Greater New York 2010 at MoMA PS1

Okay, so I love contemporary art, but I often think I love the idea of it more than the work itself.

Last month I went to New York and took a trip out to Long Island City to see MoMA PS1. The last time I went there was in the summer of 2001, and I don't think it was MoMA-related at the time. It was great to see how nice it looks. But as for the art itself... contemporary art brings out my judgmental side (she says, as though she's not always judgmental). As I walked through the show I started making a list of nearly everything in the show, and here it is:

• First piece in the show is a work by former Memphian Virginia Overton - a digital print on the floor at the entrance. So that was cool.
  
• obnoxious video
• purposefully ugly painting
• photoshop
• photoshop
• poorly made object
• obnoxious video
• collage, I mean photoshop
• photoshop
• pile of things
• purposefully ugly painting
  
• obnoxious video - oh wait no, that was obnoxious audio only
• benches you can't sit on
• photoshop
• genitalia
• more piles of things
• animated videos of paintings - interesting to look at, drew me in. The action depicts really horrible things, but the content + execution made it compelling. Sorry I did not write down the artist's name. (That goes for all complimentary items)
  
• baseball bats! neatly arranged in a pattern!
• omg more sound make it stop
• LaToya Ruby Frazier - self portrait - side-by-side video of a woman and a factory. The audio is just a slight mechanical noise, nearly drowned out by the yelling audio in the next gallery. The near slow-motion movement draws you in, it's very intimate.
• nice photographs - very spare black and white, little contrast, lonely
• playing dress-up
• more dress-up
• more genitalia
• video overwhelmed by the audio from the video next door
• more of that
• poorly made objects
• good paper cut-outs surrounded by stuff
• more obnoxious video - it's literally an obnoxious sound over and over again. Sharing a gallery with a much more subtly audioed piece... oh nevermind - repetitive sounds there, too.
• genitalia
• guys making fun of 1 of the audio pieces (has been the best audio piece so far)

So there you have it. I really don't get the obnoxious sound/video genre. I want to be drawn into a work. I want to want to give it a second look or a longer look. I do not want to listen to a car alarm, which is what the majority of video work is like to me.

I also don't understand why curators put loud audio next to anything else, anywhere. I've seen so many non-video (or even quieter video) pieces ruined by having, well, a car alarm going off next to it. I also don't understand why more artists don't complain. It distracts. And detracts.

Here are some pictures of the awesome courtyard.