Week 01: ATSNYC 2020

Written By mary oleary

first week of museum going down! i checked out four museums, new museum, the rubin, the frick, and the met breuer.

The New Museum

let me begin with i love the new museum. founded in 1977 by the brilliant marcia trucker. trucker envisioned a museum for contemporary artists - without a traditional permanent collection- to give scholarly recognition to living working artists.

i don’t think it can be understated the influence numu (no one actually calls it that) has had contemporary art viewing in new york city. at this point 40 years later there is hardly a museum without some sort of contemporary wing or gallery. while it isn’t a perfect institution (please see article on new museum union)

The exhibition of note taking up four floors was hans haacke retrospective* hans haacke: all connected. for this to be the first exhibition of ArtToSeeNYC was really meaningful. as former art student whose sculptural practice devolved (or evolved) from making to research based - haacke’s practice has shaped a lot of my ways of thinking and working. to be honest, i’ve been avoiding the new museum for a while, not necessarily wanting to support an institution which wouldn’t let their employees unionize. However, as of Oct 2019 that has mostly been resolved- so back to visiting as usual.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: mondays

  • free late night: thursday 6-9pm (very popular- so be prepared to wait in line)

  • restroom: yes- in fact,its one of the best in the art world.

  • cafe: yes

  • bookstore: yes- one of my absolute faves in the city

recommended reading/listening:

*personally, i don’t the word retrospective should ever really be used for living artists.

The Rubin

the rubin museum is one of the unsung gems in chelsea, if not the new york art-world in general. the founding mission is to provide a dynamic environment to learn and create personal connections with the ideas, art and cultures of the himalyan regions. it has rotating permanent collection, and regularly has fantastic contemporary shows, or contemporary artists in dialogue with their collection.

the exhibition of note that i went to go see was clapping with stones: art and acts of resistance organized by guest curator sara razar. the show featured 10 contemporary artists, working in a variety of medium, and piece is the artists’ response to a political event. taking the specificity of the rubin’s rotunda as central organizing principle, viewers circle around the 6th floor visiting each piece.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: tuesday and wednesday

  • free late night: friday 6-10pm

  • restroom: yes

  • cafe: yes

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

The Frick

the frick has to be one of my least favorite cultural institutions in new york. every stuffy museum stereotype takes place. annoying bag checks, no photos (save for the garden court), staff whose apathy makes sense because of dim lighting less than inspiring collection.

many of the reasons the museum is stuffy has to do with the trust which has- pros (no children under 12 are allowed except on family days) and cons (no photos, no visitation to the upper floors, no sitting on the furniture - which is never allowed, but, feel free to throw in a replica of bench or chair for folks to interact with) - but, the garden court is beautiful.

i have to say i can be a bit conservative when it comes to interactivity and “play” in museums. i don’t care much for it. however, there are times when it seems that some level of interaction makes plausible sense, particularly when the museum is a converted private home because the items were once used. museums that were once private residences can be extremely overwhelming and borderline infuriating if you have any semblance of class consciousnesses. to think that someone LIVED HERE- with all of this stuff, which they used- reminds you of just how divided new york city was and still is.

some interesting news is that the frick will be closing (likely july 2020) for some renovations. rumor has it that they will be taking over the met’s lease at the breuer building. to see the frick collection among brutalist architecture sound quite interesting, however, very little has been set in stone on when the moves will actually be happening, so i wanted to go early in 2020 just in case plans change.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: monday

  • free hours: wednesday 2-6pm

  • restroom: yes- with phone booths #retro

  • cafe: no be sure to snack before going

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

The Met Breuer

i love the marcel breuer building. it is easily my favorite building in new york city. from being “the most disliked building” in 1996 to a sought over home, the breuer has been a space to new chapters for for institutions since its inception. starting as relocation for the whitney museum until 2014 when the whitney moved (again) to their new space in meat-packing designed by renzo piano, the breuer has been an experiment in contemporary art for the met (2015-2020), and will be home to the frick collection while they undergo a major renovation (2020-?).

the met has been at the breuer since 2015, opening with a widely well reviewed and anticipated mid-career retrospective Kerry James Marshall: Mastry in addition to kjm, the met has some other noteworthy exhibitions including Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy and Siah Armajani: Follow This Line.

The Met seems to be in a contemporary corrective period, making sure to purchase works from a wide range of non-white artists, an are exhibiting their new purchases in the current exhibition "Home is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context.” While many of the pieces in the exhibition are exceptional works of art, the title and premise seem problematic at best. i can’t say that met has done anything too masterful with the space, so perhaps they can better utilize their contemporary art wing, and be more thoughtful, considerate and sensitive when organizing future group shows.

noteworthy visitor info:

  • closed: monday

  • free hours: friday

  • restroom: yes- with phone booths #retro (maybe why the frick wants to be here?)

  • cafe: yes

  • bookstore: yes

recommended reading/listening:

museum goal completed: 4/240

mary oleary
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