at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center
P.S. 1 is not a typical New York modern art museum, with no sleek architecture or bright white shinyness, it seems to fit in with Long Island City's rather drab appearance. The brick building that was once a school house has a very traditional feel, nothing remotely unusual about it. That is until you make your way to the front of the building, emerging from a high concrete gate are the mammoth forms of thatched pavilion.
Designed by MOS architects, this piece is massive and feels a bit like walking around a 'Where The Wild Things Are' beast.
Once inside the differences between P.S. 1 and any other art center are apparent. An instant deja vu feeling, P.S. 1 reminds me exactly of my junior high school, a bit drafty, creaking floors, and numerous floors and rooms. Aside from the pleasing aesthetics of the building, it was currently hosting the opening of "100 Years," An exhibition of 100 years worth of film, video, photography, and audio, "1oo Years" serves as a time line of the history of performance art. I have always found performance art interesting and to be surrounded by some much of it was both exciting and a little overwhelming. The largest room of the exhibition was also the room that holds the installation, "2822 Records" by Christian Marclay. The entire floor is covered in vinyl, which makes a very familiar squeak as you walk across it.
On all four walls were huge projections all showing various performance pieces. One of the walls had video of a cockatiel, another wall had video of a women mimicking a cockatiel. In the second room not only were the walls covered in photographs and documents but each wall also had a display case with a television showing various performance art, some with corresponding audio through headphones, and in the center of this room was a man who kept rushing up to people telling them to watch his videos, I watched as he showed commercials he had been in, some advertisements for insurance, some for real estate, and a clip of a a movie he had been in. When new people would walk into the room he would yell "Shh.." and tell them to watch, it was very strange. I left feeling annoyed, either I didn't understand his concept or he really did not belong there. The final room was more like a hallway full of televisions and headphones. I slowly made my way through each video and actually had to be tapped on the shoulder by a guard to realize the exhibition was closing. Performance Art is very beautiful to me, to be able to manipulate life to express a certain emotion is rare and many artists in the exhibition were able to do so. My only gripe with the exhibition was the sheer amount of work in such a limited space. I definitely plan on going back, it most certainly needs more than one trip to fully appreciate each work.
