What to See at MoMA Now
The summer line-up at 53rd street’s MoMa delves into many of the complicated issues of our time, examining and unpacking socio-economic tensions and the influence of the digital age on today’s global community. These explorations, combined with the museum’s new ownership of the Frank Lloyd Wright archive, provide a framework in which to approach the questions and curiosities of our time. Here’s what to see at MoMA now in NYC.
What to See at MoMA
Two special exhibits, both on view through July 30th, examine art in life and life in art. Unfinished Conversations is a collection of pieces created over the past decade by twelve contemporary artists. Their work is commentary on current global events and the interactions between state power and social movements. And in Louise Lawler’s Why Pictures Now, the meta concept of art on display is explored. Head to the sculpture garden for her whimsical audio installation of male artist’s names being chirped and tweeted like the sounds of birds. In conjunction with her examination of artwork in context, the audio is commentary on the patriarchal inclination of the contemporary art world.
In MoMA’s cooperative retrospective with the Tate Modern, Among Friends, we experience the work of Robert Rauschenberg’s six-decade career. It’s been said that, for a great artist, Rauschenberg created “remarkably little good art.” This exhibition challenges that assumption, showing how his art takes the idea of genius to task by exploring the concepts of culture and inclusiveness, and illuminating the achievements of collaboration through hundreds of works of performance art, paintings, and sculpture created in conjunction with other artists. For what he may have lacked in individual masterpieces, Rauschenberg became a master of influence in the art world and with his peers, then and through today. On view through September 17, 2017.
In Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive, the mega-architect’s venerable body of work is examined by twelve young scholars through the lens of each of their disciplines. Home movies, models, clips and drawings comprise more than 400 pieces of his work on display, dating from the 1890s to the 1950s, including some that have never been seen. In conjunction with Columbia University’s Architectural Library, the anthology invites a new dialogue around this artist’s work—the most frequently exhibited architect in the museum’s history. On view through October 1, 2017.
Photo courtesy of MoMA.