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Visit the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Web Site |
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Surreal Things
March 4–September 7, 2008
Opening in March 2008, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will host the third and final venue of Surreal Things. This remarkable exhibition, organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and presented on the third floor of Frank Gehry’s masterpiece—itself a late-twentieth-century, Surrealist-inspired tour de force—is the first to explore the influence of Surrealism on the world of design: on theater, interiors, fashion, film, architecture, and advertising. Showcasing nearly 200 objects drawn from public and private collections worldwide—many of which have never been exhibited before—Surreal Things emphasizes the tensions that arose from the increasing commercialization of Surrealism’s visual aesthetic.
Displayed alongside Surrealist paintings are some of the most extraordinary objects and environments of the twentieth century, from Dalí’s Mae West Lips Sofa (1938) and Lobster Telephone (1938), to fashion designer Schiaparelli’s dramatic Tear and Skeleton evening dresses (both 1938), to Oppenheim’s Table with Bird’s Legs (1939).
Salvador Dalí and Edward James, Mae West Lips Sofa, 1938. Wood carcass, upholstered in satin, 86.5 x 183 x 81.5 cm. The Trustees of The Edward James Foundation. Copyright Salvador Dalí, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, DACS, London 2007.
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Juan Muñoz: A Retrospective
May 27–September 28, 2008
The most important retrospective of Muñoz’s art, this exhibition features more than 80 works including sculptures, installations, drawings, radio plays, and writings—some never before seen. For its Bilbao presentation, the exhibition, organized by the Tate Modern in cooperation with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, includes major large-scale works such as Conversation Piece (1994) and Thirteen Laughing at Each Other (2001). Designed specifically to enter into a dialogue with Frank Gehry’s unusual architectural spaces, the installation transforms each gallery into a chapter of a continuous story, featuring self-reflective characters in whom we recognize our own fears and preoccupations.
Juan Muñoz, Conversation Piece, 1994. Twenty-two figures: resin, sand, cloth, 155 x 80 x 80 cm each; overall dimensions variable. Private Collection. On long-term loan to the IMMA, Dublin. Photo by Kristien Daem
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