ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Walking into the Smart Cities exhibit felt like stepping into a sensory vortex, an electrifying collision of light, sound and digital architecture that left me both overwhelmed and intrigued. Initially, the idea of AI-enhanced art made me uneasy: Was this the beginning of art’s dehumanization?
Two new galleries, Offline and Heft, launched in April on the Lower East Side and specialize in digital art, or “NFTs, non-fungible tokens,” and AI art. However, AI is divisive in the art world.
A blend of hip-hop and electropop, with some trap influences, Alter Ego celebrates LISA’s newfound freedom, reflects on her influence on K-pop industry, and her identity as an independent “new woman.”
The word “wrapping” usually evokes gifts. But the art exhibition “Surprises Unknown: The Art of Wrapping,” at the Lehman College Art Gallery, invited viewers to think far beyond decorative paper, ribbons, and shiny bows.
For Bronx-born David González, faith and religion in a place like New York can have very different manifestations. They can be found in a colorful mural honoring the dead in Castle Hill, in the compassionate work of a catholic worker in the East Village, or on a bold storefront sign in the Bronx.
Bronx, New York, 1983. Sixteen-year-old Handal Gomez Abdelrahim was walking up the block in his neighborhood on 231st St, playing hip-hop music on his small radio to meet up with his friends when a grown man confronted him, cursed him and his music with a racial slur, and broke his radio. While another adult stepped in to defend Abdelrahim verbally, Abdelrahim decided to outsmart his assailant. He went back to his house, brought out his bigger radio, and walked past the man with a smile, playing his music even louder.
The piece begins slowly, with controlled movements and silence, and stays this way with the audio sprinkled in. Bits came in and fled, initially confusing me about what was occurring. However, this contributed to the message I took from it later on, acknowledging these slow moments needed to be cherished.
On Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, Hostos Community College in the Bronx screened the Sundance Award-winning film The Infiltrators and featured a discussion with Marco Saavedra, the man centered in the film.