanent exhibition on the history of activism and organizing in the city, spanning 250 years of ephemera, and the final days of the Morgan Library & Museum’s tarot exhibition, which the newsletter noted had five days left. Elsewhere, a herd of 40 life-sized buffalo puppets moved through parts of the city for “Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi,” and Hyperallergic reported that former MoMA board member Leon Black plans to convert a Manhattan property into a foundation to display his collection, estimated at $5 billion.
“The largest exhibition of his work to date, its ambitions — which it achieves with mixed results — seem to be to engage in the same themes Jafa has continually mined, this time in even more idiosyncratic and brash ways.”
— Stephanie Wambugu, reviewing Arthur Jafa’s I Am Tony at the New Museum
Open Questions on Contracts and Ratification
It is not yet clear whether the tentative agreements at the Brooklyn Museum and American Folk Art Museum will be ratified by union members, or what terms they contain. Whether the Whitney union will actually strike after October 5, or reach a contract before the deadline, remains unresolved. Hyperallergic’s newsletter did not specify which union locals are involved in each negotiation or provide details on the disputed issues.
The full critical reception of the three reviewed exhibitions is also still forming; the published reviews represent individual critics’ assessments rather than a consensus verdict.
Dates to Watch This Fall
The October 5 strike deadline at the Whitney is the most immediate milestone in the labor disputes. Votes or further announcements on the tentative agreements at the Brooklyn Museum and American Folk Art Museum are expected in the coming days, depending on member deliberations.
On the exhibition calendar, the Morgan Library’s tarot show closes within the week, Irene Christensen’s paintings and accordion books remain on view at the National Arts Club, and the traveling exhibition on human bodies and non-human objects opens at Pratt Manhattan Gallery on September 25, running through December 19, 2026. The Jafa, Simon, and Margolles exhibitions continue at their respective museums.
Key Questions
What is Arthur Jafa’s exhibition at the New Museum called, and how large is it?
The retrospective is titled “I Am Tony” and occupies two levels of the New Museum. According to Hyperallergic, it is the largest exhibition of Jafa’s work to date, extending beyond the video art for which he is best known.
Which New York museum unions are in contract negotiations?
Unionized staff at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Folk Art Museum. The Brooklyn and Folk Art unions are deliberating tentative agreements, while the Whitney union has set October 5 as its strike deadline.
What did critics say about Taryn Simon’s Guggenheim show?
Aruna D’Souza wrote that the show’s accumulation of material becomes the spectacle itself, offering anecdotes and a sense of how power reaches into ordinary lives, but leaving viewers — in her case — with a sense of helplessness.
How was this year’s Armory Show received?
Hyperallergic’s Hakim Bishara described the 2026 edition as quiet and downcast, writing that the financial trade show on the floor below felt livelier by comparison.
What other exhibitions opened in New York this week?
The Museum of the City of New York inaugurated a permanent exhibition on 250 years of activism and organizing, the Morgan Library’s tarot exhibition entered its final days, and Irene Christensen’s paintings went on view at the National Arts Club.
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