Artist and choreographer Maria Hassabi’s PLASTIC is a commissioned live installation in which dancers perform throughout MoMA continuously during opening hours. They move between poses at a barely perceptible pace across the Museum’s floors and down its staircases. At moments, their positions recall images of bodies in repose, collapse, or transition. With no apparent beginning and end, PLASTIC reformats the duration of theatrical performance into a month-long museum exhibition. Removing the physical distance between audience and performer, Hassabi’s sustained movement encourages visitors to closely observe the small shifts in the performers’ motions over time. Exploring the tension between stillness and sustained movement, PLASTIC addresses the interface between artistic object and human subject.
PLASTIC is on view in The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby staircase, The Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium, and the wooden staircase between the fourth- and fifth-floor galleries. On Fridays, PLASTIC is performed only in the Marron Atrium.
Performers:
The Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium and The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby staircase: Hristoula Harakas, Maria Hassabi, Molly Lieber, Paige Martin, and Oisín Monaghan
Staircase between fourth- and fifth-floor Painting and Sculpture Galleries: Michael Helland, Niall Jones, Tara Lorenzen, and Mickey Mahar
The Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium: Simon Courchel, Jessie Gold, Neil Greenberg, Elizabeth Hart, Kennis Hawkins, Niall Jones, Shelley Senter, RoseAnne Spradlin, and David Thomson
Sound design: Morten Norbye Halvorsen
Song fragments: Marina Rosenfeld
Styling: threeASFOUR
Artist assistant: Kate Ryan
The artist gratefully acknowledges the Jerome Foundation, Abrons Arts Center, collective address, The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), Kaaitheater, and MoMA PS1.
Maria Hassabi: PLASTIC is co-commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
The exhibition at MoMA is organized by Thomas J. Lax, Associate Curator, with Martha Joseph, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance Art, and is produced by Lizzie Gorfaine, Performance Producer, with Kate Scherer, Assistant Performance Coordinator.
