a day like any other

While in New York LC, James and I went to New Museum on Bowery. I just found this on Document magazines weeklies section and was reminded about some of the interesting work I saw while we were there. There were two retrospectives on when we visited- the first of work by Brazilian Rivane Neuenschwander and the second of Brion Gysin's work. 

I found Neuenschwanders work interesting. It was process based and explorative featuring installation and video projection. I really enjoyed As mil e un noites posseveis (one thousand and one possible nights) and Arabian Moons, featuring images of hole punched paper arranged like the milkyway and a constantly streaming film projection with a hole punched in each frame. Her preoccupation with circles and passages of time is quite meditative. This tied in with her installation of hanging buckets, each with a hole in the base allowing drops of water to fall into buckets placed below. the pace of the drip echoed by the flick of an analogue clock. Her work also explored the age of surveilance, uncovering histories, and reforming memory.  

The most accessible piece was her installation downstairs called 'A day Like Any Other' which invited the viewer to participate. The room was filled with thousands of coloured ribbons hanging from the wall, each with a printed wish. The viewer was invited to exchange their own wish (written on paper) with a ribbon from the wall, to tie it around their wrist and leave it on until it came true. Neueschwander based this on a brazilian tradition in which people take their wishes to the church, reinventing it in the context of the museum. Though this installation was more light hearted than other areas of her work it was also rooted in ideas of the passing of time and act of wishing- a meditative thought. 

Brion Gysins work was interesting for its aesthetic but also for his association with William S Burroughs and the beat gen. I'd like to read some more about him and his life- a project for the future perhaps.