When Tom Krens, the former director of the Guggenheim Foundation, first approached the office to design an exhibition of motorcycles in Frank Lloyd Wright’s rotunda, our reaction was not unlike that of most people - we were very skeptical. But Tom convinced us that to present the motorbikes as sculptures would make this unlike any other motorcycle exhibit. He was right!
It was an intimidating challenge to transform Wright’s masterpiece with an architectural intervention – even if only temporarily. But then we came up with the simple idea of applying mirror-finish stainless steel panels to the handrails of the rotunda as a means to highlight the chronological display of the motorcycles ascending the ramp.
In an adjacent gallery, we organized a special group of racing bikes on an undulating rubber ramp with the aim of reinforcing a sense of movement. Large-scale photo-murals served as backdrop.
‘The Art of Motorcycles’ became a huge hit in New York City and we were invited back to design a second exhibition for the Guggenheim in Bilbao. This presented the unique opportunity to re-imagine and adapt the New York City exhibit for Bilbao’s huge ‘boat’ gallery - incorporating Richard Serra’s large-scale sculpture.
We created a monumental rubber ramp that curved around the Serra as the new platform for the display of the motorcycles.
The mirror-like stainless steel panels provided the finish for each of the exhibition’s pedestals.
Just as in the New York Guggenheim exhibit, a series of large-scale photo-murals were used as the backdrops to highlight the display of special groupings of motorcycles.
I think of the Bilbao exhibition as a horizontal manifestation of the ramp from the rotunda in the New York Guggenheim. In this sense, we came a little closer to capturing the exhilaration of riding a motorcycle at speed – within the safe confine of the gallery.
The third exhibition - at the Guggenheim Las Vegas (designed by OMA) presented a completely different challenge. This installation was required to mediate between the human-scale of the motorcycles themselves and the vast and windowless exhibition hall adjacent to the casino at the Venetian Hotel.
We responded to the challenge of re-imagining such a large space by creating a number of architectural enclosures for the display of the motorcycles. We worked closely with the Guggenheim’s curatorial team to re-organize the motorcycles to offer a more thematic experience for the visitors who were free to meander through the exhibit in a looser sort of way than had been possible in the New York or Bilbao exhibitions.
The Las Vegas exhibit offered an incredibly valuable opportunity to refine the palette of materials we had put to use in the New York and Bilbao exhibitions.
For this third iteration, we added a number of new materials to the palette including monumental chain-link curtains and translucent glass panels.
We also explored ways in which multi-media presentation techniques might be incorporated into the exhibit - alongside large-scale wall graphics and photo-murals to create a fully immersive exhibition experience.
The projects in this section were designed and executed during my time at Gehry Partners LLP (the office). I am grateful to Mr. Gehry and the team at the office for their generosity and support over the years. All intellectual property rights of these projects continue to be owned by the office unless otherwise mentioned. The narrative texts on the projects are entirely personal, they do not represent the views or opinions of the office, its clients or any other third party or organization.