The portraiture of Alice Neel in Chelsea, the weird-grotesque films of a Swedish artist at the New Museum and the filmy interiors of a post-Impressionist at the Jewish Museum. Plus: photographic narratives at MoMA and text-based works in Tribeca. There's lots going on in the city this week. Here's what we're looking at.

What to see in the second installment of the Downtown Manhattan museum's survey of young artists from around the world.

A 100-foot tubular slide and sensory deprivation saline pool are drawing crowds — and cash — to the New Museum.

Since the New Museum's Carsten Höller "Experience" exhibition opened last Wednesday, city agencies have been investigating three of the show's installations: a 100-foot tube slide, a mirrored carousel and a saline sensory deprivation pool. On Tuesday, city officials gave the green light to the installations.

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.

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:

Beginning on Wednesday, new ideas are coming to New York City. The Festival of Ideas for the New City pairs workshops and lectures about everything from sustainability to urban planning to public policy in various locations on the Lower East Side.

On Wednesday, sculptor Lynda Benglis’ works from the last forty years will be covering the walls and floors of the museum. Check out a slideshow of her work here.

Click here to get WNYC arts writer Carolina Miranda's take. Plus, let us know what you think of the video.

The New Museum has installed "Fire In My Belly" in its lobby. The video, which is by the late New York artist David Wojnarowicz, was on view in the Smithsonian last week as part of a gay-themed exhibit. The Smithsonian took the video down on November 30, after the Catholic League called it an act of "hate speech" for several seconds of ants crawling on a crucifix during the film.

If you're walking down the Bowery on Manhattan's Lower East Side this week, you may notice something different on the facade of the New Museum.

An exhibit at The New Museum explores the growing impact of the Internet on artistic expression. “Free” opened this week with contributions from 22 contemporary artists from a range of disciplines—including sculpture, photography, collage, installation, and video.

Brion Gysin's Dream Machine is a sculpture that, when seen with closed eyes, is meant to draw the viewer into a "trance-like, hallucinatory state."

When the controversy surrounding the Jeff Koons-curated "Skin Fruit" bubbled to the surface last November, New Museum director Lisa Phillips told The New York Times that the exhibit would provide New Yorkers with a unique opportunity to see a prized art collection from abroad -- the implication being that the show would consist of little-seen artists and/or works. "We think the public will be the beneficiaries of Dakis's very generous agreement to allow works from his foundation to cross the ocean," she said at the time.

Last fall, when the New Museum announced it would show the private collection of its trustee Dakis Joannou -- and that this show would be curated by the collector's friend, artist Jeff Koons -- all manner of debate emerged about the propriety of the exhibit. (It started with a post by blogger James Wagner last September, turned into a full brouhaha with artist William Powhida's "Brooklyn Rail" cover in November, before being picked up by The New York Times ten days later. Since then, it's made for regular, reliable blogger fodder. Full disclosure: I've been critical of the show on my own blog.)

Now that the exhibit is up, the burning question is: Was it worth the controversy? The answer, in my book, would be: No.