Adrian Piper: A SYNTHESIS OF INTUITIONS, 1965-2016 - 4 Year Collaborative Show at MoMA

The entire 6th of MoMA is an expansive exhibit 4 years in the making. It's a 4 year collaboration between the artist Adrian Piper (b Amer 1948) and the MoMA.  Piper has said, "It seemed that the more clearly and abstractly I learned to think, the more clearly I was able to hear my gut telling me what to do."  Walking through these galleries is a provocative, confrontational and demanding experience.  Piper has been classified as a performance artist, political commentary & conceptual artist.  She confronts the viewer to grapple with their own perceptions of racial identity, sexual orientation, biases and one's participation in the world.  If there were a unifying thrust (and they're too numerous to simplify) I would suggest the meme of 3:  See no evil, Hear no evil and Speak no evil.  Piper is courageously candid in using her art to explore her identity, question her relevance in the world and contemplate her own legacy.  Her early paintings were created under the influence of hallucinogens.  There is a psychedelic frenzy to these works.  More arresting are the two collage paintings which references to the disturbing racial bias study.  The girls are holding actual ceramic baby dolls; one white & one black.  There is a collection of geometric works reminiscent of Agnes Martins paintings.  Piper made a series of self-photos taken from her mirror reflections.  She shares a paranoia of not feeling tangible.  There are a lot of appropriated images from the brutalities to blacks  during the civil rights movements.  She challenges the viewer to acknowledge them.  She offers up smiling images of privileged & oblivious white faces.  I found humor, wisdom and scorching accusations in her works dealing with racial oppression.  Her bodily remnants of hair, nails, etc. repulsive but memorable.  I admired her clever & ironic declaration that journalistic photos of protests and arrests are "Not Performance Art".  There's plenty in the show she shares of the joy with her family, friends, people she admired and dance.  FUNK 80s comprises Soul Train videos & shifts to footage of her dancing and offering dance instructions.  This section is celebratory & life affirming.  Again, a lot of her work is in your face, don't turn away deal with it.  Piper posts her letters of dismissal from her University jobs.  There is a sobering homage to the assassinated leaders of the civil rights movement.  And, as you leave this stirring exhibition, Piper is seen in a recent video of herself dancing in the streets.  Oh blah de, life does go on but living in oblivion; without questioning, tolerance and happiness is a legacy without worth.  I will return to process further both Piper's perspectives and my own.