Giant mushrooms in the lobby. Pills that pop from the ceiling. And a sensory deprivation pool where museum-goers can float weightlessly in a body-temperature solution of salty water. Oh, and did I mention the 100-foot slide that runs from the fourth floor to the second? Carsten Höller's new exhibit "Experience" opens Wednesday at the New Museum.

The otherworldly mobiles of Alexander Calder on 57th St., rare Islamic manuscripts at the Morgan, the art collection of photographer Alfred Stieglitz at the Met, Canadian cartoonists get their due on the Upper East Side and D.I.Y. filmstrips come to Williamsburg. New York has got it going on this week.

There is so much going on this week, I don't even know where to begin -- from crafty modernism at MAD to the scratchy-pop paintings of Gary Panter in Chelsea to '90s graphic novels and '80s subway photos. New York has got it going on this week. Here's what we've got in the hopper.

Season 2 of "Work of Art," in which 14 eager, ambitious and largely attractive young artists out-conceptualize each other for a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum, premieres Wednesday night on Bravo. WNYC arts critic Carolina Miranda got a preview from one of the show's judges, critic Jerry Saltz.

Art works that explore the boundary between the real and the imagined, psychedelic paintings, and immersive pieces that bring the night sky (and other imagery) into the gallery space. Here's what's crackin' in the arts world in the coming week.

Bulbous babes in Chelsea, masterful Indian paintings covering a span of 800 years, photos of New York City cops on the beat and eight contemporary Latin American artists. Not to mention a fair that's all about art books and a show devoted to Gotham on canvas and in pictures. It's a busy week in NYC. Here's what we've got in the hopper.

On a spring night in 1971, a group of young artists from East Los Angeles spray-painted their names on the front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  They managed to slip away without getting caught.  But this was no routine tagging, this was an art action.  At the time there were no Mexican-American artists ...

Slideshow: The Art of Asco

A piano-studded tree grows in Brooklyn, rare African sculptures at the Met, revolutionary drawings at the Morgan, the conceptualists of Fluxus in two cities, and on the Lower East Side, art melds with everyday life. There's lots to do in the city in the coming week. Here's what we're going to be looking at.

A key member of New York’s Abstract Expressionist school gets a retrospective at MoMA, textiles get trippy at the Japan Society, caricature and satire get a thorough going-over at the Met and early paintings by minimalist Eva Hesse go on view in Brooklyn. And, in the event that you need some art with your gas, we have that, too. Here’s what we’re looking at in the coming week.

Get ready for art OVERLOAD. This week, the sleeping monster that is the art industry wakes up and comes roaring back to life all over the city: uptown, downtown, in the museums and in just about every nook and cranny where you could possibly hang a piece of found-object assemblage (a.k.a. trash sculpture). So put on your comfortable walking shoes and pack a flask. If this week doesn’t make your brain melt, then I don’t know what will.

New York City's countless art galleries will come out of summer hibernation for the fall openings this week. Check out WNYC's incredibly handy downloadable map and mobile phone guide to the Chelsea fall art openings here, complete with food and drink options, and spots where you can kick up the stilettos or scarf disco fries.

The centennial of collagist Romare Bearden's birth receives tribute at the Met, a New Orleans-born artist shows her sinewy assemblages downtown and a Chelsea gallery displays the demure, 9/11-inspired drawings of a former Beat. Here's a little art to be checking out this Labor Day weekend.

A museum records itself, 19 women artists show their works alongside the figures who inspired them and an American Indian artist gives traditional forms a contemporary sheen. Plus: balloon poems on Governor's Island. It's a quiet out week in the art industry. Here's what we're looking at.

It’s the middle of August -- and that means all things artsy fartsy have come to a veritable standstill or, in some cases, migrated to the Hamptons, where they've gotten lost in a frothing vortex of white parties and Cristal. That does not mean, however, that there isn’t some serious art greatness to check out in the city. In lieu of my regular Must-See Arts datebook, here’s a guide to my favorite summer shows:

Photographs that depict life at the fringes, art that is all about ugly, video in which the artist is present, and a film festival devoted to contemporary Latin American cinema. It may be August, but there's plenty to do in our big sweaty city. Here's what we've got cooking in the arts world this week.

The career retrospective of a German abstractionist in the Hudson Valley, deconstructed pictures and mummified cars in Chelsea, as well as a group show featuring the gallery work of popular street artists. It's August and things are getting sloooowwww in the art industry. But here's our guide to what's cooking.

A Dutch master at the Met, super duper heady/conceptual craziness at PPOW and an artist lets his (alter) ego run wild at at the Marlborough Gallery. Plus: Thursday night is the Chelsea Art Walk -- a fine time to check out art and artsy fartsies! Here's what's in WNYC's arts hopper for the coming week.