[5][6] [7] In his review of the show, New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer called Primary Structures "one of those exhibitions that defines a period and fixes it irrevocably in one's consciousness.

Exhibitions in the Projects series included an early survey of Conceptual art, titled Information in 1970, as well as exhibitions of Marcel Duchamp (1973), Joseph Cornell (1980), Andy Warhol (1989), The Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect (1999), Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul (2006) and Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years (2007).

"[1][11][2] [12] McShine began MoMA's Projects series that focuses on small scale experimental work by emerging artists.

The exhibition included 130 artists, filmmakers and collectives and was centered around the new influence of communication technologies and criticized the involvement of the US government in the war in Vietnam.

The exhibit was effectively institutional critique, disrupting the accepted canon, unpacking art's new direction and introducing lesser known international artists like Hélio Oiticica, Marta Minujin and Group OHO alongside more familiar American artists like Lucy R. Lippard, Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, and Yvonne Rainer.

He brought together work from artists like Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Cornell, Hans Haacke, Ed Ruscha, Sherrie Levine, Fred Wilson, Louise Lawler, Daniel Buren and Janet Cardiff.

There were 182 works included of painting, video, printed brochure and installation art that ranged from critiquing the museum to celebrating it.