ART

TESTINO’S TASTE Fashion photographer Mario Testino curated the group exhibit “Instinctive,” which closes this weekend at Andrea Rosen Gallery. It includes Latin-American artists working in a variety of media, from a large Tomas Espina triptych made with gunpowder combustions on canvas, to a small polyester resin figure pointing toward the ceiling by Tiago Carneiro da Cunha. In another room at the gallery, Hannah Greeley’s series of painstakingly handcrafted Budweiser bottles are strewn around. Through Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Andrea Rosen Gallery, 525 W. 24th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-627-6000, free.

BENEFITS

PARTY FOR A GOOD CAUSE A cocktail party hosted by Grey Goose and others benefits the children’s psychiatric inpatient unit at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Thursday, January 20, 6:30 p.m., Thalassa Restaurant, 179 Franklin St., between Greenwich and Hudson streets, 212-604-2409, $100.

BOOKS

LEADING MAN Mayor Giuliani signs “Leadership” (Miramax), an examination of his management during the events that followed September 11, 2001. Today, 1 p.m., Barnes & Noble Rockefeller Center, 600 Fifth Ave. at 48th Street, 212-765-0593, free.

BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT Malcolm Gladwell reads from his latest book, “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” (Little, Brown), which looks at split-second decision-making. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Barnes & Noble Union Square, 33 E. 17th St. at Broadway, 212-253-0810, free.

DANCE

SETTING THE STAGE Performance artist Julia Mandle and choreographer Noemie Lafrance talk about dances set in unusual spaces in tonight’s installment of the Whitney’s “Conversations on Art” series. The new director of the Kitchen performance space, Debra Singer, leads the discussion, which was inspired by Isamu Noguchi’s innovative stage sets for Martha Graham. Tonight, 7 p.m., Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Ave. at 75th Street, 212-570-3676, $8.

SWEET DREAMS John Lithgow wrote and performs narration for Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet “Carnival of the Animals.” The dance tells the story of a young boy, accidentally locked in the American Museum of Natural History, who has dreams in which people in his life appear as animals. New York City Ballet dancers perform to a score by Camille Saint-Saens. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m., Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, January 19, 8 p.m., New York City Ballet, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street, 212-870-5570, $30-$73.

FAMILY

CELEBRATING WITH POETRY Storyteller Joanna Featherstone presents the poems of Phyllis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, and other African Americans in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Saturday, 4 p.m., Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway at Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-638-5000, $8 general, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 12.

HELPING HANDS The nonprofit group Children for Children hosts a volunteering day during which children can help out at one of several community service organizations. Accompanied by an adult, participants can make birthday cards for the elderly, knit pieces for baby blankets, plant bulbs, and decorate flowerpots. Monday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr. High School, 122 Amsterdam Ave. at 65th Street, 212-759-1462, free.

FILM

JEWISH FESTIVAL The New York Jewish Film Festival opens today. Seen above is a still from “Watermarks” (2004), Yaron Zilberman’s documentary about a 1930s Viennese swim team that formed as a Jewish response to the segregation of Austrian sports. Forced to officially disband following Nazi Germany’s 1938 annexation of Austria, the club then worked in secret to help members find passage abroad. The film also features interviews with women of the champion swim team, now in their 80s, as they journey back to the site of their youthful triumphs (tomorrow and Sunday, 4 p.m., Tuesday, 6 p.m.). Below is a still of Irene Rich and Frank Morgan in “The Mortal Storm” (1940), one of the films examined in Daniel Anker’s documentary “Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust.” (Sunday, 1:30 p.m., Monday, 6 p.m., Tuesday, 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, 3 p.m.).The festival opens with a screening of “The Man Who Loved Haugesund,” about a Jewish man living in Norway when Hitler invaded. It screens with “Permission to Remember,” a documentary that questions one man’s claim to have saved 50 Jews during World War II (today and tomorrow, 1 p.m., Monday, 12:30 p.m.).The series is presented by the Jewish Museum and Lincoln Center. Most screenings: Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater, 165 W. 65th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, 212-875-5600 for information, 212-496-3809 for tickets, $10 general, $7 students, $6 members, $5 seniors Monday-Friday before 6 p.m. See www.thejewishmuseum.org for complete schedule.

MUSIC

MIDTOWN MONTEVERDI The early-music organization ARTEK performs a program titled “Madrigals of Monteverdi,” featuring work from Monteverdi’s books 4, 5, and 9.The group’s director, Gwendolyn Toth, plays the harpsichord during the concert, which is part of the early-music series Midtown Concerts. Today, 1:15 p.m., Church of St. Francis of Assisi, 135 W. 31st St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-967-9157, free.

MUSICAL KAFKA Soprano Dawn Upshaw and violinist Geoff Nuttall perform Gyorgy Kurtag’s “Kafka Fragments,” a collection of 39 songs constructed of texts from Franz Kafka’s letters and diaries. Peter Sellars directs a new staging of the program. Tonight and tomorrow, 8:30 p.m., Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, 212-247-7800, $38-$52.

