People | George
Davis
Direct Quotes about Guggenheim Bilbao
These are direct quotes that George Davis copied
during reading about Guggenheim Bilbao,
in a Special Issue of “Conaissance des Arts.” The
desriptions are inspiring, particularly
in thinking about the relationship between universities, society, and
culture. Too often,
‘economic development’ is viewed as (only) about science and technology.
p. 6. “The idea that culture may be a factor in economic
development was greeted by widespread skepticism and suspicion. Nonetheless,
the popularity enjoyed by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in its first
year has shown that culture can be an effective instrument to promote
development and urban renewal, not to mention the support the Museum
deserves in its own right, as a stimulus for creativity, artistic expression,
and the promotion of a cultural identity. Our very positive experience
proves that cultural initiatives can serve as potent developmental
strategies, as they clearly help attract companies, promote cultural
and business tourism stimulate the service sector, and enhance the
area’s public image. Today, we can affirm that there is
an explicit symbiotic relationship between a region’s level of
cultural activity and its potential for economic development.”
p. 10. “Prudencio Irazabal, who lives and works in New
York, is one of the most distinguished Basque artists of the 1980s. His
work, considered post-minimalist because of its monochromatism, terseness,
and apparent absence of the painter’s hand, is a result of his
meditations on the origin of painting and its various foretold deaths
in the course of the century. What immediately strikes us in Untitled
#767 is its bright and luminescent surface. Four
different panes compose a single image in which the study of light
and its transparencies suggest symbolic and metaphorical interpretations. Although
the work appears at first sight to be monochromatic, on the sides can
be seen thick superimposed layers of transparent acrylic paint that, like
sediments, reveal the process of creation. Thus, visitors can
see the source of this enigmatic and deep light. Irazabal’s
painting is characterized by it “tri-dimensionality,” whereby
the sides are as important as the main surfaces. It calls into
question the concept of painting itself, which, in the words of the
artist, is nothing but ‘color, light and shadows aimed at the
intellect and the emotion man has evolved in the presence
of beauty.’ “ [Italics added]
p. 27. “The visitor who comes to Bibao for the first time
may be surprised at the location of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. A
bridge crosses over the Museum and it sits next to a rail yard. And
yet, the location does possess a surprising power. As Thomas
Krens says, ‘It all depends on how you calculate the difficulty
of the site. For me, it was a kind of epiphany. On an early
visit to Bilbao, I went out for exercise, and I ran past the Museum
and across the bridge and turned past the front of the university and
down the side of the river to the old city where the opera house was. I
realized that I had just crossed through what I called ‘geo-cultural
triangle’ of Bilbao. The site was right in the center of
it.”
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