The Shapes of Space

Every cultural period has its own conception of space, but it takes time for people consciously to realize it. —László Moholy-Nagy

Space is one of the basic elements in art, and yet also one of the most resistant to definition. Almost all artworks take up, contain, describe, or create space—but as an abstract concept informed by larger systems of comprehending the world around us, whether mathematical, physical, metaphysical, spiritual, or political, our understanding of space has taken innumerable forms throughout history and in different cultural contexts. Since the early twentieth century, however, artistic conceptions and representations of space have multiplied across a wide range of media. Following the early avant-gardes' revolutionary break with the Renaissance tradition of linear perspective, artists felt a new freedom to investigate not just pictorial representations of space, but the physical space in which our bodies move, as well as the social realities it engenders—a freedom that persists in art being produced today.

The Shapes of Space draws from the Guggenheim Museum's permanent collection to explore these approaches to the elastic notion of space. Rather than seek a continuous, chronological art historical narrative, the exhibition positions itself as an open-ended inquiry, structured around several distinct thematic clusters: the delineation and perception of space; the activation of social space; the built or architectural space and its socio-political implications; psychologically charged spaces; invented or imagined spaces; and the idea of spiritual or infinite space. Since nearly all space is tied up simultaneously with the social, political, and psychological, these themes circulate throughout all sections of the exhibition, intersecting through unexpected juxtapositions that reveal surprising affinities among the works on view.

Conceived in response to the ongoing restoration of the Guggenheim's most iconic space, the Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda, The Shapes of Space opens in stages throughout the spring and summer, beginning with the rotunda floor and moving upward from the lower rotunda levels. This open-ended structure echoes the dynamic nature of space itself, foregrounding the museum as a site of continual transformation.

Ted Mann, Assistant Curator for Collections Nat Trotman, Assistant Curator Kevin Lotery, Curatorial Assistant with Nancy Spector, Chief Curator

The Shapes of Space
Kuratoren: Nancy Spector, Ted Mann, Nat Trotman, Kevin Lotery

mit Ricci Albenda, Brian Alfred, Carl Andre,Julie Becker, Larry Bell, Lee Bontecou, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Nathalie Djurberg, Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Lucio Fontana, Tom Friedman, Naum Gabo, Carlos Garaicoa, Alberto Giacometti, Liam Gillick, Robert Gober, Maria Elena Gonzalez, Adolph Gottlieb, Cao Guimaraes, Peter Halley, Annika von Hausswolff, Roni Horn, Elliott Hundley, Wassily Kandinsky, Luisa Lambri, Fernand Léger, Richard Long, Agnes Martin, Gordon Matta-Clark, John McCracken, Mario Merz, Aleksandra Mir, László Moholy-Nagy, Piet Mondrian, Sarah Morris, Rivane Neuenschwander, Gabriel Orozco, Diego Perrone, Paul Pfeiffer, John Pilson, Walid Ra´ad, Ad Reinhardt, Pipilotti Rist, Matthew Ritchie, Mark Rothko, Mika Rottenberg, Alyson Shotz, Robert Smithson, Valeska Soares, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Yuken Teruya, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Piotr Uklanski, Banks Violette, Lawrence Weiner, Andrea Zittel