Holiday Break in NYC: A Visit to the Guggenheim Museum

HOPE GILLAN ’18
STAFF WRITER
A great Thanksgiving break activity for those who live close to New York City is visiting the museum mile. Over this break I went to the Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East Side. The Guggenheim is a modern-art museum known for its architecturally intriguing spiral rotunda. As you walk the inclined circular path, the walls are lined with simple pieces of art many listed as “Untitled.” There are several exhibits running in rooms tangent to the main walkway; all of which could mesmerize visitors for hours while appreciating the art.
“Tales of Our Time”, an exhibit on display until Mar. 10, was one of my favorites. These commissioned works challenge the conventional understanding of place. The exhibit titled “Can’t Help Myself” is particularly interesting. This installation employed an industrial robot, visual recognition sensors, and software systems in order to examine our increasingly automated global reality. Created by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, it represents the ever increasing relationship between human and machine. Another very interesting exhibit was “America.” This exhibit had an hour-long wait, because of its individual, participatory nature; so I did not participate. The exhibit is a bathroom in which the toilet has been replaced with a 18-karat gold replica cast. Created by Italian artist, Maurizio Cattelan, the exhibit is intended to be used and is fully functional. There are several other exhibits featuring artists such as Pablo Picasso.
As mentioned before, the Guggenheim is among many museums on museum mile, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper Hewitt. After a trip to the museum, I suggest taking a walk around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, located right across the street in Central Park.