An Homage to Solomon R. Guggenheim in SL

THE STORY OF how freereed Freenote came to build an homage to Solomon R. Guggenheim in Second Life is a simple one, and one best told by her:

"In 1970 a 17 year old girl went to the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in New York. She began her ascent of those interminable ramps of Frank Lloyd Wright's design…. till midway she stopped in her tracks. There on the wall was a painting on loan from the Philadelphia museum - Three Musicians by Picasso, 1921.

There are two versions of this painting. In the version she saw at the Guggenheim in 1970 there is the black dog under the table lower left. It seemed to her that the painting was giving off a vibration of joy. As this had never happened to her before, she decided to test it…. was it the painting doing this?? So she turned her back on the painting… waited, then turned around. Yes, it was true. She tried all sorts of tricks… shutting one eye, then another, over the shoulder… Yes it was true. She proved for herself that a painting can emit joy… and this was the painting doing it…. Picasso's Three Musicians, 1921.

But the problem was that goddamed museum. The space allotted for the painting was so small she couldn't get far enough back to see it properly. The ramps were problematic too. To get far enough away from the painting, to take it all in, she had to go up ramp from it, and she thought to herself…"This is no way to build a museum… this is ridiculous!"

And so it was, that on that spot, in the fall of 1970, she decided to be a painter, and this was the painting that did it.

And then, 37 years later, still a painter and with the opportunities offered by the virtual reality of Second Life, she decided to "right the wrongs of Mr. Wright" and build a museum that honoured the generosity of Solomon R. Guggenheim, rather than indulge Mr. Wright's teacup flights of fancy.

Working with Crap Mariner and Carnie Bing as freereed Freenote, that 17 year old girl has created what she believes Solomon himself would have wanted - "a monument to art, rather than architecture".



"But due to Mr. Wright's design however, no matter how many improvements we made to his design, you still can't get far enough back to take the whole painting in ... although, thank the gods, we have camera controls here in SL!"

Purists may weep and wail that 'amateurs' have dared to interfere with the great man's architectural vision, but SL being SL - we can do as we wish with OUR OWN PERSONAL VERSION of reality and we can present the world with an alternative.

Officially opened on 10th November, before an eager crowd of 50 avatars, with Cuban jazz and a magic show extravaganza by the famous, Fish The Magish, the memorial museum is jam-packed with information on its construction and various historical facts on the original building.

"I conceived this museum as The Solomon Robert Guggenheim MEMORIAL Museum," advises freenote. "I wanted to pay tribute to the man who worked in the needlework trade and came to found the first, greatest museum in the United States, devoted exclusively to modern and abstract art."

"Here, surely, more than any other, is the patron saint of American abstract painters."

"For those people who are critical that we have not followed the architect's original vision exactly, I would say that I am not here to slam Frank Llloyd Wright, but to build a proper tribute to Solomon Guggenheim.

Solomon Robert Guggenheim was born in 1861 in Philadelphia and worked in both the family's Swiss needlework importing business and their mining interests, founding the Yukon Gold Company in Alaska. After his retirement in 1919, he devoted his full attention to collecting modern art and in 1937 established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to promote public appreciation of modern art.

A year before Sol Guggenheim died in 1949, Sol's friend and patroness of the arts, Hilla Rebay, contracted the then 90 year old Frank Llloyd Wright to build the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

"Solomon Guggenheim never lived to see the museum that bears his name," advises freereed. "He never lived to see our version either.... but I am certain, as much as he loved art, and most especailly abstract paintings... he would approve of our attempt to recreate the Guggenheim Museum in New York."

"Because we have created a space where you can see the works of art ... where there is great sense of light and space. We turned the railings into glass to elimitate the feeling of being compressed into picture viewing space and we raised the ceilings, so that now you can view modern art in modern scale - monumental."

"We have also eliminated the claustrophobic viewing bays that the paintings were tucked into in the sixties.

