moma and thanksgiving

Coming: MoMA's re-opening and Thanksgiving in the same week. A reminder of what is still good about being in New York during this post-election mind-numbing funk. It used to be just the thought of not being in Norway in November would be enough to quell my uneasy state of American anti-Americanism. But this week, with images EVERYWHERE of macho Marlboro smokin' soldiers killing anything in the path of "bringing democracy to Iraq," nothing less than the prospect of a large helping of comforting modern masterpieces and stuffed turkey will do the trick. With all the trimmings, thank you.

I'm looking forward to writing about the new MoMA for the electronic Norwegian art publication kunstkritikk.no. Hopefully, the museum's fresh start will shake off my flashbacks of Vietnam and the 70s and create the kind of buzz, if only for awhile, that electrified the city in the 80s when I lived here last: the newly emerged (and short-lived) art scene in the east village, Schnabel's plates at Mary Boone in Soho, Holzer's truisms at bus stops and Times Square, rumors of Basquait chained in the gallery owner's basement, Warhol at Odeon - well everywhere, actually, and Haring's graffiti before it became boutique material. Ancient history, clichés tinged with yuppies, Reaganism, and the fatal ignorance of aids, OK, I admit it, but can you really hold such reminiscence against someone who survived the transition to living in Norway in the 90s? Wonder if the story of modern art over at MoMA has changed as much as I have.