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The Kinetics of Stillness: Maria Hassabi at MoMA

Degree Critical - Art Review - April 5, 2016


Maria Hassabi. PLASTIC, 2015; installation view, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Pictured: Maria Hassabi. Photo: Thomas Poravas. © Maria Hassabi

On a recent Saturday morning at the Museum of Modern Art, I witnessed a witnessing.  Looking down from an upper floor into the Marron Atrium below, I saw a small boy running to and fro across the expansive floor. As it was still early enough in the day that the inevitable crowd had yet to surge, he proceeded unobstructed, save for several leather sofas and circular benches scattered about. Suddenly, he stopped and leaned on one jaunty elbow against an empty bench, his eyes transfixed on a loveseat six or eight feet away. A woman was draped across that loveseat, seemingly immobile, her feet kicked up on the headrest, and her head and arms dangling towards the floor. Watching the boy watch the dancer was my introduction to PLASTIC (2015), a performance coined a “live installation” by its creator, artist and choreographer Maria Hassabi.


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