Guggenheim Bilbao 25th anniversary | free tickets
Joaquín Achúcarro, Mastodon, El Niño de Elche and Escudero’s ‘Mythical Symphony’ stand out in the musical program
A year that was going to be one of transition, with some 840,000 expected visitors, has already become something more similar to what used to happen before the pandemic. The Guggenheim is about to exceed that figure and there are still the most specific acts of the celebration of its 25 years.
Standing out among all of them is the exhibition ‘Secciones/Intersecciones’, which will occupy the three floors of the museum with works from its collection starting on October 18. But there is more, as detailed yesterday by its general director, Juan Ignacio Vidarte, who underlined the “inclusive nature” of the program to celebrate the first quarter of a century of the Guggenheim Bilbao.
Music, contemporary dance and the light and sound show ‘Immersions’ inside the Gehry building will help remember that October 18, 1997 when the museum was inaugurated and when the change in the city accelerated. On the 20th anniversary, an act similar to the light show was scheduled, but outside. ‘Reflections’ brought together more than 300,000 people in four days, with overwhelming crowds of people. To avoid this risk, the projection will now be organized inside the museum.
The program has the added pull of the multiple occasions in which the public will be able to enter the museum for free, such as October 22 and 23, and from October 25 to December 2 thanks to the Denontzako BBKarte Para Todos program, aimed at residents in the Basque Country. Ticket reservations will be made from October.
music
From Escudero’s ‘mythical symphony’ to El Niño de Elche
On September 25, the Guggenheim atrium will host the children’s choir of the Bilbao Choral Society, the Kuraia Ensemble (which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary as the museum) and Andoni Alemán as narrator to interpret the ‘Mythical Symphony’ by the Zarautz composer Francisco Squire (1912-2002). With text in Basque, the source of inspiration is found in the stories of Basque myths collected by José Miguel de Barandiaran.
Also in the atrium, the pianist Joaquín Achúcarro offers a recital that will remind us of the one he gave in 1997, for the inauguration of the museum.
On November 19, Mastodon, the brutalist rock band led by actor Asier Etxeandia, can be heard in the same space. The heterodox flamenco El Niño de Elche and the guitarist Refree, a duo with Rosalía before the migration of the artist to urban music, will perform together on December 17.
light and sound and dance
Dives and breakdance dances
One of the most outstanding shows -and free- will be the one entitled ‘Immersions’. From December 3 to 11, it will fill the interior of the Gehry building with light and sound. Using the organic forms of the atrium as a canvas, it will place the public at the center of a representation of the most important landmarks of the museum. Ticket reservation starts in November.
Outside, in the streets of Bilbao, a selection of dancers participating in the Works & Process program at the Guggenheim in New York will recreate the architecture of the museum through rap, beatbox and break dance. The performances of ‘The Missing Element’ will take place on October 14 and 15 in places such as Moyúa square, in front of the Bizkaia Provincial Council, the Arenal bridge, Arriaga square, Nueva square, the Town Hall bridge and in front of the Consistory building. The dances inside the museum will take place on October 16 (12:30 and 8:30 p.m.) and on October 17 (6:30 p.m.).
‘Water Ecologies’
An environmental symposium with Cristina Iglesias
The symposium ‘Ecologies of water’ will bring together creators, scientists and technologists on October 6 around the problems and needs of disappearing and regeneration of ecosystems, with a special emphasis on aquatic environments, vital for human and other survival species.
Among the participants is the artist Cristina Iglesias, author of the work ‘Hondalea’ on the island of Santa Clara in San Sebastián, in which the sea and its movements are fundamental parts of the project.
The symposium will have the collaboration of STARTS4Water, an initiative of the European Commission and the consortium of institutions that make it up, including Cittadellarte- Fondazione Pistoletto (Italy), Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary – TB21 (Spain/Austria), V2_Lab for Unstable Media (The Netherlands) and BOZAR and Gluon (Belgium). On behalf of which various speakers will travel. They will be joined by figures from the Basque territory, a key setting for reflection due to its historical link with the marine and river economies.
recognition
Friends of the museum in a performance
On October 25, a performance will bring together 450 members of the Friends of the Museum association, under the coordination of the Argentine artist Cecilia Bengolea. With the support of four dancers and a DJ, the performance will move to the rhythm of dancehall through a visual journey with archive videos that will recall the construction of Frank Gehry’s building.
extraordinary exhibition
The collection, on the three floors of the museum
If the opening of 1997 was celebrated strictly artistically with a selection of works from the collection of the three Guggenheims -Bilbao, New York and Venice-, the 25th anniversary will reflect in an exhibition the growth of the Abandoibarra center’s own funds . The exhibition ‘Secciones/Intersecciones’ will be curated by five museum curators, Lekha Hileman Waitoller, Manuel Cirauqui, Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, Lucía Agirre and Maite Borjabad.
Patronage and gala dinner
Bilbao, New York, Venice
The boards of the three Guggenheim museums -Bilbao, New York and Venice- will hold a joint meeting on October 17. That same night a special edition of the museum’s annual dinner will be organized.