Tours That Rock
May 19, 2010
YI Leader Sakhia talks about artist Aki Sasamoto's fascination with doughnuts while leading teens through Strange Attractors, May 2010. Photograph by Diane Exavier
Our tour with the Opportunity Network (OppNet) a few weeks ago started off a little rocky, probably because we didn’t do a fun ice breaker. But everything is a learning process. The huge work by Piotr Uklanski, which is like the opening curtain for the fourth floor, got some great and unexpected reactions. Following Uklanski, we moved on to Charles Ray and his awesome flower drawings, which made the crew a little more comfortable, relaxed, and happy. Then we made our way to one of the strongest and most controversial works in the Biennial, Self-immolation in Afghanistan: A Cry for Help by Stephanie Sinclair. It brought about an interesting conversation with the OppNet group.
Next, we went to the super weird, confusing, but awesome work by Aki Sasamoto. The piece is called Strange Attractors and it made everyone wonder what was going on. Sakhia told a story about when she first saw Aki performing in the space. It had something to do with doughnuts. Then we headed down to the third floor where Eve talked about Kate Gilmore and how they hang out all the time after Eve interviewed her for our short Biennial documentaries. Eve is our Kate Gilmore expert. We visited a few more works in the galleries and then wrapped up the tour. I think we learned a lot from this tour that will help us in the future. I would like to say one more thing: OPPNET ROCKS!
(Editor’s note: The author of this blog would also like to say that the Whitney rocks as well.)
by Cesar