Artists Talk: Whitney@Altria

So I went to this 'artists talk' last night at the Whitney Museum @ Altria.
Here are my impressions:
First of all, the show is spectacular: not to be missed. Each artist contributed to the overall effect which gives evidence to a new aesthetic based on obsessive/compulsive construction, found objects, re-purposeing refuse and an idiosyncratic approach combined in thought-provoking and visually stunning ways.
For this, I salute the artists Diana Cooper, Charles Goldman, Jason Rogenes, Jane South and Phoebe Washburn, the curator and all involved.
That said, here are my thoughts on the 'talk'.

1. This is 2007, please don't use a slide projector from last century in a show concerned with technology... please. "Next slide, please...next slide please..."
2. Learn how to speak into a microphone (rehearse, if you have to!).
3. If you plan to show projected images, please place the screen where it can be seen.

This may sound like a rant but this was the most unprofessional event I have attended in recent memory and I had to excuse myself in the middle because:
I couldn't hear the artists speak (faulty microphone? no rehearsal?),
I couldn't see the artists (they could have been on a platform or even in the raised section of the Altria space),
I couldn't see the slides,
and finally, these artists had very little to say other than drop names of grants, residencies, schools and other self-serving trivia that added little at all to the experience of the work on view.

All that being said, the show itself is a gem.