maurer united architects: full half moon

contemplating the void: interventions in the guggenheim museum solomon r. guggenheim museum, new york on now april 28th, 2010

the ‘contemplating the void: interventions in the guggenheim museum’ exhibition invites artists, architects and designers to imagine their dream visions within frank lloyd wright’s guggenheim museum rotunda.

maurer united architects (MUA), maastrict full half moon, 2009 digital print, 96.2 x 68.9 cm artwork © maurer united architects (MUA)

for dutch architecture firm maurer united architects (MUA), the sculpted void of the guggenheim reminds one of the plastic effect created by the first picture of the first footprint on the moon. their vision for the museum’s rotunda is ‘full half moon’ in which MUA would place a half full moon suspended within the space. the installation would consist of a glass ball measuring 12 meters in diameter and filled with moon dust. the lower half of the ‘moon’ is reflective, generating a convex picture of the concave void.

maurer united architects (MUA), maastrict full half moon, 2009 digital print, 96.2 x 68.9 cm artwork © maurer united architects (MUA)

maurer united architects (MUA), maastrict full half moon, 2009 digital print, 96.2 x 68.9 cm artwork © maurer united architects (MUA)

the starting point for MUA – a picture of the first footprint on the moon

josiah mcelheny, boston panopticon, 2009 digital print 75.9 x 50.8 cm 1/1, 1 A.P. artwork © josia mcelheny

american contemporary artist and sculptor josia mcelheny has a similar proposal with ‘panopticon’, a large reflective sphere which would hang above the void. panopticon – the museum looks back at us.

amanda levete architects, london untitled, 2009 digital print 96.4 x 68.6 cm artwork © amanda levete architects

london-based amanda levete architects contemplates the void by also reflecting it. instead of interrupting the purity of wright’s atrium, they have chosen to create a spatial experience to amplify its power and impact on visitors. they propose a fractured skin of identical mirrored pixels, wrapping the spiral balustrades of the guggenheim. from every point within the museum, the void would be magnified and reflected back on itself, echoing its visual presence through a multiplicity of complex views.