Chelsea Morning

New York needs a museum that really knows how to deal
with contemporary art, and the downtown Whitney could be it—if it has
the nerve.

The art world remains obdurately critical
of the new version of the Museum of Modern Art. So much so that MoMA is
probably not the real problem. Instead, MoMA now serves as the symbol
of a larger anxiety: We have no museum of the 21st century in New York.
We have many institutions that exhibit contemporary art, but none
monkishly devoted to that task or committed to influencing and shaping
opinion in a fundamental way. Contemporary art appears chaotic. On the
one hand, it hares after new technologies, and on the other it dickers
with traditional forms. It seems beguiled and corrupted by fashion and
slick money. Where’s the focused eye to explore and penetrate the murk?
What the city wants is a bold new museum, unencumbered by the past, to
address our strange new world—just as, once upon a time, MoMA
confronted the twentieth century.

Will
any rise to the challenge? Suddenly, unexpectedly, the accident-prone
Whitney is raising some hopes that it might make such a difference. It
remains a long shot—the filly you bet on that will probably break its
leg—but the recent news that Renzo Piano may build a Whitney downtown
near the High Line and the Chelsea art world suggests some intriguing
possibilities.