What’s in a Name?
Lauren Gunsel
For the first time ever, the Whitney Biennial has attached a title to itself. "Day for Night" will take place March 2nd through May 28th, 2006. The title of this exhibition reaches depths of interpretation, allowing for many figurative artistic theories to be pondered under the umbrella of the original namesake–the 1973 film by Francois Truffaut, La Nuit Americaine. The film alludes to the method of shooting nighttime scenes during the day by using a particular filter. Just as the world can be viewed in a false light, art acts as a lens or filter for us to perceive it though alternate views. The Whitney Biennial, a staple of the New York City art scene for 70 years, plans to examine the twilight zone…
The curators, Phillippe Vergne (of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis) and the Whitney’s own Curator of Contemporary Art, Chrissie Isles, decided to emphasize the in-between stage they feel art is currently going through. "‘Day for Night’ explores the artifice of American culture in what could be described as a pre-Enlightenment moment, in which culture is preoccupied with the irrational, the religious, the dark, the erotic, and the violent, filtered through a sense of flawed beauty," said Isles. She and Vergne collaborated to create a single curatorial vision including artists from both sides of the Atlantic. Of the 100 or so artists involved, there are newcomers and those who have been around but may not have yet reached the notoriety the curators feel they deserve. The Biennial has the possibility to springboard unknowns into "artstardom" and serves as a forum for critical analysis and comparison of artwork in all mediums.
With subtitles of "Uncertain Identities and Unfixed Images," "Shock and Awe," "Lavish Abandon," "Screen Life" and "An Archeology of the Present," the parameters of each group seem just as curvy and gray as the encapsulating title itself. From artists working under an alias, collective groups acting as one creative force, to documentation of the restless, reckless and always reflective, the Biennial will fill the entire museum (minus the top floor) with paintings, sculpture, photography, performance, video and film.
"This moment of questioning characterizes the broad context for the current moment in contemporary American art," said curator Philippe Vergne. "The artists in the 2006 Biennial are working in a space between pre- and post-modernist parameters–somewhere between day and night, between the history of forms and the forms of history. In this twilight zone, many things are called into question or obscured."
What are Americans exposed to more than glamour and politics? Not much. The sentiments of society ring true through this exhibition. Take Marilyn Minter’s photographs of dirty feet in bejeweled stilettos and cherry-red lips overflowing with pearls and gems, or the Polaroid images by Dash Snow glamorizing his destructive lifestyle. Politically-charged art includes drawings by Richard Serra (who’s original "Stop Bush" propaganda was plastered all over New York during the last election); Bernadette Corporation examines the strategies of cultural resistance in their videos and the collectively published book, Reena Spaulings; another group project, Otabenga Jones and Associates (whose namesake is an African pygmy brought to the US in 1906) highlights errors in representation in African art through writing, action and installation (each artist will be shown separately as well); the recreation of The Peace Tower (originally constructed in 1966 to protest the Vietnam War) by Mark di Suvero and Rikrit Tiravanija is also an undeniable stab at our current political situation in the U.S.
This overview just scrapes the surface in comparison to the amount of talent that will be on hand at the Whitney Biennial this year. Who knows who will walk away with newfound glory–or the $100,000 Bucksbaum Award–this year, but one thing is for sure, shadows most certainly add dimension.
