A Visit to David Zwirner
Our first assignment is a trip to David Zwirner Gallery. On view is an exhibition of On Kawara’s date paintings, as well as a Doug Wheeler installation. Word on the street is that that the Doug Wheeler installation - an “infinity environment”, unnamed but listed as ‘SA MI 75 DZ NY 12’ as a reference to his first such space created in 1975 - is incredibly popular, so I try to show up just fifteen minutes after the gallery has opened. I immediately realize I’ve come to late, the wait lasts approximately an hour as small groups of visitors are escorted into the hidden installation space after swapping shoes for disposable booties as if entering a hermetic environment. At least the wait affords a bit of an opportunity to learn about Doug Wheeler. On my phone I read the New York Times profile on the artist. I follow a few other relevant links on Google. The useful links dry up quickly, and I switch over to reading the Seattle Stranger’s blog while I wait. Finally the line dwindles and eight of us, including myself, are invited to enter the installation. We doff shoes and slip on booties whilst a gallery employee lectures us on acceptable behavior inside the installation. We are then shown to the installation’s entrance.
