50th AnniversaryFebruary 12–April 28, 2010
Since
its
opening in 1959, the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Guggenheim
building
has served as an inspiration for invention, challenging
artists
and architects to react to its eccentric, organic design. The
central
void of the rotunda has elicited many unique responses over the
years,
which have been manifested in both site-specific solo shows and
memorable
exhibition designs. For the building’s 50th anniversary, the
Guggenheim
Museum invited nearly two hundred artists, architects, and
designers
to imagine their dream interventions in the space for the
exhibition Contemplating the Void:
Interventions
in the Guggenheim Museum.
Organized
by Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, and
David
van der Leer, Assistant Curator for Architecture and Design, the
exhibition
will feature renderings of these visionary projects in a
salon-style
installation that will emphasize the rich and diverse range
of
the proposals received. Contemplating
the
Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum
will
be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from February 12 to
April
28, 2010.
Aristotle
famously
pronounced that nature abhors a vacuum, an idea that still
resonates
in art today. In designing the Guggenheim Museum, Wright
flaunted
the notion of the void, leaving the center tantalizingly (or
threateningly)
empty. Over the years, when creating site-specific
installations
or exhibition designs for the building, artists and
architects
have imbued the space with their presences, inspiring
unforgettable
works by Matthew Barney, Cai Guo- Qiang, Frank Gehry,
Jenny
Holzer, and Nam June Paik, among others. For the building’s 50th
anniversary,
the Guggenheim invited scores of artists, architects, and
designers
to leave practicality or even reality behind in conjuring
their
proposals for the space. In this exhibition of ideal projects,
certain
themes emerge, including the return to nature in its primordial
state,
the desire to climb the building, the interplay of light and
space,
the interest in diaphanous effects as a counterpoint to the
concrete
structure, and the impact of sound on the environment.
Conceived
as both a commemoration and a self-reflexive folly, Contemplating the Void
confirms how truly catalytic the
architecture of the Guggenheim can be.
Submissions
were
received from all over the world from a wide range of artists,
designers,
and architects, including emerging as well as established
practitioners.
Among the many works in the exhibition are projects by
artists
Alice Aycock, FAKE DESIGN (Ai Weiwei), Anish Kapoor, Sarah
Morris,
Wangechi Mutu, Mike Nelson, Paul Pfeiffer, Doris Salcedo,
Lawrence
Weiner, and Rachel Whiteread; designers such as Fernando and
Humberto
Campana, Martí Guixé, Joris Laarman Studio, and Studio Job;
and
architects such as Álvaro Siza Vieira Arquitecto, BIG (Bjarke
Ingels
Group), Greg Lynn FORM, junya.ishigami+associates, MVRDV, N55,
Philippe
Rahm, Snøhetta, Studio Daniel Libeskind, Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, and West 8.
In
addition to the exhibition in the Thannhauser and Annex Level 4
galleries, Contemplating the Void
will be accompanied by a
comprehensive exhibition website, which will
document each
submission and feature introductory essays texts by Nancy
Spector
and David van der Leer.
The Leadership Committee forContemplating
the Void:
Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum
is
gratefully acknowledged.
Left: Alyson Shotz, Untitled, 2009 (detail). Laserjet print, 48.3 x 33 cm. Artwork © Alyson Shotz. Right: MAD Architects (Yansong Ma), State Fair Guggenheim, 2009 (detail). Digital print, 94.5 x 68.6 cm. Artwork © MAD Architects (Yansong Ma)