“Accumulations” at Paula Cooper Gallery assembles several works of art from Bruce Conner, Christian Marclay, and Japanese Yayoi Kusama. The exhibition, on view through December 23, compares artists who do not necessarily explore the same themes but does deal in individual ways with the act of collecting.

Brice Conner’s film, CROSSROADS (1976), uses slow-motion footage of the Bikini Atoll, an American nuclear test during the years of World War II. The historic images are haunting yet beautiful when paired with a soundtrack by Patrick Gleeson and Terry Riley, both avant-garde composers. In UNTITLED TRIPTYCH (1974), the artists second piece in the exhibition, Conner modernizes the medieval altarpiece structure, simplifying the form and making mesmerizing, abstract patterns (created by lines of unpainted linen) within the three panels. On the other hand, Yayoi Kusama’s interest in abstract forms is focused on the repetition of polka dots and their hypnotic, almost dizzying, ability, as is seen in 1964 Accretion (no. Q). Christian Marclay presents three pieces in the exhibit. Tape Fall (1989) places a tape recorder on a ladder, and the magnetic tape cascades to the ground accompanied by the sound of trickling water. Although this piece may be considered cliché for presenting such a literal “accumulation,” this piece is thought-provoking in that it’s development is contingent on exhausting, even destroying, its only resources.