What “Younger than Jesus” teaches us about Gen. Y
May 12th, 2009 by Menachem Wecker
A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to see “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” at the New Museum in Manhattan. Carrying the tag line “50 artists from 25 countries all under 33,” the show, which the museum is hailing as “the only exhibition of its kind in the United States,” seemed very unfocused to me.
The show — like many others I have seen that are essentially parking lots for contemporary art, sculpture, assemblage, and installation — demands a tremendous amount of time and effort on the viewer’s part in reading large amounts of wall texts to understand the works.
A Rembrandt’s worth of a thousand words is nice precisely because it is visual rather than textual, and as such can be quickly deciphered, but I’ve found many contemporary pieces, even after I’ve clocked in the appropriate background research, remain ambiguous despite my having suffered through the catalog and the posted materials.
I believe many viewers jump to conclusions too quickly and denounce all modern art as useless without putting any effort into trying to listen to the works, but I also wonder where so many artists get off arrogantly thinking they can require their audiences to invest so much to understand them. This kind of self-centered approach is so Gen. Y.
The Gen. Y artists in “Younger” talked a lot about themselves, and not at all about Jesus. I was simultaneously thrilled that Jesus was being placed front and center in the show, and disappointed that the exhibit did absolutely nothing in the way of educating about Jesus or faith. The title struck me as false advertising.
In fact, the exhibit website doesn’t reveal a thing about Jesus (or how, if at all, he impacted the artists), beyond invoking him several times in the exhibit name. The viewer is meant to assume Jesus was 33 when he was crucified (as this Wiki page argues), though this could be fleshed out more (e.g. here).
The show left me wondering if the museum was being offensive in focusing on Jesus’ age, as if he was inexperienced, and his worldview was irrevocably shaped by his youth (though Karen Sue Smith, in her great review of the show, argues the title does not mock).
I also asked myself what Jesus, who was the master of metaphors, would think about all the theories that surfaced in the show. For the most part, I decided, Jesus’ parables are concise, purposeful, and blunt. He could have taught the artists of “Younger” a thing or two about communication (and perhaps even carpentry).
I am not going to say anything about the individual works (see this arforum piece for a good synopsis). They didn’t strike me as anything wonderful to write home about, but I encourage everyone who has the opportunity to see the show to do so, because it is an exciting enterprise, and I like how the museum is trying to bring younger perspectives to its audiences.
What initially excited me most about the show’s title was its promise to balance Gen. Y (and its narcissism, ego, and complicated identities) and Jesus (the exact opposite). If there had been an effort to navigate that balance I think the show would have been far more exciting.
Image: AIDS-3D OMG Obelisk, 2007 MDF, electroluminescent wire, steel, hot glue, acrylic paint and fire. Source: New Museum.