ART

MOVIE METROPOLIS “Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies,” a multimedia exhibit that celebrates the city’s rich cinematic history, opens on Friday. The exhibit, based on a book of the same name by architect James Sanders, includes photographs and digitally projected video footage of familiar film scenes. Visitors will find stills from such quintessentially New York films as the Lloyd Bacon musical “42nd Street” (1933); the original “King Kong” (1933), directed by Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack; Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” (1976); Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” (1977), and Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” (1989). The show is on view at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal, and is presented by Turner Classic Movies and Time Warner Cable. Friday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., through Friday, June 22, Monday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall, Lexington Avenue at 42nd Street, 212-340-2347, free.

A TOUCH OF NIRVANA The Japan Society presents the opening of “Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan,” an exhibit of 47 Japanese and Chinese works painted between the 13th and the 16th centuries. The exhibit explores the origins and traditions of painting associated with Zen Buddhist communities during an era of singular artistic merit. In many of the works, Buddhist monks are depicted in spirit-infused states, whether sleeping, dreaming, walking, or reaching enlightenment. Since World War II, there have been only two large-scale shows mounted on this subject outside Japan. Through Sunday, June 17, Tuesday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St., between First and Second avenues, 212-832-1155, $10 general, $8 students and seniors, free to members and children under 16.

FAMILY

WORM YOUR WAY OUT The New York Botanical Garden hosts “Wild Wiggly Worms,” an instructional course about the squiggly, softbodied animals. Participants feed worms in a worm farm, and learn how to sift rich worm compost for plants at home or create a worm mobile. The event is featured as part of a four-month festival at the NYBG, “Caribbean Gardens: Journey to Paradise.” Through Monday, 1–5:30 p.m., festival events and exhibit through Sunday, September 16, New York Botanical Garden, Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, 200th Street at Southern Boulevard, Bronx, 718-817-8700, $18 general, $16 seniors and students, $5 children age 2-12, free under 2. For complete information, go to nybg.org.

FILM

SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY “A Transcontinental Weekend With John Schlesinger,” presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, features four films from the first two decades of the director’s career. Movies include the British releases “Billy Liar” (1963) and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1971) and the Hollywood releases “Midnight Cowboy” (1969) and “Day of the Locust” (1975). Unlike many of his British contemporaries, who worked as writers or critics before turning to filmmaking, Schlesinger worked as an actor before becoming a director for the BBC in 1957. Tomorrow and Saturday, screening times vary, FSLC, 165 W. 65th St. at Amsterdam Avenue, 212-875-5600, $11 general, $7 students, seniors, and members.

FOOD & DRINK

HOTEL GETAWAY Chef Charles Wiley of the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Ariz., prepares a dinner celebrating the best hotel chefs in America. Dishes include devilfried oysters with pickled vegetables, Copper River salmon with morels and fava beans, and a bananas foster tart with rum ice cream and a caramel crisp. Tonight, 7 p.m., James Beard House, 167 W. 12th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues 212-627-2308, $155 general, $125 members.

MUSIC

READY AS EVER The Reddy Music Concert Series presents the Jef Lee Johnson Group and the Rob Reddy Trio at Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theater. This is the second event presented by this new monthly series, which is curated by Mr. Reddy, a saxophonist and composer. Accompanying musicians include bassist Chico Huff and drummer Timmy Hutson. Tomorrow, 9 p.m., Jalopy Theater, 315 Columbia St. at Woodhull Street, Brooklyn, 718-395-3214, $10.

PLAY IT LOW KEY Rapper and current jazz musician Mos Def performs from his latest studio album “True Magic” with a jazz ensemble at the newly opened HighLine Ballroom. The venue donates 25 cents from every ticket to the nonprofit organization Friends of the High Line, which is dedicated to the preservation and reuse of the elevated rail structure on the West Side. Saturday, 9 p.m., HighLine Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., between Ninth and Tenth avenues, 212-414-5994, $60.

PHOTOGRAPHY

TURN ON THE LIGHT “Illuminations: Photographs by Lynn Davis” is an exhibit that documents Ms. Davis’s travels throughout the world in search of the greatest universal sites, both man-made and natural. Ms. Davis documented individuals interacting with their local environments, and religious artifacts. Through Monday, July 16, Monday and Thursday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Tuesday, Wednesday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-620-5000, $10 general, $7 students, seniors, and neighbors of the museum, free for children.

READINGS

‘LOVE IS A MIX TAPE’ Freebird Books & Goods hosts a reading with writers Darcey Steinke and Rob Sheffield. Ms. Steinke reads from her memoir “Easter Everywhere” (Bloomsbury), in which she tells the story of her growing up as the child of a Lutheran minister and a depressive former pageant queen, before embarking on a journey to find a meaningful spiritual life. Her nonfiction work has been featured in such publications as Vogue magazine, the Washington Post, and SPIN magazine. Mr. Sheffield, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, reads from “Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time” (Crown), a celebratory memoir and eulogy for “the decade of Nirvana,” including the sudden death of the rock critic’s wife from a pulmonary embolism. Tonight, 7 p.m., Freebird Books & Goods, 123 Columbia St., between Kane and Degraw streets, Brooklyn, 718-643-8484, free.

