Andrea Geyer: It’s time, she said.

Floor Three, Laurie M. Tisch Education Center, Hearst Artspace

Over the course of the past year, Andrea Geyer conducted research on the history of the Whitney Museum, particularly the work and lives of its founder Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Juliana Force, the Museum’s first director. On the large chalkboards at the center of this installation, Geyer maps the Whitney’s history through their activities. She also charts their connections to other women artists, patrons, and activists who helped to create and nurture the development of modern art in the United States in the early twentieth century. Drawn in reverse, the information in these diagrams is only legible in reflection, in the large mirror.

It’s time, she said also highlights the role of education within the context of the Museum. By inserting a theatrical stage into a classroom, Geyer emphasizes the performative aspects of pedagogy. Her approach is inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s Lehrstücke, or learning plays—a radical and experimental form of theater that explored the possibility of learning through performance—and the stage designs of Caspar Neher, who developed innovative and flexible spatial arrangements for Brecht’s productions. Education Programs take place within and through this transformed space.

Related Program: Time Tenderness a performance in the galleries, May 13–18, 2015. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

May 1–May 10 

Visitors are welcome to enter the Hearst Artspace during Museum Hours to engage with the installation. Walk-ins are welcome.