Curators Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari and such artists as the Bruce High Quality Foundation pull in to the Whitney to protect and preserve the biennial (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Tuesday – Sunday through May 30, $18
Pay-what-you-wish Friday 6:00 – 9:00
www.whitney.org
Less is indeed more at the 2010 Whitney Biennial, the best of this young century. Previous biennials filled every available nook and cranny they could, giving viewers less than adequate time or space to appreciate the massive survey of the state of contemporary American art. For the current biennial, simply titled “2010,” curators Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari have allowed the art, and visitors, plenty of room to breathe. The work of two particular artists perhaps best represents what this biennial is all about. Robert Grosvenor has one room to himself, with an enticing red bridge-like structure on the floor and an inviting aluminum fence suspended in the center. The pieces are anything but threatening; however, don’t try to crawl under or climb either one. It’s a welcoming installation that lives comfortably in its space. As wide open as Grosvenor’s contribution is, Kate Gilmore’s “Standing Here” is about as claustrophobic as it gets, until it bursts out in the glory of freedom. In a tight room, a video shows Gilmore, in a cheerful polka-dot dress and high heels, trying to escape from a narrow white column; it takes a minute before it becomes clear that the column is the very one in the room. When Gilmore — whose “Walk the Walk” runs May 10-14 in Bryant Park — at last busts through, it is as if the biennial has broken free of the chains that have bound it in recent years. “Regeneration through art,” the curators proclaim in the accompanying catalog. “Art can simply be a state of mind — a form of ecstatic resistance — that helps people to handle the complexities of society and even deal with the hardships of life.” Indeed, they have brought new life to the biennial.
Tam Tran, “Battle Cry,” digital print, 2008
As always, the biennial is hosting many live events during its run, most free with museum admission. Aki Sasamato will perform in her “Strange Attractors” sculpture installation at 4:00 on May dates ending in the numbers 6 and 9; for Whitney Live, musician and composer Dennis DeSantis will use site-specific processing in Martin Kersels’s “5 Songs” installation May 7 at 6:30, with Colin Gee scheduled for May 14, So Percussion on May 21, and Nina Berman on May 28; Kerry Tribe will re-create Hollis Frampton’s CRITICAL MASS on May 7 at 7:30 as part of the My Turn series; Theaster Gates will present his monastic residency in the Sculpture Court May 7-9, followed by Derek Chan May 12-13; and Jason Kraus, Kersels, and Johnny Fisher team up for “Jason Martin Wants to Be a DJ” in “5 Songs” on May 28 at 8:30.