2008 Woodie Awards
NYC MOMA IS MOMAZING
MOMA Pieces Challenge Traditional Definition of Art
Emily Esguerra
Issue date: 9/26/06 Section: Detour
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Granted, every artist, photographer, architect, designer, and all those who don't live in total recluse probably know about the MOMA, but I'm sure very few can fathom the greatness of it when one finally explores it.
Do you just stand in awe? Do you kneel and pray? Or do you just breeze by so you can take a picture of only the famous pieces, like Van Gogh's "The Starry Night?" Though it's probably not as revered as the legendary Louvre in Paris or the Metropolitan Museum of Art located only a few minutes away, the MOMA certainly stands on its own two feet in the art museum world.
Separated by type of collection, each level contains hundreds of assorted pieces that will fancy the taste of even the most exclusive art enthusiast. Floors include film and media, photography, prints and illustrated books, painting and sculpture, architecture and design, drawings, and a gift shop that can take just as long to go through as the museum itself.
Other diversions include the glossy, street-level restaurant appropriately called "The Modern," where one can bypass the $1 hot dog stand at the street corner and instead buy a palm-sized lobster salad for a reasonable $38. I opted for the hot dog. If snazzy restaurants and enticing gift shops don't spark your fire there's always the museum.
A hop, skip, and a quick escalator ride away I faced my first piece of MOMA art-a machine-operated piano with a handful of video cameras focused on different parts of the piano (the keys, pedals, inside of the piano, strings, etc.). Though the piano was extremely unconventional for the first piece, it still gripped its audience with its originality and ornament.
Topped with a dozen TV monitors projecting the particular images of the instrument, the piano presents the tourist with not only his/her own automated symphony, but also a suitable preview of the MOMA's, well, modernism. For the tight, traditional art critic this type of display might be outlandish, improper, or just down right offensive, but the plain truth is that in the Museum of Modern Art, one may occasionally find some (gasp!) modern-looking stuff.
The third level exhibits a more peaceful vibe compared to its film and media predecessor, including collections of architecture and design, drawings, and my personal favorite, photography.
Primarily black and white, the photography captures a compilation of images, everything from the Vietnam War to past politicians, Hitler's regime and even an eccentric pick-up truck with stickers covering the entire interior. Here, every photo inflicts its own personal sentiments, causing visitors to feel less like they looked at some arbitrarily vacant picture and more like they had a conversation with the photographer himself.
Some photos convey an innocent sweetness that makes its passers-by smile, while others express a poignant sensation prompting its audience to cringe, to cry, but to nonetheless feel something for the piece they observe. And herein lies only one of the beauties of the MOMA.
Also on level three is an empty room that the tourists flock to, due to a flashing light which illuminates the empty room in about five second intervals. Visitors walk in and scan the area- up, down, sideways, corners, and ceiling- to their dismay they don't find a single speck of art hidden within its nooks and crannies. But before one leaves the room with a total broken spirit, a small placard of explanation awaits near the exit, attesting that what was just experienced was indeed, art. This room proves that just because a piece of art doesn't have a title, bio, or description by its name doesn't mean it's not art. Whoever said art was a tangible or even visible thing? The MOMA again validates that art isn't as customary as one may think, nor is it a subject that people can always look at and scrutinize. Art is an experience.
At first I thought the hustle and bustle of cab drivers, stock brokers, and the hot dog vendors every 50 feet might distract me from my visit to the MOMA, or perhaps take away the radiance of my tour, but in the end these factors only enriched my experience. New York is where modernism, invention, artistic innovation, fashion, and design are born, where artists are bred, and where art continues to thrive.