May Makki

May Makki is an independent curator and writer. From 2022 to 2025, she was Curatorial Assistant at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where she contributed to the programming of The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, focusing on new commissions and presentations of live and time-based art. She curated, co-organized, and supported projects such as Martin Beck: Last Night, An Evening with Haig Aivazian, the collection display of works by Tala Madani, and Nour Mobarak: Dafne Phono. She was the 2024–25 Curatorial AIRspace resident at Abrons Arts Center. She previously held curatorial and research positions at the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, MoMA PS1, and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Her writing and interviews have been published in Art in America, Art21, and Screen Slate, among others. She holds an MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and a BA 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.

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