The Whitney Biennial 2008 is made up of multimedia installations and performance pieces from 81 artists, who "are somehow capturing a certain moment, a certain sense of the present," said museum director Adam Weinberg.

"We turn to these artists to tell us where we are and to help us look into the mind of the moment," Weinberg said, although he also acknowledged that the visions of some of the artists might not be appreciated by all viewers.

"You have to be open minded when you are looking at art -- there are some things you will like right away, there are other things you won't get at all," he said in an interview.

"Art has its rules, they are not as fixed as sports, but you have to give art a chance to understand the rules the artist is setting out."

Artist Charles Long created three-dimensional sculptures of birds inspired by "the markings made by great blue heron excrement" on cement embankments along the Los Angeles river, using scavenged river junk and silt, paper mache and plaster.

New York artist Matt Mullican used drawing, sculpture, video, painting, electronic media and installation.

"Since the late 1970s he has used hypnosis," the museum says on a plaque next to his display. "During performances that often last many hours, the artist, in a trance, might pace the floor, chant and draw or paint in black acrylic ink on large pieces of paper, bedsheets or the wall itself."

Another installation by Mika Rottenberg takes on the appearance of a ramshackle goat farm and uses videos to explore social issues such as class inequities and labor by depicting a story of seven sisters who produced "hair fertilizer" by "milking" their floor length tresses.

A kitty litter tray the size of a bathroom dominates another installation, while scaffolding, wooden platforms and fish tanks full of soda and flowers take over another room in what has been called "While Enhancing a Diminishing Deep Down Thirst the Juice Broke Loose (the Birth of a Soda Shop)."

Along with installations, the Whitney Biennial also has performance art on display including a gypsy-themed feast in which the food, drink, decorations and guests become the art.

"There is a a very pronounced trend toward more ephemeral event-based kind of practice, people making works that are not just objects in a gallery space, but exist in a more immediate and one-off kind of way, whether that's a musical perform or a publishing project or a culinary gathering," said Henriette Huldisch, assistant curator at the Whitney.