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Kids enjoy the darnedest things at the International
Sunday, January 30, 2000 By Clarke Thomas, Post-Gazette Senior Editor
You wouldn't think anything so prestigious in the adult world of art as the Carnegie International would have any appeal for children.
But we found out that it has - if you carefully choose what exhibits to take them to and which ones to avoid. At least it has worked that way with our grandchildren, Saul, 8, and Saskia, 5.
In first going through the show ourselves, Jean and I spotted numerous exhibits that we quickly decided we would like to share with Saul and Saskia. We carefully circled them on our exhibit folders, as well as X-ing out those we wanted to be sure to avoid. Our guesstimates weren't perfect, but our success rate was surprisingly high.
Here is the route we took:
As you come in the southern entrance from the parking garage, you are immediately met with Exhibit 18, Suchan Kinoshita's series of plywood cabinets containing chairs of various types. Our two loved opening each door to peek inside and, indeed, wanted to do the same on the way out at the end of the visit.
From there, go to the ticket desk to pay admission, then the cloak room to deposit coats (it's free). On the way, look left into the Sculpture Court and see Exhibit 9, with its jet of steam in an ice pool reminiscent of sculptor Olafur Eliasson's native Iceland. Then wend your way back to the broad Scaife Gallery staircase with another set of Kinoshita's cabinets on the way to the second floor.
Turn right at the top and immediately on your left you will find Exhibit 40, a display of wooden chamber pots by Chinese artist Chen Zhen. This turned out to be one of our few misses in terms of interest for our two.
So, on to Exhibit 32, a construction by Massachusetts-born Sarah Sze that looks like a giant Tinker Toy set. Any child who has put together construction sets will be fascinated.
Next is one of the hits of the show, Exhibit 23. You take off your shoes and enter a net house, described as "a membrane-like compartment made from translucent stretchy fabric that requires activation by the viewer to give it full meaning." That means that as you walk around, the contraption sways and sometimes you feel as if you are walking through snow. Only the presence of others waiting to enter Brazilian Ernesto Neto's "cocoon" compelled us to exit.
That area also contains Exhibit 4, a series of nude paintings. Be prepared for questions, such as one asked by Saul: "Why would anyone do a painting of someone with their clothes off?"
In the next room is another winner, Exhibit 25, "Ping Pond Table." Mexican Gabriel Orozco's production is a four-sided Ping-Pong table with a pool of water in the middle. Eager to show off my Ping-Pong skills, I proceeded to dunk two balls in a row into the water. It's obviously harder than you think, and therefore an equalizer of skills and age. Again, we left only because of the waiting line.
At this point, exit to the balcony around the Hall of Sculpture. From there you look down at Exhibit 19, a set of various "duets" of chairs, ladders, couches and other paraphernalia, arranged as if it were an employment center where interviewers face interviewees. Saul quickly spotted the fact that the floor was marked like a soccer field, indicating a "playing field" ready for the "game" of interviewing. We skipped trying to explain to our grandchildren that German Martin Kippenberger's purpose was a takeoff on Franz Kafka's 1927 novel, "Amerika," describing the "absurd bureaucratic structures" through which a job-seeker had to go.
Despite noises from a room off the balcony's far end, we hurried the children past. Those were videos of sometimes violent action that during our earlier scouting trip we had marked off the list. Instead, duck through the Heinz Architectural Center into the next long gallery. There you will find a table top "Phantom Village" by Bodys Isek Kingelez, a Republic of Congo artist. Although it looks futuristic, Kingelez has used ordinary urban wasteland materials - bottle caps, corrugated cardboard, tinfoil - to produce this "private vision of his home city of Kinshasa."
Finally, down the corridor, take a look at Exhibit 21, Takashi Murakami's two life-sized cyborgs, or human machines - one a female figure, the other looking like a space ship.
Farther on is something for you as an adult on another trip to The Carnegie, a stunning 15-minute video, "Soliloquy." Iranian Shirin Neshat portrays herself as a woman in Islamic society on one screen while, simultaneously, a screen on the opposite wall shows her in a Western city (Albany, N.Y.). For us, it was the best entry in the show but not something with appeal for children.
When you head back to the ground floor, you may want to take the children through Exhibit 29, Gregor Schneider's replication of his claustrophobic apartment back in Germany. Its main attraction is that its warren-like set of rooms has great appeal for youngsters who like to explore mysterious places.
Be prepared for another run-through of some of the 15 closets in Exhibit 18 on your way out. By that time, if your children or grandchildren are anything like Saul or Saskia, your entourage will have had one of its best museum experiences ever.
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