Sarah Sze/GUGGENHEIM.NYC
Portrait of Sarah In Studio Black & White September 2018, couresty of the Sarah Sze Studio
“Art is our way to have a conversation over time.”
Video of Guggenheim spiral staircase exhibition space and glass roof.
To experience an exhibit envisioned by renowned artist, Sarah Sze, is a memory one will carry with them for a long time to come. A Boston native, Sze has embraced her roots in the East Coast and brought her latest works to the halls of the famed Guggenheim Museum in New York City, filling the space with a sense of imagination, expression, and innovative design. Her collective, Timelapse, has taken the public by storm and illustrates the cummulative works by Sze from her emergence in 1990 til now.
Tasked with reinventing the very specific space so famously envisioned by world-famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, Sze was steadfast in transforming every bit of the bespoke environment. In her own words, Sze was occupied with encorporating her work into the interior structure whilst taking into the account the opportunity for the public to also interact with her creations from the outside.
Installation view, projection, Sarah Sze: Timelapse, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2023. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. In an interview for the Guggenheim Museum, Sze talks about the mirroring of moon projection on the outside of the building to the real moon in the sky.
As one may imagine, time is an integral element in this latest installation. A retrospective of sorts, Sze is not afraid to expose her evolution to her audience - piece by piece. There’s a common thread throughout her work where digital meets analog; reality bends and the viewer is left to decipher the coded encounters between what’s physically present and what is implied through the overlay of each medium.
With a propensity to employ found objects across this current exposition, Sze has curated her work throughout the slopes of the Guggenheim walls to connect each space like a series of dots - making it entirely unique to the surrounding area. Such fine attention to detail allows Sze to consider that even the sounds of the surrounding environment can influence the way an audience connects with each piece. With the works of artists such as, Gego, Rousseau, Song Burnsoo, and Kim Kulim, proceeding the main event, Sze masterfully organizes her work to blend seamlessly into the architecture which so warmly receives her creations.
As fortune may have it, I was able to listen to Sarah Sze speak while addressing her piece, Slice (featured below), as she explains her methodology, the function of filling a space, and how anything can be art with the right focus on intention; we must release ourselves from preconceived notions about what it means to be an artist. In so few words, Sze spoke fondly of the idea that her audience would have every opportunity to engage with her work and find inspiration to challenge societal expectations and models. Her aspirations to instill a sense of equity amongst artists and audience through the use of familiar materials such as faux-plants, electrical wiring, paper-clips and projection is a way to connect to the human element and and an overall sense of oneness for all who make time for this exhibition.
“Coming in and being radical in a space can be very subtle and very powerful and what matters is that we remember the work and how it affects you.”
Please scroll through and enjoy the following photo and video gallery of Sarah Sze’s, Timelapse/Timekeeper works. Courtesy of Arielle A. Williams (AWOL), 2023
- Additional press coverage on the Timelapse exhibition below -