Window, Window, on the Street

Shop windows are always art galleries, in a way: We want to look into them, even with the knowledge that they exist only to manipulate. At the massive recent biennial “Chinese Character,” retail vitrines were put to excellent use, calling into question the difference between fine art and commercial goods. At “Always Under Construction,” multimedia artist Ilana Crispi is more meditative, but no less glassy, planted as she is in a very streetside space, in which she highlights the ever-changing nature of window goods. We’re used to them changing, leading us on and on in search of new things to buy, but her project riffs on Albrecht Dürer’s 1514 engraving Melencolia I, cosmic debris, and the act of seeing — it isn’t obvious what the consumer is supposed to buy. With those starting points, Crispi has been using the fully viewable area to make new art; Saturday’s reception could have been an opening but instead is a near-closing, hence the name. We want to look in.
June 17-30, 2009