the museum of modern art (moma) may feel like a space of consumption. vast numbers of tourists breeze through the exhibits without extended looks on displays. purchases of memorabilia and miscellaneous trinkets may be made at several different locations throughout the museum. a cafe is located on the second floor. even the queues for bag checks wind through and out of a corridor. this disneyland experience subtracts the spectacular and sensational thrill of amusement park rides; a father answers to his impatient seven year-old son, ‘we’ve only been here for half an hour!’
nonetheless, moma also invites critical reflection across. divided amongst the museum’s six floors, iconic masterpieces and contemporary works offer a variety of styles, temporalities, and genres. accordingly, an/aestheticizing experiences inhere not in the artworks themselves; rather, they function as so many resonances between art and its viewer, thereby shattering any definitive delineation between those terms. here are several works that worked for me due to their carceral thematics.
Whilst navigating curatorial space may direct our attention inward to exhibited pieces, it simultaneously distracts us from one of the greatest exhibits of all: the city itself. this tendency to confine the proper place of aesthetics to the museum may disable a scrutiny of cityscapes themselves and how they re/structure perceptions, sensations, and experience itself.
But not everyone misses out.
