Water: Zimmerli Museum
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First and foremost I liked the hanging sculpture of net in the beginning of the show. The glacier water inside the net sparked exactly the kind of conversation I would hope happens in any exhibit concerning the world’s water today. For me, the “Berg” water melted off a glacier and bottled in Canada brought me right to the issues of water bottles, plastic, environmentalism, over fishing/misuse of resources because of the nets, pollution of water (whether by the wasted plastic bottles, or by the connection of having purified replacement water in the first place that we only drink from plastic). All in all a great way to start the show, you come down the staircase and see the net, and it feel like you’re walking into some fun science exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. I think its very exciting for an art show to be able to give me that kind of a sensation; it didn’t feel like walking into a stuffy gallery and that makes all the difference for the visitor’s experience. Then you walk in the first room and find the Haacke and Lin sculptures. Excellent combination of sculptures, they’re things you have to work with to understand, they require visitor participation beyond sight alone, and this for me is the power of sculpture. The only two criticisms I have about that room is that the Lin sculpture (“ Dew Point 18”) wasn’t lit as well as it could have been, I think the floor in that room is negatively bland for such an eye catching piece, a patch of differentiated darker color floor or more distinct/reflective lighting would have made the droplets reflect like rain on the wall and look like pristine drops of water on the floor this way. The other criticism is for a sculpture & painting combination of shoes and clouds and their interaction with the blue walls. I think the shades of blue & green walls throughout the exhibit really enhance the show, but the pedestal and wall where the boots sat were exactly the same color as the sculpture itself. The Lin sculpture follow through to the next room was very nice, and I noticed that everyone round me was writing down Lin’s “Pin River: Hudson” as something they were taking note of, which I believe says a lot. That room was ok otherwise, the Edward Foley print/wood mounted painting was an interesting addition, but I felt overwhelmed by realist ocean paintings, and I wish that this show had had even more sculpture, videos and unconventional art. The transition from the rooms into the video screening areas had excellent color coordination and transition on the walls, but I think that for our show if those lights could be moving reflected on the walls, like moving water, they would be better and more enticing for viewers to explore. The Viola video was excellent; I noted that many people had also jotted that piece down in their notebooks. I believe the Mutu video’s greatest weakness was its sound. The piece is called “Amazing Grace” and plays the song after a few minutes, but the video with sound and the implied song association from the name alone would have been more than enough to express what this video does.
For my own curation of the show, I would start out with something eye-catching like the net piece again, something that engages the whole room. I would continue that theme throughout the exhibit, enhancing the entire rooms’ presences with sculptures and works that engage the space as well as the theme. Of these, would be the two Maya Lin sculptures, “Pin River: Hudson” and “Dew Point 18”, as well as Hans Haacke’s “Condensation Cube”. I would include videos like Antoni and Viola’s, but would make some changes to how they are displayed. I’ve seen a couple other videos by Janine Antoni that include oceans & water as elements and I’ve really enjoyed all of them, as are Viola’s other videos, especially ones concerning water. If the Viola video mesmerized people, the Antoni video made people sick to their stomachs (from the dizzying, constant water motion), but both did so in the same way. Both of these videos bring the people walking through the exhibit into a state of trance, which is very interesting to me.
I would still have, dispersed there in, a mix of paintings, since it is an important staple in visual arts to represent, however, I would have significantly less of them than the Zimmerli currently has on display. One example would be Hughie Lee-Smith’s “Three Girls”, which was displayed very nicely on a wall colored white to compliment its dark tones and intense emotional weight. I would want to showcase both 2d and 3d work in enhancing ways.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJQmV8aPNao --Bill Viola (example of another video water work)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_n2kfqNmpY -- Janine Antoni (Art 21 spotlight of a water piece I heard her speak about once at a Mason Gross visiting artist lecture)
(the pictures I didnt take myself, nor are the videos the ones from the show, but the pictures show how nice the one Lin and Haacke piece can be installed as, the really amazing shadows of the pins, and the videos give you a better overall understanding of Bill Viola and Janine Antoni as artists...which is important for art appreciation & learning etc)
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