May Makki

May Makki is a curator and writer interested in the infrastructural possibilities of exhibition-making. She is Associate Curator at Storefront for Art and Architecture and is currently curating Radical Copies at the National Gallery of Kosovo, opening March 2026.

Prior to joining Storefront, Makki was Co-Curator of the Third Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale (2026). From 2022–2025, she was part of the curatorial team in the Department of Media and Performance at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where she curated exhibitions, screenings, and public programs including Martin Beck: Last Night, An Evening with Haig Aivazian, and the collection display of works by Tala Madani.

She was the 2024–2025 Curatorial AIRspace resident at Abrons Arts Center, in partnership with Artists Alliance Inc., and has held research positions at MoMA PS1 and the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University. She holds an MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and a BA in Art History from the University of Chicago.

may.makki@gmail.com

Martin Beck: Last Night

June 1-2, 2024
The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Martin Beck: Last Night presents the artist’s eponymous film work for one day only, on June 2, 2024. Acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in 2022, Last Night (2016) revisits the records that musical host David Mancuso played on June 2, 1984, at one of the last parties at the 99 Prince Street location of the legendary New York dance party known as the Loft.

Beginning on Valentine’s Day 1970, Mancuso regularly held invitation-only dance parties at his home, which later became known as the Loft. In this intimate yet vibrant communal space, high-quality sound and exquisite music were central to the atmosphere, and defined the Loft’s lasting influence on dance culture.

Taking a cue from Mancuso’s signature style of playing each song from beginning to end, no matter their length, Beck films the records spun on June 2, 1984, in full and in sequence, using 10 different camera angles in a pattern based on the Golden Ratio. Unfolding across 13 and a half hours, the work offers communion with that singular night, while simultaneously implying distance from the original event.

June 2, 2024, will mark exactly 40 years since the evening Last Night commemorates. Installed in MoMA’s Kravis Studio on this anniversary, the presentation creates the conditions for memory, contemplation, and celebration—highlighting the communities and exchange of ideas that develop alongside works of art.

Press: