Contemplating the Void at the Guggenheim, NY

By Teo van den Broeke

New York’s Guggenheim Museum celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, and to draw celebrations to a close the gallery has this month unveiled an exhibition of work from some of the world’s most prolific creators.

Opened in 1959, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building - and its gaping, empty central atrium – has long been a source of inspiration to exhibiting artists.

The Guggenheim has harnessed this energy for its latest, salon-style exhibition, calling in propositions from some 200 architects, artists and designers, each of which outlines a fantasy plan for the Guggenheim void.

Taking their cue from previous works to inhabit the space – such as Jenny Holzer’s 1989 digital text installation and Daniel Buren’s candy strip curtain from 1971 – highlights from UNStudio, Elmgreen & Dragset and Patricia Urquiola sit alongside an elemental crimson tornado from Anish Kapoor; a Blakeian, nature-inspired vision by Matthew Ritchie and a characteristically concave offering from Zaha Hadid

With trends of ‘returning to nature’; the effect of sound in the space, and a desire to climb the museum's numerous interior coils, recurring throughout the show, the selection of renderings will be on view until April 28.

2 March 2010 | Art