SCULPTURE

LITTLE BOY BLUE “I am what is around me” (2006-07), above, is a new installation of 20 life-size ceramic figures of adolescent boys by Elise Siegel. The installation depicts the torsos, arms, hands, and heads of children mounted on wheeled metal frames. Siegel created her figures by building up the clay in coils. She then cut them at the shoulders, wrists, and necks before firing. Through Saturday, June 9, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Nancy Margolis Gallery, 212-242-3013, free.

TALKS

INVISIBLE NO MORE The Museum of the City of New York presents Arnold Rampersad, the author of “Ralph Ellison: A Biography” (Knopf), a book that explores its subject’s complexity as a cultural intellectual and one of America’s most important writers. Ellison counted Saul Bellow, Langston Hughes, Robert Penn Warren, and Richard Wright as close friends. Mr. Rampersad was given complete access to Ellison’s letters and writings. He is the Sara Hart Kimball Professor in the Humanities and a member of the Department of English at Stanford University. In a review of the work in The New York Sun on April 18, book critic Adam Kirsch writes, “Thirteen years after Ellison’s death, Mr. Rampersad has written what is likely to become the definitive life of one of the American century’s most brilliant, enigmatic, and unhappy figures.” Tonight, 6:30 p.m., MCNY, 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd Street, 212-534-1672 ext. 3395, $9 general, $5 members.

WORLDWIDE ART The Art Dealers Association of America presents “The Art Show Phenomenon: How the Art Market’s Hottest Trend Is Shaping the Cultural Landscape,” featuring four art dealers as they discuss what effect the latest proliferation of art fairs — from the Armory shows in February to Art Basel in June to Paris and London shows in October — has on art collecting and exhibiting, and why the art market is becoming as event-driven as ever. Panelists include gallerists Andrew Fabricant, of the Richard Gray Gallery; Barbara Gladstone of Gladstone Gallery; Lawrence Luhring of Luhring Augustine Gallery, and Lucy Mitchell-Innes of Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery. Tonight, 6 p.m., Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery, 534 W. 26th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-940-8925, $20.

FREEDOM TIME “Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War” is a panel discussion about the struggles that freed black slaves faced after the Civil War, when campaigns were mounted to suppress rights and freedom. These campaigns were so successful that, a century after Appomattox, black Americans were still fighting for rights that had been in the Constitution since 1870. Panelists include the dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and a writer for the New Yorker magazine, Nicholas Lemann; a professor of law at New York Law School, Annette Gordon-Reed, and an editorial journalist, Brent Staples. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, 212-868-4444 $15 general, $10 students, seniors and educators, $8 members.

ROOSEVELT’S LEGACY The Arts Culture & Fun at Manhattan Recreation Centers series presents a senior editor at Newsweek maga zine, Jonathan Alter, as he discusses his book “The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope” (Simon & Schuster). In the book, Mr. Alter re-creates the worst year of the Great Depression — 1932-33 — as workers went unpaid for months and unemployment rose to 25% After winning the election in No vember 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared during his first 100 days in office, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” instilling a new hopefulness in Americans. Tonight, 7 p.m., East 54 Street Recreation Center, 348 E. 54 St., between First and Second avenues 212-754-5411, free. For more information, call 311.

THEATER

A KIND OF MAGIC The Irish Repertory Theater presents a New Works Reading Series to support new plays and emerging playwrights Gary Duggan’s “Dedalus Lounge” is featured in the current installment of the series: The play follows three friends in Dublin as one tries to start a Queen tribute band, one balances a high-profile affair with caring for her dying grandmother, and one commits dark acts in dark places. Readers include Patch Dar ragh, Annie Parisse, and Paul Sparks. Tomorrow, 3 p.m., Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 W. 22nd St. between Sixth and Seventh avenues 212-727-2737, free, tickets required.

EAST SIDE RULES F. Murray Abraham, who recently starred in his off Broadway version of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” is a headlining performer at this year’s Lower East Side Festival of the Arts presented by the Theater of the New City. Mr. Abraham also per forms the legendary speech given by Bartolomeo Vanzetti — of Sacco and Vanzetti, the Italian-born anarchists — at their history-making trial in Massachusetts in 1927. Other performers during the three-day festival include Lola Pashalinski Crystal Field, Reno, Penny Arcade and Helen Hanft. Tomorrow through Sunday, Friday, 6 p.m.-1 a.m., Saturday, 11 a.m.-1 a.m., Sunday, 5 p.m.-1 a.m., Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. between 9th and 10th streets, 212-254-1109, free.

To submit an event for consideration for the Calendar, please wire the particulars to calendar@nysun.com, placing the date of the event in the subject line.