PUMPKIN SEED Former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin performs with his new band, Jimmy Chamberlin Complex. Group Sounds headlines the evening. Tomorrow, 8:30 p.m. Chamberlin, 10:30 p.m. Group Sounds, Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St., between Essex and Ludlow streets, 212-260-4700, $10.

PIANO FORT Pianist Anat Fort performs at BAMcafe’s “Fort Greene Scene” festival celebrating musicians who live in the Brooklyn Academy of Art’s neighborhood. Trained in classical piano, Ms. Fort performs original compositions influenced by her Jewish-Israeli upbringing and her love of jazz. Saturday, 9:30 p.m., Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette St., between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street, Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, free, $10 minimum.

READINGS

WOMEN WRITERS Kate Walbert, whose novel “Our Kind” (Scribner) was nominated for the 2004 National Book Award in fiction, joins novelist Felicia Luna Lemus at tonight’s installment of the “Cupcake Reading Series.” Open to “New York’s best women writers,” the series was founded by Elizabeth Merrick and Lauren Cerand, who have made it their mission to point out imbalances in the number of male and female writers at magazines from The New Yorker to n+1. Tonight, 7:30 p.m., Lolita, 266 Broome St. at Allen Street, free.

SPACE

TO THE MOON The American Museum of Natural History celebrates the first landing of a space probe on one of Saturn’s moons, Titan, with a series of events this weekend. Scientists believe that the cloud-shrouded moon is covered with an ocean. The night before the landing, a scientist at Southwest Research Institute, David Grinspoon, gives a talk titled “Imaging Titan: The Ongoing Discovery of a Strange, New World” (Friday, 7-9 p.m., $14 general, $12 members, seniors, and students). Die-hard space fans can enjoy a 5 a.m. “Breakfast at Titan” with a live broadcast of the news conference to release landing images (Saturday, 5-9 a.m., free). After the landing, Mr. Grinspoon lectures again about the results (Saturday, 2:15 p.m., free) and mission updates are provided throughout the day (Saturday, 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m., free). Hands-on family activies are also available, to give future astronauts a taste of space (Saturday, 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m., free). All activities: American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, 212-769-5200, $13 general, $9 seniors and students, $7 children.

TALKS

INDUSTRY INSIDERS The New York chapter of the Women’s National Book Association presents a panel discussion about how African Americans are changing the publishing industry. Participants include author Leslie Esdaile Banks, literary agents Manie Barron and Earl Cox, and the editorial director of Kensington Books, Karen Thomas. The book news editor for Publishers Weekly, Charlotte Abbott, and the president of the WNBA, Jill Tardiff, serve as moderators. Tomorrow, 6-8 p.m., Small Press Center, 20 W. 44th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, $10 general, $5 students and Small Press Center members, free for WNBA members.

ART IMITATING LIFE Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Steve Earle and Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme discuss their work, with special attention to the subject of how politics and current events influence artistic expression. Friday, 7 p.m., the New York Public Library, Celeste Bartos Forum, 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, 212-930-0855, $10 general, $7 members.

FASHION FORWARD Designers Diane von Furstenberg, Norma Kamali, and Jill Stuart talk about how they built their successful global product lines. Cosmetics consultant Pamela Vaile moderates the talk. Monday, 8:15 p.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, 212-415-5500, $25.

THEATER

CAPITAL ‘PUNISHMENT’ Russian director Kama Ginkas’s play “K.I. From ‘Crime'” is an adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” that depicts the last evening of one of the novel’s marginal characters, Katerina Ivanovna. Moscow based actress Oksana Mysina stars in the play, which is a production of the Foundry Theatre and the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation. Through Sunday, January 30, Wednesday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, 4 p.m., Freight Entrance/Chashama Theatre, 208 W. 37th St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues, 212-868-4444, $40.

ONE-ACT EVENING Eli Wallach reads Isaac Bashevis Singer’s play “Alone” at the next installment of Food for Thought. The organization produces readings of one-act plays over cocktail hour. Also this week, Anne Jackson and Betsy von Furstenberg read Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” adapted and directed by Sandra Kazan. Friday, 5:30 p.m. cocktails, 6:30 p.m. reading, National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, between Irving Place and Gramercy Park West, 212-362-2560, $49 includes drinks. Note: Business attire required.

WRESTLING HISTORY WWF Hall of Famer “Luscious” Johnny Valiant performs his one-man show deconstructing his career as a professional wrestler. A question-and-answer session with the audience follows. Saturday, 8 p.m., Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery at 1st Street, 212-614-0505, $10.

TOURS

UNDERGROUND TOUR The chief designer of many maps for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, John Tauranac, leads a tour of historic subway stations. The event begins with a slide show at the Museum of the City of New York about early stations, including mosaics and bas reliefs allegedly designed to help immigrants navigate the system. Then attendees board the subway for a backward looking glimpse at the MTA. Be warned: Mr. Tauranac will also administer a “subway quiz.” Sunday, 2 p.m., meet at the Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd Street, 212-534-1672, ext. 3393, $10 general, $6 members, reservations required.

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