Dawn Kasper's This Could Be Something If I Let It "explores connection and interaction in an intimate space"

Like the New Museum’s “Ungovernables” triennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2012 Whitney Biennial, comprising of work by 51 artists, serves as a platform for artists to showcase a diverse range of art. While standard genres of sculpture, painting, installations, and photography are featured on the second and third floors, dance, theater, music, and film are certainly present and emphasized. In fact, almost the entire fourth floor is dedicated to live performances. Sound like a lively and interactive show? The performances maybe (I didn’t attend one.) But unfortunately, the rest of the biennial was not. Instead, it felt incoherent and scattered.

One of the most interactive pieces in this exhibition is Los Angeles based artist Dawn Kasper’s This Could Be Something If I Let It, a very messy, cramped bedroom/ artist studio filled with her possessions. This could be seen as a representation of our time when people have to move into over-populated places due to limited means. It explores connection and interaction in an intimate space since the artist makes work, plays music, holds studio visits, and engages with viewers during museum hours. However, it’s not very engaging to those who know that it had been done before by performance artists in the 1970’s.  Werner Herzog’s Hearsay of the Soul, multi screen digital projection of landscape etchings by Hercules Segers, similarly fails to engage the viewer.

Herzog’s Hearsay of the Soul

Moreover, the cluttered space certainly did not help. Two of works with the most potential of being engaging are Sam Lewitt’s Fluid Employment, and Nicole Eisenman’s Breakup. The former is ferromagnetic liquid poured bi-weekly by the artist over plastic and magnetic elements, with fans blowing the liquid. The latter is 45 emotionless monotype portraits. The works are placed in close proximity to other works even though they require spaces that are more intimate.

Simply put, an artists’ bedroom/studio on display and a video projection of six different views of the Alps are not examples of successes of originality. And often, the works and their layouts do not engage the average museum goer who doesn’t go several times and spend significant amount time trying to understand the works. If you are the average museum goer, you will likely leave the Biennial with an unclear idea of what you’ve seen.