Helio Oiticica/Rirkrit Tiravanija: Contact February 27, 2011

Two recently acquired installation pieces invite visitors to relax, reflect, socialize - and also embrace deeply political, even subversive possibilities put forth by Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica and Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. Oiticica's 'CC5 Hendrixwar/Cosmococa Programa-in-Progress,' conceived with filmmaker Neville D'Almeida in 1973, is an immersive, nuanced take on pop culture involving 10 hammocks for visitors to lounge in, large-scale projections of media images of rock icon Jimi Hendrix, and an all-Hendrix soundtrack. In Tiravanija's untitled 2006 installation, visitors are welcome to gather at a picnic table to assemble an expansive puzzle depicting Eugene Delacroix's 1830 masterpiece, 'Liberty Leading the People.' A pavilionlike structure, a replica of one designed by Jean Prouve for use in French colonial Africa, completes a tableau that presents an amusing and ironic set of juxtapositions.