Existing comment:
Hans Haacke
born Cologne, Germany 1936
MoMA Poll
1970
transparent acrylic boxes, photoelectric counting devices, and paper ballots Courtesy of the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
In an early example of the art form "institutional critique," Haacke designed this work for a group exhibition of conceptual art at the Museum of Modern Art. MoMA Poll asked viewers to register their opinion of Nelson Rockefeller, the New York State governor and a longtime trustee of the museum, in light of his failure to denounce President Nixon's conduct of the Vietnam War. (Haacke's text nearby describes the context and results of his question.) Making visible a process of participatory citizenship, MoMA Poll reminds audiences that art and art institutions are inseparable from the political and social world |