Nary a world traveler would think to exclude The Guggenheim Museum from their New York City tour itinerary. Seeming to spiral out from Manhattan island's rock core, this landmark's Frank Lloyd Wright design telegraphs the art treasures within its curling gallery climb. If you are drawn to modern art, The Guggenheim is a must-see stop to savor famed works by Kandinsky, Chagall, Magritte and more.
But did you know that many visitors often overlook the chance to see some of the world's most exhilarating performances in the Guggenheim's basement?
You're not alone if you read this and go "Huh?". You can meet many a New York native and other longtime denizens of "the city" who have visited The Guggenheim more times than they can count, yet don't know about the performing arts incubator, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, and its rich programming.
The legions of Frank Lloyd Wright devotees, and especially those who have made the obligatory pilgrimage to Taliesin West, may have a leg up in solving this riddle. Taking the tour of Wright's winter escape built in then rustic Arizona, you learn of how his mentees toiled in the hot Southwest sun by day, and then were required to don an evening tux or ball gown. Dressed in their finest attire, they would emerge from their desert tents for a linen tablecloth meal followed by a film or world-class musical performance for their desert cultural dessert. On the Taliesin West tour you follow in their footsteps out of the hot Scottsdale sun and into a cooling dark space envelope that gently slopes and points your attention to the stage. Sight lines are perfect. Acoustics are better still.
Wright groupies steeped in Wright lore may ponder whether it was Wright's marriage to a one-time dancer that inspired his vision of the perfect performance space. Anyone who has the chance to see a dance performance in The Guggenheim's basement theater may find it difficult to consider otherwise.
At a recent Works & Process at the Guggenheim performance of duets in an homage to choreographer Lar Lubovitch's works, it struck this writer that Wright and Lubovitch themselves make quite an extraordinary duet of two geniuses who seek to explain their work through the lens of music. Wright is said to have spoken of how architecture and music are kin– each a form of "sublimated mathematics". In a similar spirit, when Lubovitch speaks of his choreography he calls it "painting music in space".
With Wright's skillful hand at work, we experience Lubovitch's dance in the Guggenheim's basement as though we sit in the choreographer's living room. The theater space is somehow intimate and infinite feeling at once. We revel in hearing the exertion of the dancers' breath. We feel as though we can reach out and touch them. It's Wright's math-inspired vision that subliminally and elegantly steers our attention to Lubovitch's music made visual.
The Guggenheim is not the only home to New York's Works & Process performing arts incubator. You can also find the many performance works they nurture at Lincoln Center, New York Performing Arts Library, and City Park's Summer Stage.
If you are planning a trip to New York City you will be well-served by bookmarking the Works & Process website and consulting it ahead of time to better plan your trip.
Photo credits and captions-- from top to bottom, left to right:
Story cover image- courtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.Photo: David Heald © Solomon R.Guggenheim Foundation
Guggenheim Museum interior-- public domain; Works & Process at the Guggenheim LAR LUBOVITCH AT 80: Art of the Duet, Photo by Erick Munari
Three photos of the Guggenheim Museum exteriors, architectural views, courtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.Photo: David Heald © Solomon R.Guggenheim Foundation
Frank Lloyd Wright public domain image; three archival photos of Taliesin West under construction, Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art|Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York). All Rights Reserved.
Three images from Works & Process at the Guggenheim LAR LUBOVITCH AT 80: Art of the Duet, Photo by Erick Munari
2018 Works & Process at the Guggenheim REID BARTELME AND HARRIET JUNG, Photo Robert Altman
Visit the following websites for more informaiton--
Picture This Post -- Works & Process Presents ABT's CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Review — Unmasking Dance Magic
Picture This Post -- Works & Process at the Guggenheim Presents LAR LUBOVITCH AT 80: ART OF THE DUET Review — Twosomes Painting Music In Space
Picture This Post — Scottsdale Tour TALIESIN WEST Review – Seeing the Landscape Through Frank Lloyd Wright's Eyes
Guggenheim Museum — https://secure.guggenheim.org/