My second visit to the Whitney (first was Oct 2019 and the left overs of the biennial) I got to see the entire biennial this time, and it did not disappoint. Varied pieces that were thought provoking, and interesting use of different mediums. Very creative and lots of Audi-visuals this go round. 2min to-60min “short films”, i was there a little over 3hours and never bored. Highly recommend it
As museums go, it’s set up is the norm. Plenty of museum assistants around to help you or answer questions. My questions were mostly “where’s the placard for certain pieces”. They were also on guard to ensure you don’t touch things and to make sure you “wear your backpack on your front” to avoid bumping patrons or displays
The lighting was good: light where it needed to be light, and dark where it needed to be dark. IMO one of the “loud displays” (helicopters) should NOT have been directly across from another audio-visual interview”. The LOUD distracted from the other -and could have easily been separated to a different floor, or on the opposite wing of the floor
An observation of the biennial: the entry wall speaks to how the 2021 show was delayed due to Covid. And that, since 2019 we’d had a global pandemic (begin), an election, protest of racial injustice, (and though they didn’t mention this: a political uprising). But, to my recollection there was only one piece of art about Covid (short film of Harts island NY where many victims of Covid were buried). And one piece-also a short film of a peaceful protest, turned combatant, during the summer of racial awakening of disparity of justice
Zero of the historical election and none of the subsequent insurrection
I suppose it’s plausible that the “2021” pieces had mostly been chosen by the end of the 2019 show. Or perhaps the museum PURPOSEFULLY did not want to dwell, or overly commit to said subject matter. However, in that these events have never occurred before in our lifetime, and likely will affect us in perpetuity, I would have thought more than two instances would have been on display But. I’m not a museum curator, nor do I have to keep “donors” happy. Often, we think problems are “others”, and if we ignore it long enough, it’ll go away.
My only beef w the museum this go round was their “insistence” that you use your phone to purchase tics. Outside, a ways from the entrance there is a person on patrol who tries to direct you to the “QR”code to use your phone to go to the Whitney site and pay by credit card rather than go inside and do so at the front desk
1. Not all phones ack QR codes
2. I might not be phone savvy to do so
3. I simply might not want to stand outside in the cold/heat/rain w a phone in one hand and credit card in another to do so
But they were pretty determined that the only reason I could go inside to the front desk was if I had issues w the website or if I had cash
Obstinate, I went inside anyway-and was helped w no issue.
Otherwise the visit was uneventful. I’d def recommend it as “thing to do in NYC”, if you like museums. Interestingly enough, my 2019 visit, seems I stayed nearly 5hrs, while this visit was only 3 despite my remeber ace so a lot more Audi-visuals this year