Creative Destruction
Curated by denisse andrade, Liz
Park, Tim Saltarelli, and Kristina Scepanski
Helena Rubinstein Curatorial
Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program
“Creative destruction” initially described the periodic crises that cleared the ground for the creation of new wealth. More recently, the term has been interpreted by finance capital as the ability to profit at the expense of the majority and their livelihoods. The exhibition reclaims the phrase in order to emphasize the potential to reconfigure and rebuild from pre-existing language for different political purposes. The artworks take aim at how these signs perpetuate a constructed yet naturalized state of inequality. Similar to many of the recent global protest movements, they collectively engage in a critical analysis of the existing socio-economic and ideological order.
With works by Melanie Gilligan, Hans Haacke, Alfredo Jaar, Liz Magic Laser, Raqs Media Collective, Kerri Reid, SUPERFLEX, and Fred Wilson.
Exhibition Hours: Tues–Fri, 12–6 pm; Sat 11–6 pm FREE
Public Programs
Bringing together perspectives from different fields of expertise, the public programs aim for an interdisciplinary exploration of the term “creative destruction” and the artistic strategy of rearticulation. A series of events investigates the creative process of rearticulation in the realm of public space, cultural production and economics—three key sectors under critical re-evaluation in the wake of the ongoing financial crisis. Programs are free of charge and open to the public unless otherwise noted; seats will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 6 PM
Making Strange with Nora M. Alter, Hans Haacke, Liz Magic Laser, and Graham Parker
Saturday, June 2, 2012, 2 PM
Laying Claim with Jeff Derksen, Alfredo Jaar, and Cindi Katz
Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 3 PM Reading Group & 6 PM Conversation
Tracing Creative Destruction with Matthew Buckingham and David Harvey
Saturday, June 9, 2012, 2 PM
Screening of Alexander Kluge’s Früchte des Vertrauens with Introduction by Andrew Kliman
Saturday, June 16, 2012, 2 PM
Fix-It-Yourself: The Art of Creating Revolutionary Economic Models
Support for the Whitney Museum of American
Art Independent Study Program is provided by Margaret Morgan and Wesley Phoa,
The Capital Group Charitable Foundation, the Whitney Contemporaries through
their annual Art Party benefit, the Easton Foundation, the National Committee
of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Edward and Sally Van Lier
Foundation, and an anonymous donor. Endowment support is provided by Joanne
Leonhardt Cassullo, the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Fund of the Communities
Foundation of Texas, the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation, the Helena
Rubinstein Foundation, and George S. Harris.
Photo: Alfredo Jaar, The Marx Lounge, 2010, Liverpool Biennial, UK, courtesy of the artist
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