Everything is Going to be Alright

In this video, on MoMA’s first floor by the escalators, a person is walking faster than an ice-cutting ship. It’s ten minutes of calm and a little suspense.

A square of pollen

Wolfgang Laib’s “Pollen From Hazelnut” is a huge rectangle of pollen that was meticulously sifted onto a platform in MoMA’s second floor atrium. From a distance it appears slightly convex and resembles a pincushion, or a minimalist painting too large to hang. Up close, the yellow of the pollen is compelling but not overwhelming – I’m glad I saw it but I haven’t advised friends to rush over. The pollen’s on view until March 11.

Girls at MOMA

Be brave; go out and get some culture and pretend that the city’s not packed with holiday visitors.

Don’t go to MoMA today

This was yesterday; MoMA’s closed on Tuesdays. I think I’ll remember because I tried to go there two weeks ago and found it shut. The lobby is usually open, though, in case you want to cut through or peruse the gift shop.

De Kooning is down @ MoMA

The de Kooning retrospective at MoMA has been taken down. I’m sure they are used to visitors taking pictures of everything (and each other, standing by everything), but the guard didn’t notice me until I’d snapped a couple. “No pictures, please!” No problem, of course; I’m not stealing crating secrets. Next month, Cindy Sherman is on view.

This wallpaper is laughing @ my dress

A new show, “Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects” opens July 24 at MOMA. It’s about the interactions that take place between objects and people. Hint: they can be more complex and involved than you might suspect.

View of the sculpture garden

Not in the mood for brightness, heat, and milling tourists of MOMA’s sculpture garden? There’s always this louvered view over by the elevators.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday

It’s a little difficult to photograph a sound installation; what you see are MOMA visitors milling around the large room where Bruce Nauman’s “Days” is installed. Fourteen flat speakers, in two rows, hang from the ceiling, and seven different voices recite the days of the week in random order.

A star is made

Ceal Floyer’s “Double Act,” an artwork of projected light, is on MOMA’s first floor, at the base of the escalators. Yesterday was Matinee Day, and the museum was packed with visitors and vacationers eager to cram culture into the day, but few stepped onto the “stage.” The piece is simple but intense; as soon as someone steps into the spotlight, they’ve got your attention.

Louise Bourgeois @ MOMA

Louise Bourgeois, who died at age 98 in May, is well represented in MOMA’s “Mind and Matter: Alternative Abstractions, 1940′s to Now” show. According to MOMA’s website, the exhibit “presents a dozen international artists whose abstract work features idiosyncratic, organic forms, materials that appear to be malleable and pliable, craft-based techniques.” It’s not a major show, but but if you’re at the museum, have a walk through.