The Merchant House reopens its 2020 program with Urban Image-Jitters I (City) & II (Body). This installment takes its cue from Dennis Oppenheim’s famous project drawing Virus (1989) and Craigie Horsfield’s “billboard in downtown Manhattan days after 9/11” and related pieces. Together with the provocative art of Pino Pinelli and Sylvie Bonnot, featured in parallel, these works deconstruct the ruptures and impact of cities in a biocultural crisis. PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: DENNIS OPPENHEIM, YOKO ONO, PINO PINELLI, SYLVIE BONNOT, MENGZHI ZHENG, MARY SUE.

A 1992 article in The New York Times quoted Dennis Oppenheim: “Virus was conceived as part of a larger body of work that used common, lighthearted images on ‘deadly structures.’ Virus was supposed to have the characteristic of a biological model, but instead of using the usual round sphere, I used Mickey and Donald. The message was one of giving people image-jitters, of using common light figures in a heavier context.” The article highlighted Disney’s demand to destroy Oppenheim’s sculpture (then installed in a California office complex) on copyright grounds. In the years preceding, the poignant Virus was shown all over the world. Like all germinal art, and more than ever now, such works draw energy—with irreverence or poise—from particular incidents of life but speak to looming social issues.