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Guggenheim Museum

Architecture

Fascinating Construction Photos of World Famous Buildings and Bridges

By Claire Cottrell on

After spotting these vintage photographs of the construction of the Empire State Building, we got to thinking about one of the reasons why great architecture is so much more than a work of art you can walk through: it’s awfully complicated to create. Explaining the poetic importance of the field, Frank Lloyd Wright, the greatest American architect of all time, made a lofty statement, claiming that “the mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.”

If there’s one thing that these photos of grand buildings and bridges under construction confirms, it’s that being defined as the soul of humanity is well deserved. From the seemingly magical emergence of the Eiffel Tower to the eerie drama of an incomplete Brooklyn Bridge, click through to see the fascinating documentation of some of the world’s most famous designs as they’re being built. … Read More

Photography

Portraits of Awkward Adolescents Posing on Beaches

By Caroline Stanley on

Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra — who has a major retrospective opening at the Guggenheim later this month — came up with the idea for her fascinating Beach Portraits series after breaking her hip. She had snapped some self-portraits at the pool following her physiotherapy sessions, when she realized something. “I was fascinated by capturing something unconscious and natural in a photograph, something that was miles away from the boring and predictable businessmen I had until then mostly photographed,” she has previously explained. “I was interested in photographing people at moments when they had dropped all pretense of a pose.”

This is also the reason why she tends to focus on younger subjects who, while awkward, are generally less guarded in front of the camera than their adult counterparts, and for the most part, unconcerned with (or perhaps incapable of) projecting a certain image. The vulnerability in the resulting photos, which are shot in front of stark, seaside locations around the world, is simply breathtaking. Click through to check out a selection of intimate, evocative portraits from the series, and if you’re in New York, see her stunning work in person beginning on June 29. … Read More

Art

From Wife Trophies to Dead Horses: Maurizio Cattelan’s Best Sculptures

By Marina Galperina on

Controversial, thoughtful, hilarious. Italian-born, New York-based artist Maurizio Cattelan, known for his hyper-realistic sculpture pranks and generally stirring things up, is currently showing all of his work in a new “anti-retrospective” at the Guggenheim. No, really, it’s basically all there. Maurizio Cattelan: All features more than 130 of his provocative works hanging in the middle of the Wright-designed rotunda, tied up into a giant, swinging heap. If you get a chance, you should take a closer look in person before January 22. In the meantime, here are our favorite pieces created by the purportedly retiring artist — from the pathetic Hitler to the meteorite-stricken Pope to the trophy of a trophy wife. See some of Cattelan’s best pranks in our gallery. … Read More

Art

Hans-Peter Feldmann’s 100K Installation at the Guggenheim

By Caroline Stanley on

Last year German conceptual artist Hans-Peter Feldmann was named the winner of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s $100,000 Hugo Boss Prize; as part of his resulting exhibition (which runs through November), he has taken 100,000 out-of-circulation bills and cover the walls of a large gallery in the museum — a process that took art handlers… Read More

Media

Rupert Murdoch’s iPad Newspaper Announces Launch Date

By Caroline Stanley on

After weeks of delays, News Corp. has officially announced that the launch of Rupert Murdoch’s iPad newspaper The Daily will take place on Wednesday, February 2 at the Guggenheim Museum. Despite earlier rumors, we’re now hearing that Steve Jobs will not be in attendance, but Apple’s VP of Internet Services, Eddy Cue, … Read More

Art

10 Favorites from The Guggenheim’s YouTube Play Shortlist

By Caroline Stanley on

For the inaugural installment of YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video, a curatorial team from the Guggenheim weeded through more than 23,000 submissions from 91 countries to come up with the 125 videos on the shortlist (which you can view now on the YouTube Play channel). “We focused on works that really were conceived from the start for an online medium, so not necessarily works that were to be projected in a museum space or works that simply documented a performance,” explains Joan Young, associate curator of contemporary art at the Guggenheim. “The idea really is working with the medium.”

Beginning today, their selections will play at the various Guggenheim museums around the world; a jury that includes Darren Aronofsky, Animal Collective, and Takashi Murakami will narrow down the list to 20 videos that will be presented at a special celebration the Guggenheim in New York on October 21. These finalists will be on view to the public October 22 through the 24th, as well as online. Click through to check out our top picks. … Read More

Architecture

The Breeding Museum: Pompidou Expands to Metz

By Caitlin Brody on

From blueprints to renderings, budget restraints to breaking ground, the architectural review process is slow-moving beast. (Just consider the Second Avenue subway punchline.) So imagine our excitement over the highly anticipated May opening of the Pompidou-Metz after a scant three-year delay. The high profile of the museum means that Metz will have the chance to reinvent itself from a town of industry in northeastern France into a full-blown arts hub. The idea of the expanding museum brand is nothing new — we’ve seen it thanks to franchises like the Guggenheim and the Tate, while Whitney and Louvre offspring wait in the proverbial wings. So what we can expect from the newest outpost of France’s most venerable contemporary art institution? A sneak peek at Pompidou-Metz after the… Read More

Daily Dose

Daily Dose Pick: Anish Kapoor

By Paul Laster on

Celebrated for his gigantic, stainless steel Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park, Anish Kapoor is changing the cultural environment with his public works.

The Indian-born, London-based artist represented Britain at the 1990 Venice Biennale and took home the 1991 Turner Prize with his monochromatic, pigment-covered, abstract forms. Since then, he’s carved mysterious cavities in stone, made massive wax installations, and fabricated shiny concave disks — like the enormous Sky Mirror in New York’s Rockefeller Center — that dynamically reflect their surroundings. … Read More

Art

The 2009 Hugo Boss Prize Finalists Announced

By Caroline Stanley on

The Hugo Boss Prize was established in 1996 with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as a way to “support talented young, emerging artists as well as established individuals whose public recognition may be long overdue.” The winner — who receives $100,000 and a show at the Gugg — is chosen by an international panel of distinguished judges from the art world.

Last year Palestinian artist Emily Jacir took home the prize, and past winners include Matthew Barney, Pierre Huyghe, and Tacita Dean. After the jump peep some offerings from this year’s… Read More

Music

Exclusive Video: Yeasayer and Tanline at the Guggenheim

By Spencer Lund on

We caught Yeasayer at the Guggenheim on Friday as part of the It Came from Brooklyn series. Two-person rave Tanline opened for them after a reading by Rachel Sherman. Brooklyn comic Max Silvestri emceed the… Read More