New York Summary

We some some true classics, as well as some great contemporary art during our stay in New York. Here are some highlights:

A dual show at the ICP and the Asia Society (with titular colinicity):
Between Past and Future: new photography from China left us scratching our heads at the wall cards. An obviously digital monumental work was based on the scroll tradition (an all-seeing citic hovers over a number of different scenes all in one image). Another piece on the same scale showed a crowd of humans observing an artfully arranged colony of monkeys in a zoo. The monkeys kept us guessing: is it life or photoshop? The wall cards were no help: nothing was identified as a 'digital image.' The narrative content of this work was so strong that I don’t think it makes a difference. (note: if you visit the site, keep in mind that they picked perhaps the weakest bits of the show(s) to put on the web.)


The Met was showing a big portion of August Sander's ‘German people’ series. It was couched in terms that he was attempting to show examples of every type of person in Germany, ie: he was working out a classification scheme. From the website: “classified into seven groups by social “type”: the Farmer; the Skilled Tradesman; the Woman; Classes and Professions; the Artists; the City; and the Last People.”

Along with this was a small show that showed visual classification thru photo history. Including a sculptor, Karl Blossfeldt, who shot specimins for (if I remember correctly) decorative wrought iron. The wall text called it the ‘typological approach’ to photography. There was also a selection of video discs that contained every scene in Starsky and Hutch, except they were divided by type. There was a disc for come-on lines. A disc for every wide pan. One for every dead body. Every Huggy Bear scene. I’d call it visual classification, but then, I’m a librarian.

We missed Andy Goldsworthy on the roof, because it was raining that day. Some day we’ll see some in real life. (We saw some of his prints at the Berlin Art Expo, but L and I both agreed—the movie was better than the prints.)

L didn’t make it to PS 1 (http://www.ps1.org/exhibits/current.php), but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to head out to Queens. I’ve always wanted to go, but for some reason, previous trips to NYC didn’t include the trip.

Anyway, I actually took notes at PS 1:

Ryan McGinley had some interesting photos of pretty young people nude in nature (the people were pretty and young, not pretty young). I seem to remember a New Yorker article from a few years back that described a ‘new kid on the block’, young, boy, not-so-scary, Nan Goldin-type photographer, but I'm not sure if this is the same person.

Walead Beshty had photos of dead malls and ad hoc performances in stores (on the link, #6 is one of the store performances—the small jpegs don’t do them justice). I think there’s actually a dead mall website somewhere (why yes, there is: http://www.deadmalls.com/)

Mika Rottenberg had a great installation with video of women turning fingernails into maraschino cherries. Says the description:

Israeli artist Mika Rottenberg's work comments on global themes such as cultural identity, economy and bodily perception. For P.S.1, Mika Rottenberg presents Mary’s Cherries, a new site-specific video installation. The video depicts three female wrestlers performing a series of bodily actions in a three-floor factory. Two women on the bottom floor rapidly pedal at a stationary table triggering a UV light that promotes red nail growth. The nail falls through a hole onto the second floor and another laborer massages and rubs it to stimulate its next stage of development. When it finally lands on the bottom floor, the nail metamorphoses into the end product: a maraschino cherry.

That doesn’t really capture the essence of this entertaining installation, which had a creepy vibe of sweatshop factory work, Vietnamese nail salons, and a John Waters film.

Doug Aitkin showed 4 videos simulaneously on 3 screens, with overlapping soundtracks that all worked together. A handball game, a tapdancing aerospace worker, and a company man having a primal scream all blended together seemlessly. Again, you had to be there.

Finally, did I mention I got to see Ken Vandermark? Even better, he was playing with Peter Brotzman. K I C K A S S ! Don't know Ken Vandermark? Read the bio. And note how he slips in the MacArthur 'genius grant' like it's just another Tuesday night at the Empty fucking Bottle.