Elephantitis of the Emotions

My friend Brent Greenblatt and I went to the Whitney Biennial two Saturdays ago. As always, it is an eclectic and sometimes difficult to understand collection of contemporary pieces by American artists, but what stood out for me was the crossover of art and documentary. Everything from Spike Lee's excellent documentary about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which was originally shown on HBO, to a beautiful piece by the artist Javier Téllez titled Letter on the Blind For the Use of Those Who See. This gorgeous black and white video could have been filmed by Jean Luc Godard. Téllez's art gives a voice to the marginalised (how cool is that?). It's his way of offering us an out from our false assumptions. In this video, the artist re-created the Indian parable "The Blind Men and the Elephant," filming six blind men as they touch a real live elephant who is standing in the middle of the McCarren Park swimming pool in Williamsburg (now emptied of water and often used as a concert venue for Indie rock bands). The idea is to show that "every being experiences the same thing in a unique way." It was a great lesson in how different people open themselves up (or not) to the same experience. Some of the men lightly touched the majestic (and patient) animal, one man folded up his stick and touched the elephant with his entire body. An embrace. Enormously moving.
Marianne Fassler, who was here last week and also deeply touched by this video, felt that is was addressing the idea of "the elephant in the room": We would never ask a blind person to tell us what they see. True. (She pointed out that elephants were something of a mini-theme at this year's biennal. Another installation upstairs saw just elephant feet and a tusk, and where the rest of the elephant should have been, simply the words "Iraqi Oil".
The Whitney Biennale is on for some time. See it if you get the chance.

http://www.whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=artists&page=artist_tellez