Still of our time

I hadn't been at The Broad in a week or so and was pleasantly surprised by a new, important installation in the Andy Warhol gallery: Race Riot, 1963. 

Contemporary institutions should respond to modern moments, reflect what is happening now. This is a definition of "contemporary art": the art of our time. And The Broad has, I suppose, reflected the millennial zeitgeist, both literally and figuratively, with its selfie-friendly, super-shiny installations. It is refreshing to see a more serious and political rather than narcissistic use of the collection.

As I spent my Sunday as a Visitors Services Associate watching over and speaking with guests about Jasper John and Robert Rauschenberg, the gallery adjoining Warhol, the placement of the piece began to strike me as nearly perfect.

Jasper Johns' Flag, 1967 (when is a flag not a flag?) is bookend by Race Riot, 1963 and Robert Rauschenberg's Untitled, 1963. I would have tightened the whitespace between the work, but kudos to you, curators.