Sunday, March 12, 2006

Day for Night : Whitney Biennial 2006

I've seen it all.
After spending three hours walking around the Whitney Biennial I felt:
1. Exhausted
2. Sweaty
3. Thirsty
4. Moody
6. Depressed

Given the fact that it was a beautiful day, I still decided to dedicate two hours of daylight to this show. The A/C was insufficient for the crowds coming in the galleries. The pieces were mostly negative, overly exploited naive and not so positive in its discourse. I still could rescue some stuff -for my enjoyment, according to my taste-.

1. Despair 2006 - by Anne Collier.
This print of a photograph of a cassette tape meant something to me. I enjoyed it's simplicity.

2. Version - by Mathias Polenda.
As I came in one of the dark rooms featuring video installations, I was completely captivated by the movements of different bodies to a beat. This piece had no audio, which made it really intriguing. I wanted to know what they were dancing. At the same time, in the beginning there were no faces displayed on camera, only body parts, legs, arms, chests all in a very cinematic prominent style, until later we see faces. All the faces of the "dancers" had no emotion. As if their mind was blank. I wonder if I played any song, the video could synch... I loved this piece, it was beautiful.

3. A journey that wasn't - Pierre Huyghe.
This video piece was overwhelming. The dark shots at Central Park with a 40 musician orchestra, fake icebergs and fog, plus a mechanical Albino Penguin contrasting the peacefulness of a snowy cold deserted landscape where the real Albino Penguin appears... And then the laser image created by the music...I am sure Marshall my ex roommate was really cold when he worked for this production. I remember him coming from work telling me that "I was at Central Park standing on fake icebergs waiting for a mechanical albino penguin cause this crazy ass Dutch guy was directing a film"

4. Trailer Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula - Francesco Vezoli
I was worn out, and wanted to sit down and rest. Trailer remake of Caligula was the last piece I saw (I would start in every floor counterclockwise). I must confess I haven't seen Caligula persé, but I've read a lot about it. When I saw this mock trailer, I had my $10 bucks worth of fun. Watching Benicio del Toro, Kate Black, Milla Jovovich, other actors and Courtney Love to seal it all made me laugh and made my day.

check it out for yourself on the web ITS FREE!!
http://www.whitney.org/www/2006biennial/index.php

1 Comments:

Blogger ANA said...

ive been browing ure blog for a while,its quite interesting,
keep up the good work

3:16 PM  

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