The New Museum

1st Floor-
Dorthy Iannone :Lioness
Iannone's exhibit is held in one room with paintings on the wall, cardboard figures in two display cases and forty-eight drawings with narratives displayed behind a glass panel on the left wall. The work has stylized influences from Egyptian hieroglyphics and mosaics that depict moments of intimacy and sexuality. Iannone removes the uncomfortableness and breaks through the social norms, regarding sex, in the video of her having an orgasm. The exhibit was hard to navigate through because I didn't exactly know where to begin and end.

2nd Floor-
Intersections Intersected : Photographs of David Goblatt
Goblatt's exhibition is held on two floors. This aspect alone made it hard to get through the exhibition because by the time you made it up to the other floor, more than likely, you were exhausted from the stairs. Nonetheless, the exhibit was set up the same way on both floors. The photographs were mounted on the wall about eye level, but the vast rooms the exhibit was held in made in slightly difficult to take it all in without feeling overwhelmed. The first floor was set up in sets of three color photographs, that provided a multiple perspective of a specific location in South Africa. On the second floor, the photographs were set up in pairs, color photographs were framed and black and white photographs were just matted, to show a comparison and progression in South Africa. The black and white photographs were of South Africa a few decades ago and the color photographs are of more recent times. These pairings show the development of some areas and the destruction of other areas throughout Golblatt's career documenting South Africa. Overall, the exhibit was an easy to view setup, excluding the exhausting stairs and overwhelming exhibition space.

Rigo 23-
I had no idea that the jail cells in the stairwell was even an installation. I thought they were some kind of an architectural aspect of the museum. So now knowing it was an installation, let me comment on it.....
There were jail cells installed on the stair case in the museum. They had years painted inside them. The years, I am assuming, were years that great political figures were imprisoned. I would have to wonder why it was installed on the stair case for two reasons. One, obviously, people will not easily notice it, like me. Second, how safe is it really putting an exhibit on a tight, narrow staircase? There is really no room to pass someone who would be observing the exhibit and could potentially send someone tumbling down the stair case. However, maybe this was the exact point of installing Rigo 23 on the staircase. Not the falling down the staircase part, maybe it was put there to show how many people did not notice or did not pay attention to it. The lack of attention to the exhibit perhaps commented on the lack of attention that some gave to great political figures being imprison. That is the most I can say about this exhibit. If I go back to the New Museum before it is taken down I will have another look at and hopefully derive a more solid opinion of the installation.