Feature

The Biennial Annex

Tequila. Dancing. Heavy-metal nuptials.

By Rachel Wolff
Published Feb 28, 2008

Illustration by Remie Geoffroi

Save for some scattered programming in Central Park, this year marks the first time the Biennial runneth over from the Whitney. The museum has co-opted the Seventh Regiment Armory (a.k.a. the Park Avenue Armory) for free programming from March 6 through 23. Don’t expect faux white-walled galleries in the expo-ready Drill Hall—more than a third of the 81 Biennial artists will activate much of the Armory’s historic interior with site-specific performances and installations.

THROUGHOUT
Matthew Brannon’s The Last Page in a Very Long Novel (2008).
Tapes of creaky Armory noises inspire a film script, the only copy of which will be buried in the building forever.

(Photo: Courtesy of I-20, New York/The Whitney Museum of American Art)

1. FIELD AND STAFF BAR
Eduardo Sarabia’s Salon Aleman.
At the blue-and-white porcelain bar artists serve homemade (in Mexico) tequila. And beer. Some even make barware.

(Photo: Patrick McMullan)

2. DRILL HALL
Kembra Pfahler/The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black’s Actressocracy (2008).
The always-evocative painted lady stages a rock-opera extravaganza/wedding.

(Photo: Superstock)

3. DRILL HALL
Agathe Snow’s Stamina: Gloria et Patria (2008).
Snow’s 96-hour dance marathon culminates in the huge barrel-vaulted hall on March 15. Prizes to be awarded for stamina.

(Photo: Courtesy of Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland/Whitney Museum of American Art)

4. LIBRARY/SILVER ROOM
MK Guth’s Ties of Protection and Safekeeping (2007–8).
Rapunzel! Guth weaves a giant braid of artificial hair flecked with strips of flannel bearing audience-composed phrases.

(Photo: Courtesy of the Artist/Whitney Museum of American Art)

5. COMMANDER’S ROOM
Dexter Sinister’s True Mirror (2008). Conceptual and traditional press briefings on Biennial happenings from the commander’s old perch—now an in-house communications HQ.

(Photo: Courtesy of the Artist/Whitney Museum of American Art)

6. COLONEL’S ROOM
Bert Rodriguez’s In the Beginning… (2008).
Free therapy! Rodriguez holds daily office hours, broadcasting incomprehensible murmurs from each session throughout the space.

(Photo: Courtesy of the Artist/Whitney Museum of American Art)

7. SOUTH HALL AND RECEPTION ROOM
Ellen Harvey’s 100 Biennial Visitors Immortalized (2008).
Free art! Harvey whips up fifteen-minute portraits of 100 visitors, and invites the subjects to give feedback on her work.