Isa Genzken

The hugely influential German artist returns for her first solo exhibition at Zwirner in eight years with 2- and 3-D assemblages. Most noticeable is a selection from Genzken’s “Schauspieler (Actors)” series, which she first introduced at her 2013 MoMA retrospective. Building on the Surrealist fascination with mannequins, Genzken has filled Zwirner’s garage space with a plethora of dummies—male and female; girl and boy—dressed in a veritable thrift store inventory of disassociated clothing articles, with the sort of fluorescent-colored mesh vests worn by traffic cops being especially prevalent. The figures in some cases are also gagged or trussed with tape and colored ribbons. The ensemble suggests a kaleidoscopic impression of 21st-century pedestrian life, made all the more uncanny by the fact that the show is open to the street, permitting real people to flow in and become part of the work.