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David Lamelas: The Machine
A comprehensive survey of Argentine Conceptual artist David Lamelas, tracing his work from 1965 to today across film, sculpture and performance, unfolding as exhibition, film program and live work.
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Just inside the door, a big sheet of drywall leans on larch-wood props, looking ready to fall on you. Artforum's Mateus Nunes wrote that it "has been crumbling since the moment it was made." It opens Lamelas's first major New York solo show, covering 1965 to now.
You then walk into a darkened east gallery: a clock set to Moon time, a projector beam where the work is the space between lamp and floor, and silent films measuring a gallery against its city. The west gallery centres on his 1968 Venice Biennale news office about the Vietnam War. A separate film program includes the view from a taxi on the FDR Drive, timed to the second, with nobody asking for a tip.
Artforum called the show "masterfully orchestrated", and Revista Exclama described the looking it asks for as slow and analytical, so give it time. Entry is free, Wednesday to Saturday, 12 to 6pm, with public tours at 1pm on 14 November, 12 December and 9 January.
Look for
Untitled (Falling Wall)
Look for the large drywall panel propped on larch-wood supports at the entrance, leaning as if caught mid-collapse.
Moon Time
In the darkened east gallery, a standard clock tells you the time on the Moon instead of in Manhattan.
Límite de una proyección II
A projector throws a beam of light onto the floor, and Lamelas says the work is the space between the two, not the light.
Office of Information About the Vietnam War
His 1968 Venice news office of desk, telex and microphone, restaged without its glass screen and visible from the West 22nd Street window.
To Pour Milk into a Glass
A 1972 video in which milk is poured into a glass until it overflows.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Going Solo
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want paintings on walls: this is light beams, silent video, a leaning wall and a news office.
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Image credits
8
- David Lamelas: The MachineJoeyvandernaald, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Li Hei Di: the year of mudLi Hei Di, a kiss from the butterfly, 2026 © Li Hei Di
- David Byrne: Stairwell DrawingsDavid Byrne / Pace Gallery
- Dia ChelseaFound5dollar, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Hauser & WirthJim.henderson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Pace GalleryPace Gallery
- GagosianKazuhisa Otsubo (Flickr/cytech), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- David ZwirnerCourtesy David Zwirner