The Guggenheim Museum

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“In the spiraling rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Wu Tsang: Anthem (2021) [is] swoony and unearthly. The video/soundscape is a collaboration with the singer and transgender activist Beverly Glenn-Copeland, projected onto an 84-foot curtain sculpture."
-The New York Times

The Guggenheim Museum
Lead designer:
Erik Bruce
Location:
New York
Project year:
2021
Client:
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

For her latest commission for the Guggenheim, artist Wu Tsang's "Anthem" is a film portrait of legendary singer, composer and transgender activist Beverly Glenn-Copeland.

Together, we designed an immense eighty-four-foot curtain for the exhibition that undulates in controlled, variegated waves suspended from the Guggenheim oculus. Rather than projecting the film onto a flat surface, Tsang describes the use of curtains in her work as "objects of transformation", and as an "imperfect image that never fixes or resolves."

Additionally, a shimmering acoustical sound barrier made from meticulously cut strips were made for the High Gallery, which visitors are able to pass through. In this secondary room, a film of Glenn-Copeland and his partner Elizabeth plays, discussing the intricacies of their relationship, their philosophies around art-making and community.

Concept: Wu Tsang
Curator: X Zhu Nowell
Exhibition Design: Lucie Rebeyrol

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