NYC Art Roundup: Oyster Installation, Homer Fragment, and Simone Forti Interview

This week's art dispatches from New York City feature a new installation by Mohawk artist Alan Michelson on Governors Island, a rare Homer papyrus fragment on view at The Met, and a previously unpublished interview with Simone Forti. Michelson's "The Oyster" (2026) uses nearly a million oyster shells from Manhattan restaurants to address the erasure of the Lenape people and the history of oysters in New York. The installation is reviewed by Hrag Vartanian, who notes the oysters' far-flung origins echo globalization and colonialism. At The Met, a 2,300-year-old papyrus fragment of Homer's Odyssey is now on display, containing three lines from Book 20 not found in modern texts. The fragment was recently pulled from storage and is exhibited in the Department of Greek and Roman Art. In commemoration of the late Simone Forti, an interview conducted by Julia Bryan-Wilson in 2014 has been published, in which Forti discusses her relationship with Yoko Ono, who dedicated one of her screaming pieces to Forti. Forti also recalls visits to Ono's loft on Chambers Street with John Cage, Bob Morris, and Yvonne Rainer. Other events include the New Museum's upcoming exhibition "The Bowery: Devil's Mile" opening September 24, a documentary screening of "American Doctor" at the Angelika Film Center, a conversation between artist Chang Yuchen and linguist Ross Perlin at Printed Matter, and various other talks and screenings throughout the city.