ARCHITECTURE

SEE JANE BUILD The Municipal Art Society and the Rockefeller Foundation present “Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York,” an exhibit that reevaluates the legacy and values of the New York activist through images, text, and multimedia displays. Jacobs became well-known for articulating the magic of large cities and how ill-conceived redevelopment plans can bring about their destruction. The show aims to encourage New Yorkers to observe the city closely and to empower them to take an active role in advocating for a more livable city, the shared goal of Jacobs. Through Saturday, January 5, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Wednesday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Municipal Art Society, Urban Center galleries, 457 Madison Ave. at East 51st Street, 212-935-3960.

ART

DON’T GO CHASING WATERFALLS

“Form of a Waterfall,” an exhibit of drawings, video, and cassette-recorded music by Sadie Benning, is on view at the Orchard 47 gallery. Ms. Benning, a co-founder of the electro-pop band LeTigre, weaves the same feminist “riot grrl” commentary into her art that marked the band’s music. The show features abstract drawings that evoke quasi-erotic mandalas and diary collages of music and self-portraiture. They are accompanied by an interactive selection of Ms. Benning’saudiocassettecompositions.

Through Sunday, October 7, Thursday–Sunday, 1–6 p.m., Orchard 47 Gallery, 47 Orchard St., between Stanton and Rivington streets, 212-219–1061, free.

THE COLLABORATOR “Invention: Merce Cunningham & Collaborators,” an exhibit at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, offers a glimpse at the choreographer’s creative process, including four key discoveries. Mr. Cunningham’s manuscripts, designs, and computergenerated choreography are on view together with archival materials collected from a selection of artists and musicians with whom he has worked. Composer John Cage, and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns figure prominently. The exhibit is presented by the library, the Cunningham Dance Foundation, and the John Cage Trust.

Through Saturday, October 13, Monday and Thursday, noon–8 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m., New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, between 64th and 65th streets, 212-870-1630, free.

FILM

The Museum of the Moving Image hosts a screening of “The Orchestra of the Piazza Vittorio” (2006), an award-winning Italian documentary about the 5-year journey of an orchestra. The screening is followed by a live performance by 11 members of the orchestra. The film’s director, Agostino Ferrente, is also on hand to discuss the film. The plot follows Italian musician Mario Tronco, who is joined by a groupofartistsandmusiciansfrom all over the world, as he leads the charge to save the historic Apollo Theater. The group hatches an ambitious plan, not long after the events of September 11, 2001, to build a multiethnic house orchestra for the Harlem venue. (The film includes English subtitles.)

Tomorrow, 7 p.m., 35th Avenue at 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, 718-784-4520, $15 general, $5 museum members.

READINGS

A WINTER IN INDIA The interconnected short stories in author Nalini Jones’s debut collection, “What You Call Winter,” unfold in a small Catholic town in rural India. Ms. Nalini discusses the process of creating universal characters with her editor at Knopf, Carol Janeway. The cast of characters includes a woman who returns from America for her mother’s cataract surgery, an eccentric aunt, and an older man who believes that he has seen his long-dead parent riding around town. Tonight, 7 p.m., McNally Robinson, 52 Prince St., between Lafayette and Mulberry streets, 212-274-1160, free.

TALKS

GERTRUDE AND ALICE A writer for the New Yorker magazine, Janet Malcolm, discusses the couple at the center of her new book, “Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice” (Yale). Ms. Malcolm’s literary biography of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, “elderly Jewish lesbians” as the author describes them, explores the unconventional relationship shared by the expatriate pair. Living in post-World War I France, Toklas served as the diligent worker bee and caretaker to Stein’s tense, and often sour, literary genius. Thetalkkicksoffthisseason’s “BiographersandBrunch”seriesat the 92nd Street Y. Sunday, 11 a.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, 212-415-5542, $40 general, $34 for Unterberg Poetry club members.

LOOKING BACK Historian Marshall Berman and journalist Brian Berger, read from and discuss the anthology, “New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg.” Messrs. Berman and Berger edited the collection of essays, in which writers reflect on the city’s trajectory between the 1970s and the present. Topics range from the birth of punk music and graffiti writing to blintzes, city mayors, and the New York Police Department. Featured contributors to the anthology includewriterLuc Sante;afoodcritic for the Village Voice, Robert Sietsema, and a reporter for the Voice, Tom Robbins. Tonight, 7 p.m., Book Court,163CourtSt. atPacificStreet, Brooklyn, 718-875-3677, free.

CANVAS CHAT As part of its “Artists Talk on Art” series, the School of Visual Arts presents “The Power of Art Criticism: New York’s Top Art Critics Speak,” a discussion about contemporary art criticism in today’s press. Panelists include The New York Sun’s Gary Shapiro, a critic for the New York Times, Phyllis Braff, and two writers for Art in America, Robert Berlind and Gerard Haggerty. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., SVA, Amphitheater, 209 E. 23rd St. at Third Avenue, 212-592-2610, free.

PAINTINGS

ELECTRIC POSSIBILITIES “Thirteen Monsters for Lightning Bolt” is the title of Steven Charles’s first exhibit in Manhattan, at the Marlborough Chelsea Gallery. Because of the labor-intensive process that Mr. Charles employs to create his deeply intricate and colorful paintings — using such items as wine corks and surfaces with graffiti to begin his work — he has only previously exhibited in small galleries in Brooklyn. Selections include “gobltron” (2007), above. Tonight, opening reception, 6 p.m., exhibit through Saturday, November 3, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Marlborough Chelsea Gallery, 545 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-463-8634, 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.