The Guggenheim, Bilbao

This is so exciting. The space is vast, and we have to visit over two days because I can’t absorb it all in one day. Outdoors there are works by Ai Wei Wei , Jeff Koons and Louise Bourgeois. Inside I am immediately drawn to the works of Giorgio Morandi

https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/exhibitions/a-backward-glance-giorgio-morandi-and-the-old-masters

I have looked at his works in books and the internet over the years, and I am amazed to find myself standing in front of the real things now. I am actually in tears standing in front of one piece.

Next we visit Richard Serra’s site-specific piece on the ground floor. It is the weekend and the hall is full of children running around the giant steel structures. They are magnificent however and among the chaos we manage to wander through them and absorb their majesty. I am in awe at how they were constructed and so it is with delight that we sit through the video explanation and the drawings and models that explain everything. I am inspired after this and I am planning how I can make something on a smaller scale.

On the second day we visit Jenny Holzer’s text-based works and am particularly drawn to her beautiful redacted letters, highlighted with gold. These are large scale and hung in date order as the letters were sent. They highlight known uses of enhanced interrogation in Baghradi Jail and are stunningly moving as the detail reveals the horrors inflicted. We have to take a break to absorb what we have seen.

 

Next we visit Richard Serra’s site-specific piece on the ground floor. It is the weekend and the hall is full of children running around the giant steel structures. They are magnificent however and among the chaos we manage to wander through them and absorb their majesty. I am in awe at how they were constructed and so it is with delight that we sit through the video explanation and the drawings and models that explain everything. I am inspired after this and I am planning how I can make something on a smaller scale.

Later we stumble to a museum in the Old Town and find giant heads that are made to take part in a procession. These are amazing and made out of paper mâché. Again, you never know when this might come in useful.

I think the most impactful pieces for me were the Richard Serra steel work. I Iike the scale and the shapes. I felt disorientated while walking around them. The darkness and emerging into the light, the noise generated by the public seem to bounce around and create more disorientation. I think there is something there I can work with in the future.

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