The new DREAMLANDS exhibition at the Whitney is just littered with curious, multi-faceted video work, but is also a little cluttered because of it. The scope, thematically and physically, of the pieces varies dramatically, which was a lot of fun at times. I loved how Ben Coonley’s 3-D 360-degree video “Trading Futures” was experienced, as it was projected on the inside of a geodesic dome made of cardboard. It was presented in the vain of of kids class, which was highly effect as we were all laying together under cardboard, as if we were all perhaps playing in a fort we made with items found abound the house. Despite the materials of the dome being simple, the idea of a geodesic dome and use of VR felt really modern.
I enjoyed the Tron-like ambiance of Hito Steyerl’s “Factory of the Sun” piece but the intrigue stopped there. I read that the video being played should have presented me with the idea of a video game but I would not have thought that without reading the description. There was silly dancing involved, which made me smile at first, but after awhile I got the repeated thought “what are we all doing here” as it seemed to go no where – perhaps that was the point. What is the point of playing video games ultimately? The artist did do some collaborative dance moves with large exercise style balls – which I am also playing around in the studio with so… am I not unique enough do we share some wavelengths. Who knows, but an experience was provided – that’s worth while.
As you walk into the sprawling cascade of video work in the museum, there was a 1960’s (I think) reproduction of an early 20th century, dance video piece in where you have relatively surreal chess pieces -and other geometric costumes- dance in highly organized ways in whimsical but very angular landscapes. That was intriguing at times. I don’t remember who did it though and who it was reproducing, but it was refreshing to see how dance and non-dance video were each represented there.
I enjoyed many things about this exhibition but I also got the nagging feeling that many artists were just practicing pretense. It’s admittedly been a few weeks since I was there, so could I articulate why? Not quite. Regardless of my understanding of the cohesion of the works curated, or lack thereof, it was a dense, and relatively titillating experience- and my first time at the Whitney (shame-face). Thanks for assigning it.