Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. This fall in New York institutional museum offerings, people are checking out “Sixties Surreal” at the Whitney, “Robert Rauschenberg: Life Can’t Be Stopped” at the Guggenheim, “Coco Fusco: Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island” at El Museo del Barrio, Yvette Mayorga’s “PLEA$URE GARDEN$” Midnight Moment in Times Square, “Monet and Venice” and “Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens” at the Brooklyn Museum.

Many everyday New Yorkers do not go to these sparkling openings or exhibitions, however, possibly because their day to day financial worries are all-consuming: The United Way estimates that about 50% of working-age New Yorkers are struggling to cover basic needs – up from 36% only four years earlier. National surveys put the estimated number of Americans who are living paycheck-to-paycheck at ~60–67% in 2025. Thankfully, many museums have a window of time with free admission, but not all. Maybe the Whitney could have a show called “Surreal Twenty-Twenties”, or the Whitney might present, “Jerome H. Powell: Inflation Can’t Be Stopped”.

The Whitney offers all Fridays free from 5–10 p.m., every second Sunday free, and if you’re 25 or under, it’s always free. The Museum of Modern Art welcomes New York State residents free of charge every Friday from 5:30–8:30 p.m. (proof of residency required). The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum invites visitors to pay what they wish on Mondays and Saturdays from 4–5:30 p.m., with a suggested minimum of one dollar. The New-York Historical Society follows suit with pay-as-you-wish admission on Fridays from 5–8 p.m. And for those who prefer art in the Bronx, the Bronx Museum of the Arts remains free every day of the week. And right here in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Museum opens its doors every First Saturday of the month from 5–11 p.m. for free admission with registration, and visitors are always welcome to pay what they can at the desk.

Looking at headlines, ordinary life may feel like it is under siege. Our new two-hour news cycle is trampling us underfoot in new and exciting ways every day, with ICE “kidnapping” signs popping up on the street across Washington D.C., protesters pleading for D.C. police to stop helping ICE, federal workers discovering that their pink slips arrived before their paychecks, and the leading NYC mayoral candidate being chased from a city park. If that is not enough, today a nor’easter is preparing to flood the coast. Compared to the daily attacks on people in this country from up above, a rainy windy attack from Mother Nature feels comforting.

Meanwhile, much of our street art is busy with cats, pop icons, ambient dread, and general sweetness. For anyone assuming the scene remains activist or subversive, evidence is not plentiful. Still, it photographs beautifully.

Here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Chloe, I Am Frankie Botz, Jappy Agoncillo, Jeff Rose King, Kam S. Art, Lucia Dutazaka, Mad Villian, Man in the Box, Manuel Alejandro, Nandos Art, Rommer White, Sonni, Sophia Messore, and Tone Wash.