Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Fifth Avenue at 89th Street
New York, NY
www,guggenheim.org/publicprograms
In conjunction with Gutai: Splendid Playground, on view through May 8, the Guggenheim Museum is pleased to present a series of dynamic public programs, including a symposium, performances, and tours led by exhibition curators and conservators. Gutai: Splendid Playground is the first North American museum exhibition devoted to examining the prolific two-decade production of painting, performance, installation art, sound art, experimental film, kinetic art, light art, and environment art by the postwar Japanese collective Gutai Art Association (1954–72).
Symposium
Gutai as Science Fiction
Tuesday, March 12, 4pm
Bringing together artists and scholars from diverse fields, this half-day program presents new research on Gutai’s second phase (1962–72) in an international context with talks by exhibition co-curators Ming Tiampo, Associate Professor of Art History, Carleton University, Ottawa, and Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, as well as independent scholar Reiko Tomii. The symposium concludes with a panel discussion featuring experts in art and technology moderated by Michelle Kuo, Editor in Chief, Artforum magazine, that includes artists Otto Piene and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
The symposium is immediately followed by a private reception and exhibition viewing of Gutai: Splendid Playground.
For information and tickets visit guggenheim.org/publicprograms or call the Box Office at 212 423 3587. A limited number of free student tickets are available with valid ID and RSVP.
Performances
Concrete Escort I, II, III, IV
Friday, March 22, 6pm and 8pm
Friday, April 26, 6pm and 8pm
New York–based Japanese performance artist Ei Arakawa invites painters, sculptors, dancers, filmmakers, and archivists to form a temporal group that addresses Gutai today. The result is a performative tour in which the audience is escorted and repositioned throughout the exhibition, with emphasis on the power dynamic within Gutai; gender; singularity and plurality; and performance and painting. Tasked to communicate the diversity of Gutai activities, each tour will journey along a different route. Participants include Shinsuke Aso, Kerstin Brästch, Simone Forti, Jutta Koether, Andrew Lampert, Caitlin MacBride, Eileen Quinlan, and Amy Sillman.
For tickets visit guggenheim.org/publicprograms or call the Box Office at 212 423 3587.
SANBASO, divine dance
Mansai Nomura + Hiroshi Sugimoto
Thursday, March 28, 2pm and 8pm
Friday, March 29, 8pm
Star Kyōgen actor Mansai Nomura performs Japan’s oldest celebratory dance with stage and costumes designed by internationally renowned artist Hiroshi Sugimoto in the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright–designed rotunda. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Gutai: Splendid Playground, SANBASO is a tribute to the performance Ultramodern Sanbasō (1957) by Shiraga Kazuo, one of the leading figures within the Gutai movement. Copresented with Japan Society.
For more information and tickets visit guggenheim.org/sanbaso or call the Box Office at 212 423 3587.
Tours
Led by exhibition curators and conservators, the following tours of Gutai: Splendid Playground are free with museum admission and meet at the Membership Desk in the Guggenheim’s rotunda.
Friday, March 1, 2pm
Curator’s Eye: Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Friday, March 8, 2pm
Conservator’s Eye: Corey D’Augustine, independent conservator, New York. This tour will be ASL-interpreted.
Friday, March 15, 2pm
Curator’s Eye: Ming Tiampo, Associate Professor of Art History, Carleton University, Ottawa
Friday, April 19, 2pm
Curator’s Eye: Lyn Hsieh, Asian Art Curatorial Fellow, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
For the complete schedule visit guggenheim.org/calendar.
