I did a Q+A with Neil Goldberg, a fellow Brown alum, for Art in America.
Unfortunately, his show at the Museum of the City of New York has already closed, but it’s a beautiful homage to the city, especially the East Village in the 1990s, by someone who calls himself a Buddhist-Lite. My favorite piece? Hallelujah Anyway. I’m so tired and burnt out today that I’m just going to quote myself on it (barf):
A similar feeling permeates Hallelujah Anyway Nos. 2 and 4 (1995–1996), a two-channel video installation that depicts, on one screen, shopkeepers open the gates to their stores on a strip of 1st Avenue in the East Village that has since been gentrified beyond recognition. On the other screen, elderly passengers laboriously board an M15 bus. Less a documentary than a choreographed dance of strained exuberance, the work shows a city always moving forward, offering up quotidian wonders for those who take the time to slow down and see them.
I’d wager a bet that the exhibition, “Stories The City Tells Itself,” will be back in some form in the future. In the meantime, look out for Neil’s work—especially those of you in LA. He’s just gone bi-coastal.
