Back in 1997, before we had kids, we bought a slightly neglected three-story house in the Hollywood Hills that was designed by an architect on the brink of becoming a superstar. Our house, the one where Franny was born (or at least the one she arrived at when we returned from Cedar-Sinai) was one of Frank Gehry’s lesser works. It had been built the same year as his own much more famous Santa Monica residence. After a few years, we realized its concrete steps and open catwalks were far too dangerous a place to raise a toddler so we sold the house in 2001. But because of our brief intersection with Frank Gehry we always felt a bond with the architect. So while our family huddled in Barcelona in early January plotting our itinerary for the second half of the trip, we knew we had to make the five-hour pilgrimage to Bilboa.Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao opened its doors to the public in October 1997, just a few weeks after we moved into our Gehry house. The museum has single-handedly transformed what was once a sleepy Basque industrial city into a global center of culture. One of our Spanish friends said, “The city made an enormous bet on the Guggenheim, and they hit the jackpot.” Bilbao has subsequently drawn countless other architectural gems and hordes of sophisticated tourists. It has become a world-class city — and one of our favorite and most-underated destinations on the trip. We were going to stay for two days, but we ended up staying for four — spending most of our time admiring the museum, climbing in the playground beside it, and photographing the titanium building in every possible light. From these moving images, we constructed a video about a museum built by Frank Gehry built on a poem by Lemn Sissay, the poet laureate of the 2012 London Olympics. We no longer have our Gehry house, but we’ll always have Bilbao.
This video about two works of art is truly a great work of art in its own right. It is a magnificent piece of cinema. Congratulations!
Cool!
This is really fascinating. BTW, have you had a chance to go to San Sebastian, in the Basque area of Spain? A lovely seaside town….love,W
We were planning to go there but we ended up catching a flight from Bilbao to Geneva instead. (We changed planes in Frankfurt and then landed in Lyon, driving to Switzerland, making it the only day we were in four different countries.)
Wow…
Epic as usual!
Dr Rick
It will take you all a year at least to think about the year to think!
Robin Green? The Robin Green I met in NYC in 1982?
I have searched for you for years. I will never forget the (literally) visceral response I had to your turning me on to the work of Fairfield Porter. Nor will I ever forget that abysmal dinner I prepared for you: chicken breasts sauteed with peaches and whole fennel. Where are you these days???? I hope you get this. I wold love to reconnect with you somehow someday sonewhere some way.
And each video wants to be a film…….and maybe they will, we can hope and dream and explore and discover and travel and visit and give thanks
AND EACH MAN WANTS TO BE A GOD!
…don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.
xox,#1FANNY
I was in Bilbao last year and totally fell in love with the Museum. I already loved the Walt Disney Hall, but this is totally different, moving inside it is a trip every time. I took hundreds of photos trying to “catch” the spirit and now, as I see your photos and hear the poem, I feel the combination truly does what I wanted. Once again, thank you. Enjoy. (The Calatrava bridge is also quite good, although the one in Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires is even more striking for me.)