On View
In Pictures: See Highlights of the New Museum’s Very Subtle New Triennial, Filled With Raw, Barely-Finished-Looking Art
Take a peek inside "Soft Water Hard Stone."
Ben Davis
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The title of this year’s New Museum triennial is “Soft Water Hard Stone.” It’s a moniker that alludes to the natural world, to folk wisdom, and to the kind of quiet, insistent force that makes change over time—the idea being that even something as pliant as a soft current of water, over time, has an effect.
Curated by Margot Norton and Jamillah James, with the assistance of Jeanette Bisschops, the resulting show does indeed land gently. It’s a show of a lot of things that either lay on the ground or look like they were just picked up off the ground, and things that vaguely evoke a ruin. It is all washed-out colors and neutrals and graphite grays. It has a cool emotional tone (though not a cold one).
There are almost no big, central images—it’s a lot of things you have to look at like puzzles, for details. Even the big things and the figurative work feel faceless and diffuse somehow. The mental afterimage the show leaves is of a lot of people standing with their backs to you, talking in low tones.
It offers plenty to think about. As I put together my own thoughts on it, here are some photos of the show, so you can get a taste for yourself.
4th Floor
Cynthia Daignault, As I Lay Dying (2021) and Gabriel Chaile, Mamá Luchona (2021) in the New Museum Triennial. Photo by Ben Davis.
Tanya Lukin Linklater, An Amplification Through Many Minds (2019). Photo by Ben Davis.
Jeneen Frei Njootli, Fighting for the Title Not to Be Pending (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
Various works by Kang Seung Lee. Photo by Ben Davis.
Nadia Belerique, HOLDINGS (2020-ongoing). Photo by Ben Davis.
Brandon Ndife, Pistachio (2021) and Market Fare (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Brandon Ndife, Pinched (2021) and Ripe Today, Finally (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Two panels from Cynthia Daignault, As I Lay Dying (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
A work by Erin Jane Nelson. Photo by Ben Davis.
Gabriela Mureb, Machine #4: stone (ground) (2017). Photo by Ben Davis.
Alex Ayed, Untitled (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Stairway Gallery
Alex Ayed, Untitled (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Gabriela Mureb, Machine #3: belt (small) (2013-21). Photo by Ben Davis.
3rd Floor
Kate Cooper, Somatic Aliasing (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Krista Clark, Annotations on Shelter 5 (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Tomás Díaz Cedeño, 1000 Años (2019). Photo by Ben Davis.
Haig Aivazian, All of Your Stars Are But Dust on My Shoes (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Yu Gi, Flesh in Stone Ghost #8 (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Krista Clark, Annotations on Shelter #3 (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Ambera Wellman, Strobe (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Laurie Kang, Great Shuttle (2020-21) and Root 2020-21). Photo by Ben Davis.
Jes Fan, Networks (for Rupture) (2021) and Networks (for Extension) (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Iris Touliatou, Untitled (Still Not Over You) (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Works by Harry Gould Harvey IV (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Sandra Mujinga, Pervasive Light (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
2nd Floor
Three works by Goutam Ghosh. Photo by Ben Davis.
Bronwyn Katz, Xãe (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Angelica Loderer, Untitled (ribbons) (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Alex Ayed, Untitled (Sail II) (2020) and Untitled (Sail IV) (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
![Ima-Abasi Okon, <em>Put Something in the Air: The E-s-s-e-n-t-i-a-l Mahalia Jackson Blowing Up DJ Pollie Pop’s Chopped and Screwed Rendition of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries — Military-Entertainment Complex Dub [Jericho Speak Life!]*(Free of Legacy)*</em> (2017). Photo by Ben Davis.](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2021/10/ima-abasi-okon-1024x768.jpeg)
Ima-Abasi Okon, Put Something in the Air: The E-s-s-e-n-t-i-a-l Mahalia Jackson Blowing Up DJ Pollie Pop’s Chopped and Screwed Rendition of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries — Military-Entertainment Complex Dub [Jericho Speak Life!]*(Free of Legacy)* (2017). Photo by Ben Davis.
Works by Ann Greene Kelly. Photo by Ben Davis.
Blair Saxon-Hill, Emergency Contact (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Christina Pataialii, Footsteps in the Dark (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
![Kahlil Robert Irving, <em>Routes&Roots[(SaintLouis NewYork (returnflight)] MEMORY MASSES</em> (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2021/10/kahil-robert-irving-1024x708.jpeg)
Kahlil Robert Irving, Routes&Roots[(SaintLouis NewYork (returnflight)] MEMORY MASSES (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Works by Ann Greene Kelly. Photo by Ben Davis.
![Wallpaper and various untitled works by Evgeny Antufiev and [foreground] Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, <em>Nothing further beyond</em> (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2021/10/evgeny-antufiev-untitled-1024x683.jpeg)
Wallpaper and various untitled works by Evgeny Antufiev and [foreground] Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, Nothing further beyond (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Works by Evgeny Antufiev. Photo by Ben Davis.
Foreground: Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, Nothing further beyond (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Rose Salane, 60 Detected Rings (1991-2021) (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Amalie Smith, Clay Theory (2019). Photo by Ben Davis.
Gaëlle Choisne, Temple of Love—Love to love (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Lobby Gallery
Arturo Kameya, Who can afford to feed the ghosts (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Amy Lien and Enzo Camacho, waves move bile (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
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