Full of Holes

When Gordon Matta-Clark cut concentric holes through two seventeenth-century buildings in Les Halles, they revealed views of the still-under-construction Pompidou Center. Derelict and slated for demolition, the buildings became portholes, as well as a commentary on their own ephemerality. At 52 Walker’s Impossible Failures—featuring Matta-Clark alongside Pope L.—holes abounded, but without anything to reveal, they seemed a cheap imitation of an original.

Several videos and a few drawings by Matta-Clark were paired with a few videos and several drawings by Pope L., an artist similarly interested in performance and social commentary. The drawings—gooey droplets of metallic paint on bar napkins and doodles on hotel stationery, the blue and orange Howard Johnson logo tilted to its side—unfortunately fell flat in their frames. No one’s napkin sketch should ever be given that much reverence.

In the middle of the gallery, amid rivulets of cables and plugs, sat Pope L.’s Vigilance a.k.a. Dustroom, a giant wooden cube outfitted with eight silver vacuum tubes that sucked air o…