MoMA QNS. (Newswire).

Just as museums are struggling with attendance and the role of the museum is under threat as a directive repository of art due to the influx of new media, The Museum of Modem Art (MoMA) opened its MoMA QNS branch, located across the East River in Queens, on June 29. MoMA QNS is intended to keep MoMA in circulation until its new upscale headquarters in midtown Manhattan open in 2005. The opening procession, organized by artist Francis Alys, speaks, as quoted in the MoMA press release, for itself: "Departing from 11 West 53 Street, moving over the Queensboro Bridge, marching up Queens Boulevard, and ending at MoMA QNS, the performance was evocative of both a saint's day procession and secular celebration. Reproductions of some of the Museum's most well-known works, including Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Alberto Giacometti's Standing Woman, and Marcel Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel were carried on palanquins or litters, as was artist Kiki Smith. Uniformed participants spread rose petals along the mute thr oughout the three-hour procession...." A warning is hereby issued: Literal performances of tongue-in-cheek carry the risk of severe nausea and the possibility of suffocation.