Dawoud Bey
I went to a talk by Roberta Smith & Jerry Saltz last month and a cynical audience member asked Jerry Saltz if he thought the Whitney Biennial was even worth while. Jerry Saltz challenged the audience to go the the Biennial and told them that they couldn’t leave the building until they found 7 things that they liked. Although I am far less cynical than the question asker – I go into a show wanting to like the work, rather than the other way around, the Biennial still felt a bit flat to me. The curation leaned more towards the pedagogical, trying to place art in the context of art historical theory, rather than featuring exciting new artists doing new things. Nonetheless, I still had a hard time narrowing it down to only 7.
