Pivot, Turn, Lift!

Many artists & curators have a love-hate relationship with their viewers... We do everything we can to woo the public, then they respond in ways that we don't expect, want, or even understand. Trapped too long inside the white cube, we expect visitors to see through the lens of our own overschooled understanding. And can they help it if they don't know the steps to our interpretive dance? Of course not--but that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun with them. Jennifer Crowe and Scott Paterson have done so with 'Follow Through,' their portable media player-based artwork created in response to the Whitney Museum's Permanent Collection. The project targets 'the discrepancy the artists found between the active and energetic art on view in the galleries and the rather passive and languid body language of museum visitors looking at that art.' In order to maximize the art-viewing experience, 'Follow Through' offers museum-goers a tongue-in-cheek programme of sports training-type exercises complete with diagrams and easy-to-follow instructions. Accessible through January 29, the cleverly self-reflexive 'Follow Through' is an in-house anthem to art snobs everywhere. - Peggy MacKinnon