The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has been a permanent contrasting fixture in this busy industrial port city in Northern Spain, with its lush mountains and yacht-filled coasts. The year was 1997. To further establish its importance as a landmark, it was inaugurated by none other than then-reigning Spanish monarch, King Juan Carlos I. From then on, the institution’s mission has been singular — to showcase the most desired American-European artworks from all over the world, in one of the largest showrooms of the country.

A beneficiary of the legendary Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, it joins the sterling roster of established structures, such as the renowned museums in New York, USA, a more modest collection with a charm of its own in Venice, Italy, and the yet-under construction, though soon-to-open in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The original yet industrial-looking house of art was masterfully designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry — known for fluctuating exteriors and the utilization of titanium and stainless steel — the gentleman behind the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, United States of America and the luxurious Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, France.

Today, these industrial roots are again re-explored in The Matter of Time, a massive exhibit by once-upon-a-time San Francisco-based sculptor Richard Serra, who is most admired for often utilizing steel as his main material — an unconventional approach to art.

Serra provided a breath of fresh air during his rise amidst the minimalist movement of the 1960s, as he successfully engaged into the physical space of the viewers who wandered around and got inside his objects to immerse. Their experiences became part of a piece’s interpretation. He has encouraged the audience to move around and inside his life-sized objects to immerse themselves in a sensory and spatial approach, and we were about to experience the same.