While the vitality and stimulation of the urban environment can be pleasant, those living in or visiting densely populated areas, such as New York, can have wildly different experiences. The ever-present cacophony of traffic, construction, and commerce; the struggle for mental and physical space; and the anxious need for constant communication in person or via technology are relentless assaults on the senses. One wonders how locals and visitors can escape, find respite, and make peace with their space in this “city that never sleep... Read more

While the vitality and stimulation of the urban environment can be pleasant, those living in or visiting densely populated areas, such as New York, can have wildly different experiences. The ever-present cacophony of traffic, construction, and commerce; the struggle for mental and physical space; and the anxious need for constant communication in person or via technology are relentless assaults on the senses. One wonders how locals and visitors can escape, find respite, and make peace with their space in this “city that never sleeps.”

For the second edition of stillspotting nyc, composer Arvo Pärt and architecture firm Snøhetta collaborate on a tour of Lower Manhattan that explores the special relationship between space and silence. Stillspotting nyc, a two-year multi-disciplinary project that combines urban experiences, public education programs, and means of escape, takes the Guggenheim’s architecture and urban studies programming into New York’s five boroughs. Every few months “stillspots” are identified, created, or transformed by architects, artists, designers, composers, and philosophers into public tours, events, and installations. The first edition of stillspotting nyc, Sanatorium, was created by Pedro Reyes in Brooklyn.

For stillspotting nyc the Guggenheim Museum is collaborating with two academic institutions. Students from Columbia University’s Spatial Information Design Lab at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation are creating a working blueprint of the specific stillspotting areas around the city that pinpoints stress flow, population density, agitation, noise, and calm. Students in the MFA program in the Photography, Video, and Related Media Department at the School of Visual Arts are creating video studies of the visual, aural, and sociological ecology of the urban landscape.

Stillspotting nyc is organized by David van der Leer, Assistant Curator, Architecture and Urban Studies, with Sarah Malaika, Stillspotting Project Associate, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Takes place at five locations around Lower Manhattan starting at Castle Clinton National Monument in Battery Park, across from 17 Battery Place, New York, NY