ART + ARCHITECTURE
There are eight collectives in this year’s
Biennial. They all reflect the challenges
inherent in collaboration and reveal
the manner in which our increasingly
virtual and interconnected world is
changing the way collectives work. It
was in the eighties that collectives made
their Biennial debut, and at that time
they were primarily ideological and
dogmatic. Today, the internet and social
media allow remote collaboration and
there is liberal cross-over between artistic disciplines. Ms. Grabner commented
that “collectives in the past performed
a critical role that poked at art world
hierarchies and its cult of the individual
genius but they function differently
today…They reflect the proficiency of
our networked culture. Authorship has
become very slippery and the ownership of ideas has become less interesting
today than the rapid sharing of them.”
Other thought-provoking themes
emerge as well, and there is some
rollicking fun to be had at this show
(despite the tiresome wall panels), but
the whole of the 2014 Biennial is less
than the sum of its parts. As Mr. Elms
observed in his curatorial statement,
“Assembling an overview of American art these days is a fool’s errand.”
Right he is. And yet some attempts are
more successful than others. This show
was perhaps just too ambitious for its
own good. Still, it is laudable that the
Whitney continues to try, despite being
slapped in the face by dismissive and
rancorous critics every other year.
Like many, I am already eagerly conjuring the 2016 Biennial in the Renzo Piano
space but at the same time I find myself
a bit verklempt in imagining a Biennial
not in the Breuer building. It is time for
the move, yes, as the Whitney outgrew
the space decades ago. And yet, it is
indeed bittersweet to say farewell to the
only place any of us have ever seen a
Whitney Biennial. But no need to get too
saccharin, as Thomas P. Campbell and
Co. have come to the rescue…the Met
will open a modern and contemporary
offshoot in the Breuer building once the
Whitney move is complete. No, it won’t
be the same but at least the building will
still serve its intended purpose, instead
of morphing into a Uniqlo or an H&M.
Marcel Breuer would most likely be
well-pleased with the next chapter in
the life of his Brutalist masterwork,
and we get to have our (“three-tiered
upside-down”) cake and eat it too. n
The Whitney Biennial 2014 runs through
May 25th. For more information and
to purchase tickets, visit whitney.org.
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