Last weekend’s marathon seems to be exerting an unexpected influence on the world of art, or at least of artcritical. Endurance-testing art projects (hopefully with resulting exhilaration) are a common denominator in two of the exhibitions selected for the next installment of The Review Panel. On November 21 Sarah Douglas, Edward Epstein and Lance Esplund will join moderator David Cohen to think about A Lot of Sorrow, a six-hour film by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson featuring the Indie rock band, The National, showing at Luhring Augustine Bushwick. The film documents a performance of the same duration, organized by Kjartansson for the purpose of filming, staged last year at PS1, in which the band played the same three-minute song continuously. We will see how many of the critics watch the film in its entirety!
Another of the shows selected in which time and endurance are determined by the “viewer” is Generator, by Marina Abramovic, at Sean Kelly Gallery, in which visitors must undergo sensory deprivation, and indicate to custodians when they have had enough.
And something of this taste for the long road must have gotten into editor David Cohen’s system as this week he reviews National Gallery, the latest documentary by Frederick Wiseman and his first devoted to a museum, currently showing at Film Forum. The film runs for three hours and a minute.
The other shows to be discussed November 21 are of Tommy Hartung at On Stellar Rays, and Ursula von Rydingsvard at Galerie Lelong. The podcast, meanwhile, of last month’s Tenth Anniversary panel with Ken Johnson, Marjorie Welish and Joan Waltemath, at which shows of Peter Fend, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer and John Walker were discussed, was recently posted. A separate review of Walker by John Goodrich offsets a lack of euphoria manifest on the panel for that particular artist. Some other recently posted reviews at artcritical include Stephen Maine on Judy Pfaff, Paul Carey-Kent on Karla Black, Amelia Rina on Christopher Williams and Jill Nathanson on Harriet Korman.
In the spirit of marathons, this sunny chill weekend will see print connoisseurs running around town for the culmination of Print Week in New York City, with the IFPDA’s 23rd Annual Print Fair at the Park Avenue Armory complemented by a slew of satellite events. The Print Fair is open until 8pm Saturday and 6pm Sunday.