What’s Happening: With one-off performances and in-the-moment ideas staged across New York City, the biennial founded by RoseLee Goldberg is a clarion call to turn off your smartphone and experience what’s in front of you.

The Download: Modern life revolves around the smartphone. Meaningful face-to-face interaction is becoming increasingly rare in an era of hyper-convenience, where handheld devices forge the feeling of being instantaneously transported anywhere at the click of a button. But not for RoseLee Goldberg, the art historian and founding director of Performa, the New York nonprofit dedicated to the performing arts. The biennial’s tenth edition, which runs until November 19, is a welcome reminder of the virtues of simply showing up.

This year’s edition showcases nearly 50 artists and collectives from around the world, who coalesce at far-flung venues across New York City to stage one-off performances that capture the magic of the moment—and perhaps our shortage of sustained attention. The schedule ranges from minimalist dance and enticing monodramas to atmospheric light shows. Highlights include a spellbinding score by Anna Maria Häkkinen, who filled Governors Island’s Arts Center with local dance artists performing to a harp-forward number by composer Keliel. French-Caribbean artist Julien Creuzet will explore the collective memory of movements across the Black Atlantic diaspora, inspired by his archive of gestures and dances. Other idiosyncratic talents—Karon Davis, Lonnie Holley, Marcel Dzama, Hito Steyerl—promise high-concept affairs.

Goldberg, who mostly shuns social media, discovers artists the old-school way, by traveling around the world and visiting galleries and museums. She and her team of curators select bold-faced names who are influential in their fields but perhaps have little experience in live performance. She staged the first edition in 2005, the idea sparking after she encouraged artist Shirin Neshat to stage one of her video works live four years prior. The events have increased in ambition and scale—a crowd instructed to laugh for hours, Barbara Kruger’s critical phrases emblazoned on 50,000 subway cards—and continue to expand our understanding of performance today. Performa’s archive is available online, but there’s a reason why critic Holland Cotter once called the biennial a “paean to you-had-to-be-there.”

In Their Own Words: “Art brings us into close proximity to culture and politics in a way that nothing else does,” Goldberg told Vogue. “Everything we make is made in such a way that, frankly, I get blown away. I want people to be as moved as I am. I should be so used to this by now, but I get astonished by what artists produce. My guarantee is that you’ll be astonished.”

Surface Says: The live performance ethos even extends to its gala, too.

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Fresh off its glittering debut, the $500 million Perelman Performing Arts Center welcomes one of New York City’s biggest culinary stars: chef Marcus Samuelsson (Hav & Mar, Red Rooster). Who better to envision the Metropolis restaurant inside of a cultural institution dedicated to dance, music, and opera than David Rockwell, the prolific architect whose work spans a range of hospitality projects as well as Broadway set designs?

Adorned in burgundy accents and a dramatic, maze-like LED ceiling installation, the 135-seat dining room is worthy of its home. Samuelsson is joined by a notable culinary ensemble, including executive chef Ed Tinoco, chef de cuisine Marcelo Malta Andrade, and pastry chef Onika Ayana Brown. The diverse menu is meant to reflect the five boroughs of New York, and offers up everything from smoked hamachi tacos to aged Long Island duck in a four-year mole to Arctic char with uni beurre blanc.

Studio Hinge recently pulled back the curtain on the Forest of Knowledge, an imaginative library located in the heart of Mumbai. Commissioned by the Cricket Club of India, a historic members’ club housed in a splendid Art Deco building dating to the 1930s, the library seeks to recreate the enchanting experience of reading under a tree by recasting concrete columns as evocative tree trunks. The firm integrated shelving that extends upward to create captivating arched forms across the ceiling, connected in places by a wooden lattice. Circular shelves surround each column’s base while seating areas at the floor’s edges provide inviting reading nooks. The library is both a testament to coming together after lockdown—and a paean to the canopies formed by ficus and gulmohar trees found nearby.

This week, to mark the opening of her exhibition “A Feminist History Tree Ring” on Washington D.C’s National Mall, the artist-activist Tiffany Shlain convened women trailblazers to toast the occasion. In a fitting choice of setting, the intimate group took to the national headquarters of Vital Voices, a fellowship program for women leaders.

When was it? Nov. 1

Where was it? Vital Voices, Washington, D.C.

Who was there? Padma Lakshmi, Lynda Carter, Dolores Huerta, Tarana Burke, Senator Sarah McBride, Michelle Pred, Autumn Breon, Whitney Bradshaw, and more.

When: Nov. 10–17

Where: 82 Gansevoort St, New York

What: A group exhibition of collectible design brings the region’s widespread influence and culture to New York City alongside a photography showcase by Pugliese artist Piero Percoco. His captivating shots of the region’s teal-blue Mediterranean coast, rose-hued architecture, and verdant flora evoke a profound sense of time and place. Meanwhile, vignettes of furnishings, décor, and objets by 11 Pugliese brands puts the region’s creative expertise and ingenuity on full display. Participating exhibitors include Affreschi & Affreschi, Pimar Italian Limestone Specialist, Officine Tamborrino, and more.

Italian Design Brands is on a mission to represent the excellence of Italian design and craftsmanship worldwide, working as a virtuous environment in which each brand can boost its competitive strength while maintaining its identity, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit.

Surface Says: With a vast portfolio including the likes of David Groppi’s lighting and furniture by Meridiani and Saba Italia, IDB is an invaluable resource for Italian design devotees.

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