Yes, corny, but oh-so-true!
I feel so inspired and energized. (photos coming soon!)

The MOMA, as ever, was one of the stars, displaying fabulous classics from the collection, including about 15 of their 300 Rauschenbergs, Merit Oppenheim’s “Object”, which is a fur-covered and fur-lined tea cup and spoon, and too many more to mention. (The surrealists are always a thrill for me.) They also have a new expanded design area, which now includes 3 Urban Vinyl “art toys” prized by collectors of lowbrow, or nobrow art. Lowbrow moves up in the world!

Also at MOMA, Olafur Eliasson’s “Take Your Time” show used lights, colours, mirrors, strobes and smoke to create different immersive environments. Take the online tour here. Dara Birnbaum’s “Wonder Woman” that Ed Slopek assisted on was also there, filling a large wall at the foot of the escalator (hey – guess what? It’s not the first time Ed’s had work at the MOMA!), and there were several other very interesting video pieces, especially those by Sigalit Landau, some of which included sculptural installations. (Check out the still image of her bare torso doing an endless hula hoop with a large circle of barbed wire, if you dare.) Lynda Bengli’s layered video images of herself mouthing her own mouth and tongue was captivating, as part of the “Multiplex: Directions in Art, 1970 to Now“ exhibition. Bernd and Hilla Becher had a large exhibition “Landscape/Typology”, which reminded me of Tory’s archive project for Blake’s class. Actually, I like Tory’s project more than their originals – thanks Tory!

Dinner at the magical wonderland that is Panna 2 restaurant after the MOMA was great, and seems to be becoming a tradition, thanks to Ed.

Another highlight was playing David Byrne’s sound installation in the fabulous, if a bit run-down, Battery Maritime Building, on the waterfront. An old pump organ in the middle of a vast, skylit room, had numerous tubes and wires running from it to various parts of the building. In playing the organ, you were effectively playing the building. I will post a video of it shortly and provide a link in this post. As the light streamed in diagonal lines through the huge, grand-decaying-dame of industrial space, the quircky, random sounds were sublime.

Of course the Staten Island Ferry, free and serving cold beer, was a must to cool off afterwards, since it was about 40 degrees that day. The Statue of Liberty says “hi”.

Fabulous beyond words was an experimental dance and theatrical performance in the Ontological Theatre in an old church, owned by avante-garde playwright Richard Forman. The performance, called “Vicious Dogs on Premises” by the group Witness Relocation, who were the recipients of the 2007 NY Innovative Theater Awards for best choreographer, best sound design, and best production, was hysterical, intense, incredibly energetic and constantly innovative and surprising.

Sadly, the Whitney Biennial (see a video clip of the show) left me scratching my head, disappointed and confused as to what most of it was about. There were some redeeming pieces, primarily a fabulous video dyptich “The Casting”, by Omer Fast. Fast used video as posed, still shots to illustrate 2 interwoven narratives as he describes an unfortunate incident as a soldier and several disturbing ones within a new relationship.

Jeff Koons giant metallic ballon sculptures on the roof of the Met were a delightful change from seeing his work contained in galleries, and were a suiting companion to the Super Heroes Fashion and fantasy show on at the same time. Of course the Met could take a week in itself, and we only had a few hours, but it was a refreshingly playful take on some aspects of art and pop culture.

Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim was just closing, but we did get to see some of this most heart-stopping show. Beautiful, horrifying and provocative, I had to buy the catalogue to see what else I had missed. They were dismantling the exhibition, carrying hundreds of stuffed wolves out of the museum one-by-one when we were there, which was a show unto itself!