BilboBlog: 12/04/11

Last week was our final week for this module and we had two exams on Friday. We’ve also been assigned a 25 page paper so I’ve been spending as much free time as possible attempting to finish it. Time feels like its flying by and there’s lots to get done in a small amount of time. Next week there are holidays (ohh how I will miss Spain) and I’m taking one final trip to Barcelona and then Sevilla. But when I return only two weeks remain for my 2011 adventure semester abroad. Definitely lots to get through first …

Realizing my days here are numbered, I finally cleared time in my schedule and went to the Guggenheim Museum. I can’t imagine an institution that has had a greater impact on a city than the Guggenheim has had on Bilbao. Historically, Bilbao was an industrial city with a convenient port; it was a gritty, hardworking middle class town, but also a center of Basque Country power. Unfortunately, in the early 80s, Bilbao’s industry was losing its profitability with globalization causing too much competition. Among other problems, the unemployment rate reached 25% and so the Basque government made the decision to renovate Bilbao from a city of industry to a city of service. Officials began to make plans to for various city services - building a subway, a new airport and a pedestrian bridge. Around the same time, the Director of the Guggenheim Foundation was looking for a site for another museum. The Basque government invited him to Bilbao, where the director discovered a former shipyard on the historically “modern” side of the river. He decided its symbolism as a bridge between the old and new was perfect. Soon the deal was settled and after a design contest, Frank Gehry was chosen as the architect. The museum opened in 1997 and the impact of the Guggenheim on Bilbao is clearly visible to anyone who knows the story. The looming building is almost puzzling to look at, but it shimmers in the sunlight as a beacon for renovation.

View of the Guggenheim from across the River Nervion, note the spider sculpture "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois, and also Fujiko Nakaya's Fog Sculpture #08025 "F.O.G."

View looking down the river, from the bridge connecting to Deusto.


The view of the Guggenheim from the other side, including Jeff Koons' "Puppy" sculpture, which changes colors throughout the year, depending on the state of the flowers of which it is made.

It’s difficult to imagine the “Pre-Gugg Bilbao” locals describe. But in fact, when the titanium, limestone and glass building was completed, an unexpected problem arose in keeping the shiny facade clean and a customized cleaning method had to be invented to keep the building free of industrial Bilbao’s grime. A friend who has lived here all his life told us that when he attended Deusto University in the Pre-Gugg years, he had to cross a drawbridge to get to the University buildings. But, if there was a ship arriving with a delivery to the port where the Guggenheim now sits, the drawbridge would go up and students would have no choice but to wait, often arriving late to class. Today, Deusto’s brand new beautiful library sits proudly on the same side of the river as the Guggenheim, and the area has been transformed from construction sites, shipyards and port docks to a beautiful recreation park. Bilbao has clearly placed a new value on modern art; it abounds, especially in municipal services. Bridges, subway entrances, plazas, streetlamps, performing arts centers, even the Basque government Health Department have all been carefully designed and installed as functional modern art pieces. Hundreds of thousands of people come to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim each year, and for many the famous museum is the only thing they know about the city.

Zubizuri (Basque for "white bridge"), a pedestrian bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Another view of Zubizuri.

Random street sculpture.

More random street sculpture, perhaps a play on Velázquez's "Las Meninas".

The Basque Government Public Health Building.

This street really doesn't need this many street lamps, but the design is fun.

Deusto, the newly designed bridge leading to it, and the recreation park next to the Guggenheim.

Entrance to the Metro.

Even the playgrounds get funky in Bilbao.

I had delayed visiting the Guggenheim, first because I was waiting for cold weather and second because I never wanted to go during crowded weekends. But with my days dwindling, I prioritized it this week and was more impressed than I ever expected to be. The actual art collection is interesting. There is a beautifully playful Richard Serra installation called "A Matter of Time", a whimsical “Tulips” sculpture by Jeff Koons, and the rotating exhibit featured Brancusi. However, the true masterpiece at the Guggenheim Bilbao is not actually part of the collection; it is the building itself. I’ve never studied architecture, nor been particularly excited by it, but wandering inside Gehry’s work of art moved me. All at once the building curves, soars and sturdily endures. There appear to be a thousand moving parts all synchronized into one overall scheme. The building unfolds itself before your very eyes, with each veering corner making you wonder, how did they do that? It pulls your eye in every which direction, yet never seems distracting or unfocused. It billows and waves with each curve revealing another soothing wave of titanium or undulating limestone wall. In creating it, Gehry was inspired by water, ships and fish; I've always been a bit of a fish myself and perhaps that is why I connected so well with it. Regardless, the building gifted me with a feeling I’d never had before – to be truly awestruck and inspired by beautiful, innovative architecture.

Disclaimer: photography isn't allowed in many parts of the Guggenheim, and it is such a multi-faceted building that it is hard to fully and accurately depict it. However, below are a few pictures that illustrate some of my favorite parts and hopefully portray an idea of what the building is like.