Situate yourself at the Marian Goodman Gallery

Every time a new visitor wanders into artist Tino Sehgal's day-long event at the Marion Goodman Gallery, the performers, arrayed against the bare, glaring white walls, stop what they're doing and say, "Hello! Welcome to this situation." It's a jarring and exposing moment for the visitor: artificial, art-ificial and art 0fficial. Then the performers carry on. Apparently, they don't have anything to say when visitors leave--which is what I did after a relatively short viewing, not wanting to be the sole visitor left in the room after everyone else had headed for the elevator.

I had been perfectly happy to watch these several performers moving slowly, languidly, gracefully as they gently traded intellectual insights and questions but, unlike one visitor standing near me, I did not relish the idea of being questioned and drawn into the discussion. Dropping into the middle of this conversation, I had no idea where I was, and I felt disoriented but in an oddly pleasant way. I loved their subtle, naturalistic movement--a few of them were especially good at it--and I found myself so drawn into the mystery and surprise of the movement that I could not focus on the words.

One could imagine these folks lolling around on a plush rug--although the gallery floor was quite raw--after a laidback dinner, adjusting for comfort or scratching their noses or, here and there, making a strangely dancerly gesture that in no way illustrated the stated point. Conversation was sculpted and suspended in the air with no visible means of support. Movement seemed to be happening in a different dimension, and its language was very, very different and very nice to see, if only for a short while.

Sehgal's performance continues every day this week through Thursday, running nonstop during gallery hours (10AM to 6pm--and, yes, the performers are periodically relieved and replaced by other colleagues). The Marion Goodman Gallery is at 24 West 57th Street in Manhattan. Click here for further details. To read more about Tino Sehgal and his work, click here.