My favorite work by Haacke would have to be “MoMA Poll.” I enjoy it because of the process that went into creating it. Haacke proposed a work for the Information exhibition at MoMA, where he would ask the visitors to vote on a particular socio-political issue; it was accepted and he entitled it “MoMA Poll.”  However, Haacke did not prepare the question he was going to ask until right before the opening of the exhibition. His question commented directly on the involvements of a major donor and board member at MoMA, Nelson Rockefeller, and his relation with President Nixon. Beneath the question were two Plexiglas boxes, with “Yes” on the left and “No” on the right.

Why I enjoy this work is because this was one of his earliest Institution Critiques in the 1970s. The composition is also simplistic, consisting of only two Plexiglas boxes and text above stating a question and how to respond to it. The way he kept the question a secret was also an ingenious idea, as the museum would have most likely rejected it if they knew the question before hand. In a way, it also speaks speaks about the American voting system. For this particular installation, colored ballots were handed out based on the visitor’s status. The museum also had a habit of not handing out the correct colored ballot to the correct visitor and some visitors even had to improvise. Despite its simplicity, it still serves as a testament to the Institutional Critique.

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