Gehry's Guggenheim, Bilbao
Written: Oct 29 '99 (Updated Nov 11 '99)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Gehry's Guggenheim is the most impressive building I've been inside
Cons: The kitschy giant dog made of flowers outside (Hugo Boss? Huh?)
|
|
|
| sylloge's Full Review: Spain |
I've been in a lot of buildings in my life. I reckon that on average I go inside one unique building per day (which is probably conservative). That's many tens of thousands of buildings I've been inside in my life. And I haven't been inside any other buildings like the Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa.
Mostly, people talk about the outside of this enormous titanium-plated building on Bilbao's gentrifying but still gritty riverfront. Or maybe they talk about the outrageous cost or whether Gehry is a jerk or how neato the darn thing looks.
Mostly I've heard raves, but I have also encountered a few nonplussed shrugs and a few more dismissive discourses on such topics as "the arrogance!" or "why *that* is not architecture!".
Disapointingly, the negative attitudes come mainly from architects and planning types. I haven't been able to discern exactly what it is about this building that irks them so much (and between you and me, I suspect it is one part jealousy and one other part envy -- having that much money, freedom and coverage is pretty sweet). Of course, it could also be that it just isn't "post-modern" *enough*, or whatever else is sinful with the critical-theory-semiotics-Foucault-Derrida-Lacan-Deleuze-studies crowd these days.
But I went all the way to Bilbao to see this museum. And walking towards it in the early evening after a long train ride from Barcelona over Santiago Calatrava's wonderfully bizarre footbridge (the 'Campo Volantin') across the Nervión river, I couldn't help but think that I was pretty clever for having done so.
The Basque and Spanish governments along with the Solomon R. Guggenheim foundation spent over a billion dollars (yes, "billion") on (American) architect Frank Gehry's organic structure -- and it couldn't have been had for any amount of money without some serious mathematical modelling: the building is just too complex for anyone to figure out how to build it otherwise.
But these superlatives don't really mean much as your perspective continually changes on the approach to the building. Each new angle brings some new facet to light until you enter down the wide-scoop steps into the heart of the sculpture. The masterful lighting and exquisite shapes are everywhere inside. Each of the 19 galleries has a unique disposition which caters obviously to what the curators provide.
I'll admit I'm not one for contemporary art. I may just be too stupid to understand it (or it just may be too stupid to be understood) but seeing contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, artifacts and arrangements in the proper context for the first time broadened my appreciation -- which, really, is the purpose of a museum in the first place.
The curved walls and broad floors offer a mixture of custom installations commissioned before the building was built (which have mostly grown into the building like a vine into a wall), permanent pieces from the Guggenheim collections and travelling exhibitions. During my visit, apart from a collection of 3000 years of Chinese art, there was nothing produced before 1950. And I liked it.
There is enough variety to capture the attention of pretty much anyone for an entire day. Lunch is best had to go and taken to one of the large walkways along the sides of the building, facing the large reflective pool, the river and the largest expanse of titanium you will ever see in your life, guaranteed. A flat photograph, not matter how skillful its maker, cannot possibly convey these forms
Frank Gehry has accomplished something truly tremendous in Bilbao (which, though it is a whole other story, is a wonderful city to spend time in). If the critics would go to see it themselves -- go and see the subtleties of the shape as they move around, go in and feel that unfamiliar but natural form from the inside -- they could not go unmoved.
Links:
http://www.guggenheim.org/bilbao/index.html
http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/ingles/home.htm
Bilbao is on the coast, around the word "Pais" in "Pais Vaco" on the lame map provided by epinions.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
sylloge
|
|
Member: Stewart Butterfield
Location: Vancouver
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 6 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.