Laura Gonzalez
Nestled between two old, graffiti-strewn brick buildings at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Houston Street, where the East Village borders the Lower East Side, passers-by will currently find an odd structure made up of what seems like glossy black scaffolding partially draped in semi-transparent dark screens. Both ends of the building open to the busy, smoggy streets, revealing a malleable interior that can be turned into a movie theater, an exhibition space, and a game room.
The BMW Guggenheim Lab – led by assistant curators Maria Nicanor and David van der Leer – is entirely open to its surroundings because that is exactly what it seeks to study: the contemporary city, its inhabitants, and the multi-faceted relationships between them. According to Richard Armstrong, the Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, the overall idea behind the Lab is that “social behavior could be changed in the company of great art.”
BMW Guggenheim Lab. New York City. Design architect: Atelier Bow-Wow. Interior view. Photo: Paul Warchol © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
The Lab’s extensive public programming incorporates expert thinkers from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and disciplines – from sociology to architecture, urban studies, microbiology, and social justice, among others. As Nicanor states, “It is a very inter-disciplinary team, speaking different languages intellectually as well as [literally].” It is also a long term project, scheduled to last 6 years and traveling to major cities around the world. Indeed, the building was designed to be packed up and shipped half-way around the world, where it will be reconstructed in major urban centers like Berlin and Mumbai.
Nicanor explained that the Lab’s first cycle, lasting 2 years and remaining in New York through October, is dedicated to exploring issues of urban comfort. “We should be looking at how urban environments can become more responsive to people’s needs, and how to find the balance between individual and collective comfort” she says. The specific offerings of the Lab’s public programming – which in New York include over 100 lectures, screenings, panel discussions, and interactive games – will vary in each city, tailored to the particular characteristics and necessities of each location.
BMW Guggenheim Lab. New York City. Design architect: Atelier Bow-Wow. Interior view showing rigging system and second-story fly loft. Photo: Paul Warchol © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
This is not the first time an elite museum seeks to bring itself down to earth. But what is so refreshing about the Guggenheim’s foray into the thicket of urbanism is that it expressly centers attention on the topic rather than on the Guggenheim’s institutional grandeur. Instead of commissioning a flashy Frank Lloyd Wright-esque building, the Lab’s organizers purposefully sought to build something that would maximize its environment and not distract from it. The Lab, with its see-through interior and garage-like openings at either end, is entirely accessible both literally and figuratively. Admission is free for everyone. It is not an academic bubble pretending to submerge itself in reality – it is the real deal.
This falls in line with the Lab’s foundational mission: it seeks to educate the public, but also to listen to it and foster joint contributions to intellectual and practical urban life. As Armstrong stated, “The building symbolizes that perfectly, looking out in many different directions, surrounded by traffic, a great congregational meeting spot for different types of people.” The Lab is the latest and most ambitious installment in the Guggenheim’s aggressive agenda to expand the museum outside of its iconic walls (other projects include stillspotting nyc and YouTube Play.) In a time when so many museums are exorbitantly raising their admission rates, these programs are a dynamic reminder of a museum’s social and civic responsibility.
BMW Guggenheim Lab. New York City. BMW Guggenheim Lab site before construction. Exterior view from East First Street. Photo: Kristopher McKay © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
