Exhibitions I've Seen Lately That I Recommend, In Order Of Their Importance
1. Whitney Museum - Tim Hawkinson's mid-career retrospective makes you wonder what the hell you're doing with your life, since you're clearly not designing primitive machines that continually reproduce your signature or mops that speak. You have until May 29th. Do not miss this. Also, catch Florian Maier-Aichen's series in the wonderful Political Nature exhibition, and make sure to skip the Cy Twombly -- make sure.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art - Diane Arbus, Revelations is like being punched in the face repeatedly by the hottest girl you've ever met. If you walk out of this show and don't feel disoriented, you haven't gotten the full effect. There are over ten galleries of Arbus' best work, equal parts famous images and totally obscure brilliance, and every one of the rooms is worth an hour of your time. This is a multiple-visit show (you may have to wait for a while for the crowds to die down -- it's like waiting in line for communion right now). This show closes on May 30th, which gives you plenty of time, but that's no excuse not to hop over there.
4. Eyebeam - Remapped Realities is an excellent collection of (mostly) video installation produced by their artists-in-residence. While every gallery is far better than your average video art, I was particularly drawn to Caspar Stracke's Points of Presence, a screen, rotating clockwise, with four cityscapes (Mexico City, New York City, Berlin, and Shanghai), rotating counter-clockwise, that cut into each other as sudden, blurred swatches and passing transparent buses. It's hard to describe, which is why we spent about half an hour staring at it. Remapped Realities closes April 30th.
4. PS1 - Greater New York, PS1's massive group show of emerging New York artists (well, they've emerged now) is better than I expected. Basically, think "Whitney Biennial, but cheaper, and with better drawing". Greater New York is the only museum exhibition I've ever been to where I felt strongly that people cared about the brand of my jeans. L tossed out all my notes on which pieces were good, but I remember a train, some swaying speakers, and a massive drawing that depicted America's history from the last fifty years. Now I'll have to go back, but that's fine.
Posted by tangentialist at March 26, 2005 10:47 PM | more tangentialism
