A whole New world of art

Art lovers and just the plain curious flocked to the New Museum of Contemporary Art starting at noon on Saturday for 30 hours of free admission at the stylish, new Bowery museum. The museum has seven floors, including a Sky Room and terrace on top; an education center called the Museum as Hub; three floors of gallery space; and a theater on the basement level. The ground floor includes the New Museum Store and a cafe. The current show, “Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century,” features artists’ ironic takes on the meaning of monuments. The show’s works include a life-size candle-wax sculpture of a woman complete with burning wick, above, and an anti-Bush/Mean People Suck contraption, below left. At top right, a museumgoer rode the spacious Diane Wallace and Lowell Schulman Elevator. Also in the basement is the “Donor Hall,” a yearlong exhibit in which the walls sport graphics showing organizations’ and individuals’ global giving to cultural organizations. Target, which sponsored the free admission opening, gave an impressive $100 million in 2006, according to the wall. The wall notes several energy companies as having given millions of dollars to the arts — such as Exxon Mobil, $5.2 million — but calls out Halliburton as a “non-giver.” Fidel Castro is also listed as having given $0.