Guggenheim Museum Bilbao steels itself for colossal exhibit

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.

For The Matter of Time, the artist specifically employed weathered steel, a popular construction company material whose properties evolve over time. With outdoor exposure, the metal turns from silver to orange, and finally adopts a dark brown tone over the course of eight years. As the rusting process lasts almost a decade, we can only imagine his foresight to create these masterpieces!

Naturally, he cannot move these monumental monuments alone — not even an inch! So, after conceptualizing the pieces in tiny models, he taps a computer program to come up with exact angles and measurements. He then teams up with large-scale factories to produce these titanic objets d’art. This isn’t his first rodeo in the workshop, though. While in college, he was a steelworker to fund his collegiate pursuits.

Even though steel is his all-important medium, it can be argued his main material is actually the space where we move in. This was further evidenced as we explored the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s Gallery 104, a delicate yet expansive area, almost specifically designed to house his gigantic creations.

The Matter of Time consists of eight giants in total and are treated as a collective.

We soon learned that Serra actually conceptualizes his sculptures to be installed in specific sites. Such examples are Torqued Ellipses and Spirals, both specially machinated to only be installed in these exact depositories.

His Torqued Ellipses, though unfinished due to his passing on this year, we felt as if the museum was part of the artwork. We stepped into the steel curves and it seemed like another layer of skin enclosed us and the elliptical voids contained within.

Meanwhile Snake, which was specifically crafted for Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s inauguration, also settled itself in a specific spot within the expanse. We were mesmerized by the three serpentine ribbons of steel, which we learned weighed a total of 180 tons! Two of the panels were tilted, which created a sense of motion and instability. We overheard visitors were dizzy after walking through Sugea. It looked like the sturdy solid metal could be soft to the touch!

We eventually meandered through the other installations, which created little pockets of sensory overloads and a renewed sense of the passage of time — the way the exhibit was intended to be enjoyed. Our view shifted and spun around as we navigated through the twists and turns of the metalworks, both narrow and wide.

Throughout all these, we were brought back to our days of youth, when my father engaged in shipping. Come dry dock time, there were piles of steel plates to upgrade the ships. Little did I know that plain steel could be transformed into majestic goliaths to capture the hearts of avant-garde afficionados.

Days after, we could still recall the time we spent inside these colossal towers. Perhaps, we, too, as envisioned by the maker, became part of the artwork.