Humanizing MoMA's Atrium: The Next Attempt

The quest to tame the Museum of Modern Art's monstrous atrium continues. Its best use so far was the installation of Jennifer Bartlett's 1976 "Rhapsody," which fit so well that it looked as if the work had been created for the space. After seeing this last May, I commented that "this success suggests that MoMA's intimidatingly cavernous anteroom might best be conquered by commissioning site-specific works, as done by the Tate Modern for its enormous turbine hall."

Now MoMA has announced that it has commissioned a site-specific work---"What Happened to Us?"---from Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi for the atrium (but limited to one wall):

Perjovschi...will spontanously draw witty and incisive social and political images in response to current events, allowing global and local affairs to inform the final result. Beginning on Apr. 19, he will start drawing on the wall while the Museum is open to the public, allowing visitors to observe the creation of the work.

That's an enviably high-profile venue for the artist's first solo museum show in the U.S. And the performance aspect of the piece may even help to humanize a space that has almost invariably been described as cold and corporate.

MoMA's "Projects 85" sounds like a good (even courageous) idea on paper. Let's see how it works on the wall.