REVIEW: ‘Hans Haacke: All Connected’ at the New Museum
Photo: Grass Grows, 1967–69. Earth and grass. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo courtesy of New Museum / Provided with permission.
NEW YORK — A new retrospective of celebrated German artist Hans Haacke is finishing up a celebrated run at New York City’s New Museum in SoHo. Sprawling over every floor of the museum, the exhibition is a wonder to behold, offering attendees a chance to walk through the career of this interesting artist and his thought-inducing, often commentary-riddled pieces from the past few decades.
The Haacke pieces on display are obvious to museumgoers as soon as they walk into the lobby of the New Museum. Most striking is his newest work, “Make Mar-a-Lago Great Again,” a piece that directly references President Donald Trump. Behind three barriers that would not be out of place on the streets of New York City is a mixed-media display featuring an overturned TV showing Trump’s infamous Twitter feed, a banner highlighting the many consumer options for MAGA paraphernalia, Statue of Liberty figurines, a gold-plated golf club and a painted tire thrown in for good measure. It’s a sculptural work that is given a DIY aesthetic because of an accompanying drop cloth and pillow.
The second floor of the museum features Haacke’s kinetic works, and these prove to be the true highlight of the retrospective. They are gargantuan in size and are begging to be activated by passersby. When circumambulating these pieces, the perspective and angle changes, often leading to a modified viewing experience — simply marvelous.
One can watch “Wide White Flow” from 1967/2008 for hours. Hidden fans blow wind along a large section of white silk, making for an endless series of undulating waves. Wind also comes into play with “Blue Sail” from 1964-65; this one features an oscillating fan that blows upward toward a suspended piece of chiffon, held steady by fishing weights. Again, hours can be spent here, watching how the fan’s movements cause differences in the chiffon’s rise and fall.
Appreciators are able to touch and activate “Large Water Level” and “Wave.” A simple push of these containers — one plastic, the other plexiglass — sends the water on the inside moving in all sorts of directions and shapes, giving the person who pushed the vessel the feeling of artistic creation.
The third floor has pieces also large in size, but less motivated by pure physical form and more focused on political and even critical viewpoints. “News” finds a machine printing a constant stream of news items into a large pile of paper on the floor. Depending on when attendees arrive in the room, the pile can be small or large. The nearby “State of the Union” features the well-known stars of the American flag ripped in half and hanging from the ceiling.
“MetroMobiltan” from 1985 is one of the pieces that offers Haacke’s most direct criticism of museums and how they are funded. This piece, as the title suggests, skewers both Mobil and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Three banners hang on a fake edifice, mocking the funding structures for veritable institutions like The Met. Other pieces throughout All Connected point out the hypocrisies in the art world and the artist’s struggle with acceptance in the system (one story of his work being shut out of the Guggenheim is fascinating).
Other works throughout the exhibition are both impressive and memorable, perhaps none more profound than “Gift Horse” from 2014, which originally stood in Trafalgar Square in London. The massive skeletal structure of a horse stands upright, while a ribbon of messages scroll across a bended LED screen attached to its front leg. The dichotomy is arresting: the stoic perch of the equine and the uncomfortable, nonstop action of the scrolling information.
The top floor of the exhibition offers another section of Haacke’s career: questionnaires filled out by museum attendees. Over the years, the artist has asked a series of questions of people who have come to experience his art, and he has compiled the data and offered future appreciators the revealing findings. For this New Museum retrospective, he not only offers what he has found in the past, but he also welcomes visitors to take part in a new survey, the results of which are displayed on a nearby screen in real time — proving there are more ways than one to become connected to Haacke’s artistry.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Hans Haacke: All Connected runs through Jan. 26 at the New Museum in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
