What greeted me immediately wasn’t to my taste, either: Jason Rhoades “The Hemorhoidal Installation” was too exaggerated in its delivery and didn’t quite fit the rather grand surroundings. In the same hall, however, under the same theme “Creation Myth”, laid a couple of iconic works – Paul McCarthy’s “Apple Heads” and golden statue of Michael Jackson and his monkey.

Paul McCarthy “Apple Heads”

Following on to the next room, bearing the title “Partial Truth”, I found myself surrounded by works of Bruce Nauman, from various neon works including “Five Marching Men” and “Double Poke in the Eye”, to the spatial sculpture “Untitled (Helman Gallery Parallelogram)”, where one walks into narrow spaces that aim to disorientate.

Then came a room of Thomas Schuette, then works by Dan Graham, Richard Prince and Francis Picabia, and by the time I’d covered the ground floor and made my way up to the first, I was so engrossed in the works that I’d completely forgotten about the furor leading up to the exhibition – it no longer mattered.

Larry Clark

The first floor consists of two rooms, “Bodily Inscriptions” and “Scenographer’s Mind”. The first comes with a warning before the door that the contents may be offensive to some, and considering the line up – Larry Clark, Paul McCarthy, and Cindy Sherman – one has a vague idea of what this could be.

But the works, which include photographic work, drawings, and sculptures, do not come across as vulgar or shocking, but socially conscious, thoughtful even. I was especially touched by the series of photographs of bleak teenage life, “Tulsa”, by Larry Clark. The next room assembles film and photographic works by Eija-Liisa Ahtila and David Claerbout, and is perhaps one of the rooms more serene and beautiful to the eye.