Image Credit: Roger Kisby/Getty ImagesPractically the first thing the Guggenheim Museum‘s staff told journalists who inquired last month about the institution’s recently announced Animal Collective event was that it was “not a live concert (nor an art exhibition!).” After releasing an album deemed to be 2009′s best by EW as well as many other critics, the band is taking an extended break from touring in the traditional sense, preferring to travel the country to present avant-garde projects like their film ODDSAC and, well, this Guggenheim thing. Which was what, exactly? “For the Guggenheim’s 50th Anniversary,” the museum’s website explained, “the band Animal Collective has collaborated with artist [and ODDSAC director] Danny Perez on a site-specific performance piece that will transform the museum’s rotunda into a kinetic, psychedelic environment. Transverse Temporal Gyrus will feature original recorded music composed specifically for the event along with video projections, costumes, and props, rendering the band members and performers into intense, visual abstractions.” Watching the bizarre videos Perez has directed for Animal Collective’s “Who Could Win a Rabbit?” (2004) and “Summertime Clothes” (2009) gave some sense of what attendees might be in for. Only one thing remained: to visit the Guggenheim last night for the second of two performances and experience Transverse Temporal Gyrus first-hand.
Waiting in line outside the museum, a friend and I heard ominous rumblings from within. They got louder as we entered and saw what the band and Perez had done with the Guggenheim’s iconic spiral rotunda, its walls stripped bare of all other artwork. In the middle of the rotunda’s entry-level floor stood a bunch of transparent stalagmites and a white hill of sorts covered in flickering projections. We became aware of one — no, two — no, three costumed people standing in the center of the rotunda, surrounded by on-lookers. Each one leaned over a podium with a round video screen looping blurry images. Their faces were obscured by horned, deformed masks that called to mind Fever Ray’s Karin Dreijer Andersson and Frank from Donnie Darko. They did not speak and moved as little as possible, except to turn creepily toward nearby audience members from time to time. I entered a staring contest with the masked man on the right; he won. I locked eyes with another masked figure across the space and prevailed. Were these the members of Animal Collective? I wasn’t sure, though the next morning the band’s management would inform me that behind the masks were indeed three of Animal Collective’s four principals: Geologist (Brian Weitz), Deakin (Josh Dibb), and Avey Tare (Dave Portner), shown left to right below.
Image Credit: Roger Kisby/Getty Images
We decided to make our way up the Guggenheim’s spiraling ramp, as the tickets handed to us upon entering suggested. The music became still louder and more distorted, with shards of organ riffs and assorted musique concrète noise rising and falling à la “Revolution 9″ or side two of an Olivia Tremor Control album. The sounds continued to evolve as we ascended, as did the lights and video projections, casting a multiplicity of shadows on the walls and ceilings. Glancing downward, we saw the mass of ground-floor attendees we had just left, gazing worshipfully up at the three silent band members. From above, it looked kind of like an indie-rock concert, after all. Noises blasted out from unexpected corners of the museum. Blinding lights shone in our faces. Around us, more people walked, mostly young and well-dressed, some of them wearing face paint, all looking slightly dazed.
We passed a couple of guys manning a large computer screen where six overlapping windows full of some elaborate programming code were displayed for all to see. The words “pool: CHAOS” could be made out on one window, as could a legend reading “coded by Stephan Moore” and “oddnoise.com.” One of the guys at the screen told me he was Stephan Moore, and that his code was controlling the more or less random sound cues we heard coming out of 36 speakers strategically placed around the museum. Moore said he had only gotten this coding job the previous morning, one day before the event. “Not a lot of sleep between then and now,” he noted. Moore usually works as a sound engineer and audio artist for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room, among others. He’d never interacted with any of the band members before a mutual colleague recommended him for this gig. Like many artists, he told me, he’d always hoped to do something with the Guggenheim’s stunning Frank Lloyd Wright-designed space. “Now I’ve got my chance,” he grinned.
Wandering up and down the museum’s ramps, it was easy to lose track of time. I discovered we had been immersed in Transverse Temporal Gyrus for nearly two hours. Periodically I’d heard someone wishing the band would pull out instruments and perform; they didn’t, of course. It probably would have been more fun to see an actual Animal Collective concert, but that was never going to happen here. I’m certainly not sorry I got to partake of such a strange, unique experience in such an awesome space. Making a mental note to return to the Guggenheim before artist Tino Seghal’s well-reviewed exhibition closes next week, I headed with my friend for the exit.
Were any of you at the Guggenheim last night or yesterday afternoon? What did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Waste of time and money.
Animal Collective is my favorite band, so it was disappointing not to see them actually perform. But that isn’t what they told us to expect, and they succeeded ten-fold at their attempt in creating a completely immersive piece of art. It was loud, unpredictable and trippy as hell, which is all you can really expect from them. Plus it was a very intimate experience, artists don’t often incorporate themselves into the audience, and as a huge fan that was immensely appreciated.
I was there. I think my friend summed it up well when she said, “Isn’t this a case of the emperor wearing no clothes?”
Spending $30 per ticket on this seamed a bit of a waste, and we left after 45 minutes — 30 of which were spent hoping we would get immersed like you did. I think it was advertised poorly. It’s good that journalists were told it wasn’t a concert or exhibit, but I don’t think the general public was clued in on this. I mean, I guess I’m glad I went because it was my first time at the Guggenheim (I don’t live in NYC…which is another reason I wish I had known more what the event would be like before coming), and it seems everyone was there — EW, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, SPIN, Pitchfork, etc. So that’s cool, to have been to an event that had tickets so highly prized.
Still, though, I have to agree with my friend. The emperor was pretty damn naked last night.
*seemed, sorry, I was typing quickly.
I paid $30 and stood in line for an hour expecting more. I didn’t expect a concert. I thought there would be several exhibits with their artwork and inspiration. I read their guggenheim description prior to purchasing a ticket, and I thought they’d have different areas projecting different sounds. Even the sound guy admitted that this should NOT have been 3 hours. It was cool for 5 minutes and then I wanted more.
I thought it had the potential to be tremendous, but was merely pretty good. It seemed like more could’ve been done to make it more immersive, in that lots of what made it compelling was the space itself. The liked the masked performance stuff, the tension of them just standing still was pretty great, but all the projection stuff was way way too washed out on the walls, needed more intensity and coordination with the sound.
I agree with you. I found it mesmerizing and also lost track of time. I think that those who remained near the bottom and didn’t wander upwards as you did missed the point, and didn’t experience the different visual and audio nuances that you mention. We seem to be in the minority though.
It never got weird enough for me.
>>It never got weird enough for me.
You weren’t stoned enough.
i drove 16 hours. all the way from atlanta to see this. my friends and i hung out in philly for two days, then new york for a night and another day to see the show. i was kind of tired, anxious, and half stoned by the time we finally got into the doors of the guggenheim. it was alright. the sound panning in the spiral was pretty amazing, and i wish the loops had more variety and dynamics. the costumes were great but as far as the “interactive” element of the experience, it was pretty weak. if they added some kind of rhythm or beat it would’ve made it so much cooler. i dont regret driving all the that way. it was a memorable experience and a good trippy way to end my visit.
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