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The New Museum brings 21st-century art to the Bowery
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New Museum on the Bowery. Photo: Stu Pendousmat 2009.
There are lots of good reasons to head for the Bowery—shopping for cheap kitchen supplies and visiting the Bowery Poetry Club are two of them. The New Museum—which moved from Broadway to newly designed digs on the Bowery in late 2007—is another. Looking like a stack of shoe boxes, piled precariously on top of each other, the building is funny and funky in a way that seems to fit into the neighborhood, even as it towers over the nearby rooftops.
Since it opened, everyone from architecture critics to community activists has weighed in on the new building. Designed by the Japanese team Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, on what is—for New York—a shoestring budget of $50 million dollars, the museum has won raves from the critics and mixed reactions from the locals.
The semi-transparent metal mesh “skin” that covers the building has been compared (both favorably and unfavorably) to a cheese grater. Might the cheese grater effect be a tip of the hat to the museum’s kitchen supply neighbors? It’s hard to know.
The museum’s temporary “logo”—an art installation on the front of the building by Ugo Rondinone, that proclaims “Hell, yes!” in a semi-circle of cutely-rounded rainbow letters--was called “pitch-perfect” by the Village Voice but derided by street artists who stenciled “Hell, no!” around the neighborhood.
The museum’s interior is somewhat less controversial. Critics have characterized the high, white walls and rough concrete floors of the galleries as “wonderfully accessible” and having “the clear, flexible quality of loft spaces,”—although some folks, who’ve spent more than a few years hanging out in downtown lofts, may not find these unfinished elements quite so refreshing.
A chartreuse green elevator that’s bigger than many New York bedrooms takes museum-goers from the ground floor to the galleries and provides a bit of carnival mood along the way. In the basement, the bathroom walls are tessellated with black, white, gray, and orange (gentlemen) or blue (ladies) tiles in giant floral patterns, suggesting computer-generated, Victorian wallpaper and offering another needed blast of color to the minimalist New Museum experience.
But the true measure of any museum is the art it exhibits and the way it does so. After less than two years in the new space, it’s too soon for a verdict on that. However, the current show, “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus,” (through July 12) is not encouraging to those hoping for a broad overview of what’s happening in art today.
Although billed as a “rich, intricate, multidisciplinary exploration of work” done by the generation of artists born after 1976, the show is heavy on the same old thing—essentially, conceptual art—reworkings of ideas that have been out there for more than 40 years.
A video of two muscular men in black bathing suits moving geometric objects around, while the Red Army Choir sings in the background, was created by Polish artist Anna Molska (born 1983) and is a “send-up” of Soviet-style utopian ideals, according to the plaque on the wall beside it. Meticulously styled photographic still lifes such as “Baguette, Croissant” and “Bottles of Beer and Cheese” by Israeli artist Elad Lassry (born 1977) look like standard product shots for middle-brow advertisers—raising the question of “what is art?”… as if the museum-going public has never considered this issue before. “Stairway Edit” by the French Loris Gréaud (born 1979) is a rotating, black, spiral staircase that could have been done by Marcel Duchamp in 1913 … that would be four “generationals” back.
New Museum curators Lauren Cornell, Massimiliano Gioni and Laura Hoptman, sought out the artists included in “The Generational” by requesting referrals via a web of email, Facebook and other electronic contacts, then winnowing down a pool of 500 suggested names to 50. Much has been made of this supposedly open and participatory method. But—judging by the results—you get what you’re looking for, when you reach out to your contacts, whether via Facebook, telephone or Pony Express.
When it comes to the public, the New Museum is making an effort to be inclusive. Admission is free for everyone under 18, and an almost-affordable $8 for students. (General admission is $12 and $10 for seniors.) These prices are substantially better than those charged by MoMA and slightly better than the Whitney’s. But nothing beats the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where you can donate just one penny, if your financial situation so compels you.
Whether you have pocket money for admission or not, there’s nothing to stop you from heading to the New Museum and the Bowery. At the very least, check out the building's exterior architecture and its lobby, which is open to the public. What you see may inspire you to pay the fee and check out the art. Or maybe you'll decide just to amble over to some of those kitchen supply stores … in search of the proverbial cheese grater. Either way, the Bowery makes a fine summer excursion.
The New Museum – 235 Bowery at Prince Street (between Stanton and Rivington) – 212-219-1222
More information about "The Generational: Younger Than Jesus" (running through July 12) click here
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