The Whitechapel Gallery does art history a service by marking its re-opening with "Open Sesame!", the first retrospective of work by the sculptor Isa Genzken. But as the newly refurbished space tries to present itself to the local community as an accessible drop-in gallery, could they have chosen to showcase anyone more impenetrable?

The photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has described Genzken as "hugely admired by fellow artists" and praised her work as having "an incredible formal clarity whilst delving deep into society's underbelly and the struggles of our time." He is right, as this exhibition shows. The downstairs gallery predominantly features her work from the 1970s and 80s: wooden sculptures, window-like apertures that frame visitors and other works in the room, concrete blocks with protruding aerials, and sleek, glossy, almost aerodynamic tepee-like sculptures. These pieces are quiet but resonant. As objects they give nothing other than themselves and they don’t demand anything either. They merely exist as they are composed, fulfilling formalism's expectations that a work's artistic merit be determined by its form and composition.

The upper gallery, on the other hand, sheds light on the "struggles of our time" whilst "delving into society's underbelly." These are not works of art. They are a cacophony of color, plastic materials, clothing, photographs, sweet wrappers, found-objects, and mannequins. These are items that would be left behind if a department store were to go out of business in a hurry and leave the valueless stuff behind. Stuff--we are creatures who acquire and collect much of it. And to what end? This is our underbelly. We attach meaning to objects that are without meaning. The detritus that composes Genzken’s upstairs installations perhaps best reflect the ‘struggles of our time’ with shopping no longer a leisure activity to pass the weekend thanks to the global recession, and here, in England, as the latest revelations of ministerial squandering of taxpayers' money come to light.

We know our predicament was fueled by the consumption of pointless stuff, and placing Genzken's detritus in a gallery goes no distance in giving them value. Instead, it shows how futile such an attempt is. "Open Sesame!" is not a happy exhibition and by no means an easy one to read, but is worth seeing for the sheer fact that it provides a commentary on our current state of affairs.

Further Reading:

The Guardian's Adrian Searle discusses Genzken's show

The Financial Times' Jackie Wullschlager on the exhibition

Isa Genzken's "Hospital (Ground Zero)" (2008). ; Courtesy of Whitewall Gallery

Isa Genzken's "Social Façade" (2002). ; Courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery

Isa Genzken's "New Buildings for Berlin" (2004). ; Courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery