The Third Mind

The Guggenheim Museum is showing an intriguing exhibit called The Third Mind, which explores American artists from 1860 through 1989 contemplating Asia. It cannot be experienced in a single afternoon, because of the intensity of the exhibit and its breadth.

We started from the modern work, working backwards in time, which distorted the show, and I don't recommend doing it that way. Walk up the Guggenheim, not down.

Let's start with Human Carriage by Ann Hamilton who has put together a kinetic sculpture that starts at the sixth floor of the Museum and winds its way down to the lobby on an aluminum rail. I won't say more except you can see it on line. It runs every fifteen minutes, so listen for the sound of Tibetan bells, and then walk towards the rotunda to watch. It will make you laugh. It will slow you down.

The early works by Whistler and later O'Keeffe and Dove, well we've seen those before. It was fun to see Kerouac and Ginsberg in this different context, especially the photographs. The works by John Cage and Yoko Ono take on another meaning, as does the Rauschenberg. For me the most moving piece, by Kim Jones, a Viet Nam vet, brought the obsession of war and its aftermath clearly to view.

Most disturbing was Dream House, an installation by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. The room vibrates with the droning tones of Indian scales. These scales include more range of sound than do Western musical scales. A drone state is established, which has significant physical and psychological impact. After just a few moments in the room with its pink lights and optical illusions, I was stunned. One could see how effective sound and light are in preparing someone for interrogation. The ugliness of how easily we can be manipulated kept on coming to mind as I stood there. Once I was in a casino when a lightning strike blew out of the electricity. Immediately the silence and the darkness revealed the hypnotic techniques used to keep customers gambling. I never went into a casino again.

But you should try The Third Mind, which runs through April 19, 2009.