Friday, September 20, 2019
Martha Minujin: Menesunda Reloaded.
Martha Minujin: Menesunda Reloaded
Martha Minujin’s immersive and eccentric “Menesunda: Reloaded” invites its willing participants on a journey through time and oddball experiences. The installation from one of Argentina’s leading artists was first staged in 1965 and has been reconstructed (or in this case, reloaded) for the New Museum. The installation brings to mind a carnival or funhouse. Museum-goers choose a path through a series of unusually designed rooms and situations: turn to the right and you might awkwardly encounter performers enacting a couple in bed, turn to the left and you will find yourself in a mirrored room with confetti and fans. There are moments when the installation claims space, making itself bigger and harder to travail through; Participants are encouraged to find their way out of a dense jungle of materials or crawl through small holes. In this frenzied, adventure, you might find moments of solace inside an empty refrigerator or looking at a calming projection of an ocean.
Accompanying the installation is a black and white video of the 1965 Buenos Aires staging of the work, providing us with a glimpse at the original participants and their reactions as they navigate Minujin’s creation. Other than fashion and location not much has changed, people are still lining up to enter the madcap world of La Menesunda.
Running from June 26 to September 29 at the New Museum, this is a must lived experience.
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Hi Stephanie, I think this is a really good summarization for the exhibition, you really take a lot of time to describe the audience's interaction through the exhibition, I am a little bit concern about the spoiler problem, some time I wish the description for certain show is not that detailed so I can just go and explore, but this might be a personal preferences, so maybe more general description will actually work better for me. Also you can consider mention popular culture/mass media as part of her theme? You mention people lining up for the exhibition, but I feel like we need more clear mention for the concept.
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DeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteYour first couple sentences are very clear and flow nicely. I have a little nitpick with the idea that viewers “choose their own path” because there were signs telling you which way to go first, and security would step in if you stayed anywhere too long (as I found out in the numbered buttons room). I wonder if there is an easy way to convey that there were live actors(?) because “couple in a bed” could read as posed mannequins or a sculpture, and I thought it was striking and awkward to be in such close quarters with actual people.
-Joy