The New Museum’s Triennial Surrounds the Audience with Too Much Art

by Benjamin Sutton on February 24, 2015

Frank Benson, “Juliana” (2015) (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

The New Museum‘s third triennial, Surround Audience, is not nearly as immersive as its title suggests, and it sabotages many of the most conventional two-dimensional and sculptural works on view. Co-curators Lauren Cornell — the former director of Rhizome — and Ryan Trecartin — the video and performance artist — surely didn’t do this on purpose, but the lion’s share of the exhibition’s paintings, sculptures, and photographs flop. Videos, installations, quasi-archival collections, and performances by Lisa Tan, Donna Kukama, Josh Kline, Geumhyung Jeong, Nadim Abbas, and Eduardo Navarro, among others, are the show’s most memorable, but this tumefied triennial does a disservice to all 51 artists and their more than 150 works by diluting the experiences of its most enveloping pieces and overwhelming the more static ones.

Installation view of works by Onejoon Che

A visitor exploring Daniel Steegmann Mangrané’s Oculus Rift piece “Phantom” (2015)

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, “And We Begin to Let Go” (2013)

Shreyas Karle, “He-she object” from the ‘Museum Shop of Fetish Objects’ (2012)

Works by Shreyas Karle from the ‘Museum Shop of Fetish Objects’ (2012)

Installation view of ‘Surround Audience’ in the second-floor galleries

Guan Xiao, “The Documentary: Geocentric Puncture” (2012)

Detail of Guan Xiao, “The Documentary: Geocentric Puncture” (2012)

A performer activating Eva Kotátková’s “Not How People Move But What Moves Them” (2013)

Installation view of Josh Kline, “Freedom” (2015)

Detail of Josh Kline, “Freedom” (2015)

Antoine Catala, “Distant Feel” (2015)

Installation view of one of Nadim Abbas’s “Chamber” installations

Untitled works from 2015 by Olga Balema

Detail of Aleksandra Domanović, “SOHO (Substances of Human Origin)” (2015)

Fourth-floor installation view of ‘Surround Audience’ as seen through Aleksandra Domanović’s “SOHO (Substances of Human Origin)” (2015)

Detail of Shelly Nadashi, “A Good Bowl of Soup” (2013)

Kiluanji Kia Henda, “Rusty Mirage (The City Skyline)” (2013)

Martine Syms, “Objects of Study” (2015)

Ashland Mines’s sound and light installation in the New Museum stairwell, “promise of echo” (2015)

Visitors watch a performance of DIS’s “The Island (KEN)” (2015)

Renaud Jerez, “D” (2014)

Steve Roggenbuck’s “My Satanic Fitness Regimen (2011) VERY DEMONIC, WOW MOST EVIL VIDEO!!! 666!!!” (2011) in the New Museum basement

2015 Triennial: Surround Audience runs February 25–May 24 at the New Museum (235 Bowery, Lower East Side).