14 January 2010

Contemplating the Void

Artists and architects fill Frank Lloyd Wright's void

To celebrate 50 years of the Guggenheim museum, Nancy Spector, chief curator of the New York art institution, invited scores of architects and artists to envisage a way to fill the atrium’s void.

When Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim building, the vaccuous space aimed to provoke inspiration from exhibitors and challenge artists with its empty spatial ‘canvas’.

Over the past 50 years, the space has elicited a plethora of innovative responses, which have been manifested in both site-specific solo shows and unique exhibition designs.

Leaving behind the restrictions of practicality and realism, 200 creatives were asked to conjure up a proposal to fill the central void.

The exhibition ‘Contemplating the Void’ features these ideal projects as renderings, from both emerging and world-renowned artists including Anish Kapoor, designers like Fernando and Humberto Campana and architects such as Álvaro Siza Vieira Arquitecto and BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group).

'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.

Guggemheim Museum
guggenheim.org