So Now I'm an Expert on Burning Man

Where: Renwick Gallery

When: closing January 21, 2019

No, I've not seen all the shows closing in 2018 yet, but a friend of mine wanted to see the Burning Man show at the Renwick, so I saw this "out of order."  I've never been to Burning Man, nor really had any desire to go, but after seeing this show, I am certainly more curious about it.

The exhibit focuses on the art of Burning Man, and everyone who attends the festival is meant to be an artist of some sort.  People who only come to gawk and wear costumes are called "Sparkle Ponies" and not in a good way,

This is a very large show, taking up the entire top floor of the museum.  It's room after room of peculiar and fascinating works; the picture attached is of a mushroom-like piece that opens and shuts when a visitor stands in a particular spot.  It's odd, but fun.  The picture is of the view looking up into the piece.

The real capstone is the temple.  My friend suggested we save that for last, and I would make that recommendation to anyone who visits.  It's in the Grand Salon, so it's quite large.  Apparently, every year at Burning Man, there's a temple, and people come there and write tributes to people they have lost.  At the end of Burning Man, they burn the temple (and the Man).  People are writing tributes here as well; what they will do with this temple when the show ends in January, I do not know.

Verdict: Whether you know anything about Burning Man or not, this show is most definitely worth seeing.  Since the Renwick has re-opened, they've had one excellent exhibit after another, and I'm eager to see what they do next.

Singing Just For Me

Where: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden

When: ends October 14, 2018

So after I saw Mark Bradford's Pickett's Charge, I asked the docent on duty at the main entrance reception desk where I might find the "Tino Sehgal: This You" performance.  I'd heard that a person would be performing as people walked by outside the museum and in the garden but wasn't exactly sure where to go.  She directed me to the garden, thinking that perhaps the performances wouldn't be going on, but that there were some Seghal sculptures to see there.

I never did find the sculptures, but as I was walking around aimlessly, a woman all of a sudden starting singing.  I stopped and listened and thanked her when she was done.  It was a little weird to have someone I didn't know singing just for me, but I thought it would be rude to walk past her or pretend I didn't know she was performing.

As I walked on, another person walked up, and she did the same thing (with a different bit of song).  He just walked on, so perhaps I'm not well versed in how these pop-up performances work.  Or maybe, he was just rude.

The woman had a good voice, so I liked hearing her, whether as a direct performance, or as a sort of background music as I made my way out of the garden.

Verdict: How often do you get to have your own private concert? If you're at the Hirshhorn this coming week, give a listen.

Beneath the Surface

Where: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Gallery

When: closing November 12, 2018

All around the inner ring of the Hirshhorn's third floor is Mark Bradford's "Pickett's Charge."  Bradford has taken a reproduction of the cyclorama and transformed it into an examination of what's missing in our depictions of history.

In some places, he's scraped away the image to reveal what's underneath.  In other places, he's added braids that run through the image.  In yet other places, he's covered the image with colored paper.  So yes, it is the cyclorama, but it's also not the cyclorama.

I was strongly reminded of the Kara Walker show I saw at American Art last December (how can it have been that long ago?).  She also started with reproductions (in her case of 19th-century texts) and used them to show a more complete history.  My blog post on her show is here: A Truth That Will Not Be Contained.

The wall notes suggest that this work can be used as a lens to see the current political climate in a new way, and I'm sure that's right.  At this moment, the current political climate is so depressing, I'd rather just think about the Civil War.  Yes, that's completely ridiculous, but here we are.

Verdict: Great work, made specifically for the Hirshhorn.  Once the run is over, I'm assuming it will no longer exist.  See it now!