View of the exhibition "In The Air," 2013-14. Courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Reviving the old cinema-in-the-round tradition is T.J. Wilcox’s “In the Air,” a 30 minute time-lapse video shown on a large, circular screen on the Whitney’s second floor. The film, shot on the roof of the artist’s Union Square apartment over the course of a summer’s day, offers a bird’s-eye view of the city, and is paired with six short films. One depicts the sun setting in alignment with the city’s grid during the annual “Manhattanhenge,” and another is a moving interview with the superintendent of Wilcox’s building, who recalls watching the 9/11 attacks from the roof where he now stands, the new One World Trade looming in the distance.