Thud, Tap, Trickle: “Soft Water Hard Stone” at the New Museum

Concrete being essentially stone, and people essentially water, the latest New Museum Triennial, titled “Soft Water Hard Stone,” evokes an image of the institution being incrementally worn away by a succession of visitors. Dramatizing this vision is one of the first pieces a visitor encounters on the fourth level: Machine #4: stone (ground), 2017, by Gabriela Mureb, features a simple motorized rod rigged to prod, continuously and rhythmically, a head-size rock. The rock tips back, th