Much has been written and said of ‘The Bilbao Effect’ recently. On the night of 11 October 2017, the Guggenheim Bilbao, which has been credited for spearheading the city’s regeneration, celebrated its 20th anniversary. For the ceremony, 59 productions were commissioned to create a twenty minute projection mapping titled Reflections that was looped and displayed onto the exterior of the Frank Gehry designed museum for 4 days.
The projection drew upon works on permanent display in the museum grounds, most notably with Louise Bourgeois’ Maman (Ama) (1999, cast in 2001), a sculpture of spider that is over 30 feet tall. It’s small, spindly legs encase the viewer as they pass through beneath its body. The work has a duality of meanings. First, representing a feeling of protection - the spider that protects her precious eggs - in this case the audience becomes them, yet, at the same time, it also provokes a sense of awe and fear, that, improbably balanced on these slender legs, conveys a poignant vulnerability.
During one part of the projection, as dramatic music thundered across the Nervión river, a beam of light shoots up above the museum by the spider, and, for a split second, it is the spider’s web. A powerful light imposes its swollen shadow on to the wall of the museum, its vulnerability paralyzed. It’s a powerful metaphor for the spirit of the people of Bilbao as they have adapted and grown with Guggenheim to give the city its second wind.
At the start of the millennium Justin found himself being assigned to cover conflicts in Africa, the Middle-East and Afghanistan. In 2002, a photograph he took of the Moscow theatre siege became the defining image of the tragedy, being published around the world and subsequently went on to win the 2003 World Press Photo competition.
William Davie is a writer and curator based in London. He writes art reviews for Aesthetica Magazine, Ambit and This Is Tomorrow.