With the spring wave of art fairs looming on the horizon, including the debut of The New York Photography Fair in DUMBO, now is a good time to get in shape for these exhaustive views of photography and art. Following is a select list of events that will give your eyes, ears, and legs the workout they probably need. You can even sign up for a guided tour of Chelsea's art galleries by an expert on the area and the arts. Events are free and open to the public except as noted. But please, as always, check websites before heading out.

Vik Muniz on Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer
Thursday, March 13, 2008, 8:15 p.m at the 92nd Street Y School of the Arts
1395 Lexington Avenue, New York City. 212.415.5749.

In conversation with Robert Storr, artist critic, and dean of the Yale School of Art, Vik Muniz will discuss his work as featured in Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer, where he reveals the methods and process of his major series. To order tickets ($16 to $26): 212.415.5500. Above left: Action Photo (after Hans Namuth), from “Pictures of Chocolate,” 1997. Vik Muniz, © the Estate of Hans Namuth/VAGA, New York, New York, NY; Center: Self Portrait (I Am Too Sad to Tell You, after Bas Jan Ader), from “Rebus,” 2003; Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter + Jelly), from “After Warhol,” 1999. Vik Muniz, all from Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer (Aperture, 2005).

Ed Kashi on Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in Nigeria Exhibition
Opening and book signing Thursday, March 13, 6:00-8:30pm at the Open Society Institute. 212.548-0600.
400 West 59 Street, New York City.

Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta takes a graphic look at the profound cost of oil exploitation in West Africa. Featuring images by world-renowned photojournalist Ed Kashi, this work traces the 50-year history of Nigeria's oil interests and the resulting environmental degradation and community conflicts that have plagued the region, one of the world's foremost centers of biodiversity.

Josie Cruz Natori on The Art of Natori
Wednesday, March 19, 6:00 - 8:00 pm at FITs Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Seventh Avenue at 27^th Street, New York City.

Join Josie Natori, founder and CEO of Natori Company, as she reveals the sources of her inspiration. In the 30 years since Natori began her brand as a one-woman venture, she has developed an East-meets-West philosophy derived from her Filipino background, American education, and Japanese husband's culture.

Boogie on Boogie, Book signing and reception hosted by Dante Ross and 10Deep
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 - 9:00 pm at The powerHouse Arena
37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY. 1-866-99-ARENA.

Born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, Boogie began photographing rebellion and unrest during the civil war that ravaged his country during the 1990s. He arrived in the United States in 1998 and settled in Brooklyn, where he continued his photographic pursuit of those living in the margins of society. To celebrate the release of Boogie the limited edition book, a limited edition T-shirt will be available at this event.

Morley Winograd and Michael Hais on Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics
Monday, March 24, 6:30 pm at The Great Hall, Cooper Union
7 East Seventh St. between 3rd & 4th Avenues, New York City. 212.353.4195.

According to Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais, the 2008 presidential election will be unlike any other election in the past 40 years. And it has nothing to do with the candidates, according to the authors of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics. American politics is being dramatically transformed by a new civic generation and the technology it uses so well.

Rock/On: A Casual Talk About Desire, Drive and Design with Michael Ian Kaye
Tuesday, March 25, 6:30 pm at FITs Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Seventh Avenue at 27^th Street, New York City.

Next up in AIGA New York's Fresh Dialogue series, Michael Ian Kaye will talk about the primacy of process, and why applied design must always act as a counterpoint to self-expression. To order tickets ($35 to $15), please visit the website.

Raymond Meeks on Topsoil
Friday, March 28, 6:00 - 8:00 pm at Candace Dwan Gallery
24 West 57th Street, Suite 503, New York City. 212-315-0065.

Following on his richly evocative debut collection, A Clearing, Raymond Meeks expands the range of his vision with a new limited edition book, each with an original print on the back cover.

ICP book signings run from 6:00 - 7:30 most Fridays at the ICP Museum Store and feature DJ sets and complimentary wine. Friday admission is by donation from 5:00 - 8:00.
Friday, March 28: Barbara Bloom on The Collections of Barbara Bloom
Friday, April 11: Joyce Tenneson on A Life in Photography
Friday, April 18: Dayanita Singh on Sent a Letter
International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street, New York City.

Dennis Balk Presents Colin de Land: American Fine Arts
Friday, March 28 from 5-7pm and Saturday, March 29 from 2-4pm
The Artforum Lounge at the Armory Show, Pier 94, New York; free with fair admission
Saturday, March 29 from 5-7pm
Printed Matter, 195 Tenth Avenue, New York. 212 925 0325.

Within the international art world, Colin de Land's American Fine Arts Co. was a gallery known equally for its anti-commercial, risk-taking practices and for its charismatic owner, who championed a perennially marginalized discourse that critiqued the status quo of gallery practice. Culled from de Land's extensive archive, Colin de Land, American Fine Arts provides an incomparable look at the activities and personalities that frequented the gallery during its heyday during the late 1980s and 90s.

Above, left: From Colin De Land: American Fine Arts, edited by Dennis Balk; center and right: from Sometimes Overwhelming by Arlene Gottfried, both published by, and courtesy of, powerHouse Books.

Arlene Gottfried on Sometimes Overwhelming
Book signing and opening reception for Bittersweet, an exhibition of her street photographs
Sunday, March 30, 1:00 - 5:00 pm at Alice Austen House
2 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island.

Before gentrification, New York City was a gritty and inspiring place. And in its midst was Arlene Gottfried, whose eye for the sublime caught it all. From Coney Island to Riis Beach's nude bay to the disco nights of sexual abandon and the original Village Halloween parade, Sometimes Overwhelming is a delightfully lighthearted look at the most outrageous people you might ever see.

Food, Sex, and Art at the Guggenheim Museum
Panel discussion, Friday, April 4, 6:30 pm at the Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street, New York City. 212.423.3500.

For Cai Guo-Qiang, an exhibition is far more than a fixed assembly of objects; it is a constantly evolving process in time and space. Every aspect of the exhibition's preparation, installation, catalogue, and public programs reveal themselves as one piece of his larger ecosystem. This approach has inspired Cai to host this discussion about food, sex, and art. His guests include: David Bouley, restauranteur; Cai Guo-Qiang, artist; Dr. Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist. To order tickets ($7 - $10) please visit the website.

Art/Walk: A tour of Chelsea's galleries with David Platzker
Saturday, April 5, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Chelsea's bounty of art galleries and arts institutions is a treasure trove of inspiration for designers and creative souls of all stripes. Join a tour of Chelsea's galleries led by David Platzker, fouder of Specific Object and formerly the Executive Director of Printed Matter. Following the walk, the group will visit Specific Object for a look at Marcel Broodthaers's film and book, A Voyage on the North Sea, and a closer look at Platzker's incredible collections. Beer and other refreshments will be provided. To order tickets ($45 to $15) please visit the American Institute of Graphic Art, New York Chapter website.

David Hajdu on The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America.
Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 7 pm at Book Culture
536 West 112th Street, New York City, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues. 212-865-1588.

In the years between World War II and the emergence of television as a mass medium, American popular culture as we know it was first created. It arrived in the form of pulpy, boldly illustrated comic books, which were immediately reviled by church groups, community bluestockings, and a McCarthyish Congress, only to resurface with a crooked smile on its face "Mad "magazine. The Ten-Cent Plague radically revises common notions of popular culture, the generation gap, and the divide between high and low art.