Submitted by Sir Joshua, Nov 9, 2006 09:23

The Guggenheim has seen the light and is evolving into what New York needs. An 'independant' museum that acts more as a Kunsthalle than as a collection based institution in which the City abounds. With at best a choppy collection of its own and a building that may have suited Frank Lloyd Wright's ego the Guggenheim is probably one of the most original museum buildings in the City. Frankly, museums are best served by the kind of spaces that the Met and the National Gallery in Washington offer. In other words, those large rectangular exhibition spaces that came down to us from spaces like the Louvre. When an architect designs a museum space it is still an extension of his ego. Take a look at the 'cuisinart' High Museum in Atlanta. Attending the opening, I was confused why pillars were installed a foot or two infront of exhibition wall space, with small square cut outs in the wall to the spaces below. It is a building full of walls unfriendly to two dimensional art.

The Guggenheim is more of a building as a curriosity to look at with one or two traditional rectangular rooms attached on the north side for exhiition space. The low ceilinged tilted walls originally meant to be illuminated by frosted glass panels to the outside didn't work, don't work, and will never work. They are Wright thinking in cement, and the thought didn't fly. It's good to see the Guggenheim spread it's wings and host a show like the planned Spanish exhibition. Bravo.

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