My visit to the Whitney was definitely one that left a good impression of the art museum experience. Though the Guggenheim was fairly intriguing, I cannot say I was looking forward to spending another afternoon walking around an exhibit, trying to decipher the hidden meaning, if there was one, of famous artwork. Upon arriving and having the chance to observe the modern exterior of the museum, I could tell that the Whitney was not going to be the conventional art museum experience.
The first exhibit I spent time wondering about the significance of, the Metaesquema, Malekledrian, was a display of patterned blue squares and rectangles, with the infrequent mix of lighter shades of orange toward the center. Looking at the exhibit reminded me of one of those optical illusions I’d spent hours staring at one of my elementary school books as a kid. I drew a connection between the work and the unorthodox titling of the exhibit, “To Organize Delirium,” which I presumed, described the subtle organization of patterns of different geometric shapes, which could also appear to not contain any order at all given the uneven spacing of the figures that also pointed into opposite directions.
Aside from many of the displays that hung on the wall, or laid on a shelf protected by a thick layer of glass, several exhibits surprisingly permitted viewers to experience skin contact with textures including dry, big granule sand, pebbles, running water, as well as leaves, and other miscellaneous items such as old books, foam blocks, and a mattress. After pondering on the significance of the framed work above, and a possible interpretation of the Tropicalia, I came to a realization. As photographic or handcrafted art is subjective and aims to provoke an interpretation, interactive art serves a similar purpose, that of conveying an experience, or at least a perspective of one.
Dictionary.com defines “delirium” as a state of wild excitement, or ecstasy. As it relates to Oiticica’s participant involving artwork, I believe a connection can be drawn from the title of the exhibit, to his artistic ambitions. Walking through the Rijanviera, looking around the blank walls that separated the different water covered walkways did not offer as much insight into Oiticica’s motive, as merely paying attention to the plethora of sensations you encounter with your feet as you walk along the water to the surrounding sandbox. This exhibit highlights Oiticica’s artistic motive as being expressive of basic human senses.
A look at Oiticica’s biography suggests that he largely focused on creating artwork that escaped the limitations, or constraints of painting, while still remaining akin to the the diverse color schemes that the palette offered. One of the works in the exhibit that I thought could be considered to embody abstractionism, while retaining a vibrant color scheme was the Metaesquema, a seemingly scattered, yet completely organized display of red and orange pairs of adjacent parallelograms. Looking at the display, as well as others similar to this one including the Metaesquema Malekledrian gives the impression that Oiticica’s goal as an artist during the modern movement was to produce art that allowed observers to collect the same experience as he did during the creative process. “To Organize Delirium,” probably refers to Oiticica’s attempt to organize the perception of our senses in several exhibits, visual in this case, each offering a step into Oiticica’s conscious.
Helio Oiticica’s exhibit was definitely an inimitable experience, that I cannot say was similar to any art museum I have had the opportunity to visit. Though his artwork is strikingly unique, given the interactive elements of several of his exhibits I was expecting to see much more provocative artwork than the geometric pieces that were on display. Even so, it is difficult not to be intrigued by Oiticica’s artwork, and its appeal to human qualities.
Ronald Osherov
I must say, after reading some of the published reviews on this exhibit, I can better appreciate the sort of abstract or “less is more” approach that one of the reviews suggests was Oiticica’s goal as an artist. The quote “Art is potent to the degree it merges with life” is absolutely telling of the exhibit titled Tropicalia. Walking through sand, although did trigger some thought regarding the significance of this “artwork,” did not help me arrive to the notion that the exhibit was in fact a token of life itself. The “potency” of the artwork was emphasized, something I did conclude, in its utilization of the human senses as a means of transport to the “participator,” much like our eyes are in regard to visually stimulating art. One thing I did not consider though, was the exhibit’s resemblance to “Brazilian exoticism,” or the scrawling of “A pureza é um mito” on the wall of one of the huts, which, had I taken into account more closely, I may have arrived at a different interpretation, one of the “pure” qualities of the exhibit, including the water and other natural elements, being an illusion, or representative of something else.
As someone who went on this visit to the Whitney with you, it’s cool to actually see the conversations we had in person, formulate into your blog. I totally agree with you on the idea of not necessarily being excited to visit another Museum, but leaving the Whitney we both could agree that it was far better than we would have ever imagined it. Loved how you drew connections from your childhood elementary school days to the artwork as well. I think that’s every artists goal while creating art; to cause viewers to feel a sense of connection to the art. From exploring the Museum together we also both agreed it was very interactive, just like you mentioned in your blog. Overall great blog post and glad we got to experience this together!
As someone who went on this visit to the Whitney with you, it’s cool to actually see the conversations we had in person, formulate into your blog. I totally agree with you on the idea of not necessarily being excited to visit another Museum, but leaving the Whitney we both could agree that it was far better than we would have ever imagined it. Loved how you drew connections from your childhood elementary school days to the artwork as well. I think that’s every artists goal while creating art; to cause viewers to feel a sense of connection to the art. From exploring the Museum together we also both agreed it was very interactive, just like you mentioned in your blog. Overall great blog post and glad we got to experience this together!
As someone who went on this visit to the Whitney with you, it’s cool to actually see the conversations we had in person, formulate into your blog. I totally agree with you on the idea of not necessarily being excited to visit another Museum, but leaving the Whitney we both could agree that it was far better than we would have ever imagined it. Loved how you drew connections from your childhood elementary school days to the artwork as well. I think that’s every artists goal while creating art; to cause viewers to feel a sense of connection to the art. From exploring the Museum together we also both agreed it was very interactive, just like you mentioned in your blog. Overall great blog post and glad we got to experience this together!
It’s interesting to see that many of the people in the class decided to define delirium. I also find it interesting that the definitions varied per website. I never thought of the exhibit as simply stimulating one’s senses. This goes along with the idea that you proposed about art and its interpretation the senses that I stimulated were able to connect to certain experience, but it may have just been a day of walking through the sand for some other people. It goes back to how we all interpret art, because one person may have experienced or realized something through this exhibit, but it may have just been some “geometric shapes” to someone else.