CULTURECALENDAR By Rebecca Parke

CultureCalendar

KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature

Check out Yayoi Kusama’s latest project. With a profound connection to the natural world, Cosmic Nature is influenced by Kusama’s childhood, spent in the greenhouses of her family’s seed nursery. Studying themes of obliteration, infinity, and eternity, this work is backdropped with the colors and patterns at the New York Botanical Gardens 250-acre landscape. In order to enjoy the jawdropping splendor of the gardens and Kusama’s exhibit, this spring debut promises to be well worth the wait. Ticket purchases and exact dates for the exhibition are pending New York State’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, but this multisensory presentation has been rescheduled for the spring of 2021.

Akhnaten at the Metropolitan Opera

In the performance world, the Metropolitan Opera is streaming the third installment of Phillip Glass’ Portrait Trilogy, which focuses on revolutionary figures from around the world. Entertainment meets history lesson in the composer’s inventive finale, which follows Akhnaten, an Egyptian pharaoh. The performance fuses an orchestra-conducted score with choreographed visuals and performances on stage for a mind-boggling sensory delight. Originally recorded in November 2019, the hypnotic performance is available via streaming from the Met Opera™ on Demand, which is available for Amazon Fire™ TV and Tablet, iPad®, iPhone®, Apple® TV, Android™, Roku™, and Samsung™ Smart TV.

The Cultivist

To combat FOMO and for unrivaled access to art across the globe, The Cultivist is a private member’s club with head offi ces in New York City and London. VIP members are granted access to private museum events, art fairs, and tickets to sold-out museum shows. Pre-pandemic, The Cultivist off ered access to cuturally enriching in-person events that included studio visits and private dinners. Today, you can tune in virtually to Cultivist Academy, a series of one-on-one video classes with art experts. The Cultivist app also features exhibition listings, exclusive news, and art world insights. Catered to those with a growing hunger for art-themed experiences, The Cultivist allows users to travel the globe and skip the line at hundreds of museums. The app is available for Android™ and iOs.

Virtual Reality

Traveling While Black

This powerful experience immerses the viewer in the history of restricted movement and need for safe spaces for Black Americans. The fi lm begins at the historic Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington D.C. and guides you to a series of intimate moments with patrons as they refl ect on their experiences. This fi lm explores the way Americans understand and talk about race, while showcasing the need not only to remember the past but to acknowledge the challenges of the present. This virtual reality experience can run on the Oculus Quest.

TRIPP

If you want to take an LSD-free trip, check out this platform, voted Best Use of VR For Health and WellBeing by the Académie des Lumières. TRIPP is a breakthrough wellness platform administered through the immersive support of virtual reality – not your mother’s meditation. TRIPP leverages technological advances in virtual reality with mental wellness research to provide mindful visuals and interactions, targeted sound frequencies, and other devices for a non-chemical alternative to manage mental health challenges. Described as “fi tness for your inner self,” TRIPP gives each user a self-regulation toolkit with new experiences added regularly. You can run TRIPP on the Oculus Quest.