"But most importantly we have eliminated the ramps, in the belief that a person at rest and in balance is better able to view and meditate on an artwork; whereas a person standing on a slope, or put off balance, even if the ramp incline be gradual... is put into a state of anxiety.. or trying to seek physical and mental balance, and so is less able to concentrate on the work at hand."

"Our memorial museum has a permanent exhibit history of the actual Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York," continued freereed, "as well as the history of our build in Second Life and a display of "Women in the Arts", portraits of some of the most influential women in all the arts, spanning two centuries."

"The Solomon R. Guggenheim Memorial Museum in SL is a fully-functioning museum with the purpose of promoting the arts, and serving an education, as well as cultural need."

"Our ultimate goal is to reassemble the original collection of Solomon Robert Guggenheim and exhibit it in the memorial museum with a series of art history lectures about some of the greatest modern abstract art and artists of the last century."

"The aim for the SL memorial museum, is for it to be always busy and always open… and supporting the artists of Second Life… the painters, sculptors, photographers, and musicians, as well as fundraising for charities."

Despite being officially opened, the building is still being constructed in some areas - most notably in the contour of the building itself.

"Frank Lloyd Wright did indeed build a beautiful and quite unique building in the Guggenheim, and we have accommodated as much of his design into our build as possible, but we have been limited only by the size of our lot, and the dictates of our aesthetic conscience."

Although described by free as 'Master Builder', Crap Mariner is keen to decry this title. "I'm just a goofball writer, the ultimate square peg, mad-dreamer jackass," he says. "I don't consider myself one of those Master Builders who make all the big-profile venues."

"I just like to keep things simple, leaving the Photo Shop wizardry and scripting wonders to the folks who don't have two or three musicians they want to check out every evening."

"The build was done in just three days, and there were lots of numbers flying around," recalls Crap. "Despite freereed trying to draft me into the Freemasons with all her goings on about the Golden Mean and the ratio of 8 to 5, I persevered and for all the 'ramp' fans out there, all I can say is that I came to the conclusion that for Frank Lloyd Wright, the art was getting in the way of his building."

Crap is keen to compliment PB Recreant for their amazing 'weathered concrete texture' facade.

"I figured that it's a whole different reality in SL, right? I never did like the idea of taking folks up an elevator and then treating them like a pinball to roll down the ramps, around and around, until they roll outside into the street. Kinda dehumanizing, don't you think?"

"In this alternate reality rendition, folks can fly up and down the central atrium, slowly turning to catch the artwork, or they can take the elevator and walk around at their leisure."

"Since there is plenty of display space in the main tower, I axed the smaller tower and its part of the facade. freereed's streets and cars and trees and the grotto gave the build the soul it needed, and the dance club on top is a simple, but fun venue for performers.

"For those tut-tutting the fact that it's not an exact replica with the spiral and everything, well ... perhaps they should look at their avatars and ask if they're an exact replica of their RL selves. It's Second Life ... lay the digital silly putty on the world and then have some fun, stretching it around and bouncing it off the walls."

The third dynamo in this ambitious project is Museum Manager, Carnie Bing, described by free as a "brilliant scripter".

"I was initially drawn to the Guggenheim project by my hopes for a break from traditional RL architectural norms that are prevalent in SL," commented Carnie. "The concept of an open spiral where visitors could walk or fly through an exhibit, without unnecessary doors, steps or walls found resonance with the revolutionary Frank Llloyd Wright design for the original (RL) Guggenheim museum."

"It was exciting to be in on the ground floor, as it were, of this endeavour. Sure there were the usual trials and tribulations;
temperamental artists, finicky scripts, crazy hours and international co-ordination, but the work is rewarding."

"Through all of this however, I could always count on Freereed's impeccable judgement and moral clarity. As with any build, it all came down to prim count and they were always difficult decisions, but, like a crucible, they burned away the dross leaving a purer and more precious amalgam behind."

"Now that the project is taking off, I can see that everything has proceeded as it must. The museum is established, but still growing, stable yet dynamic.

"Working with the stream of artists who have found SL, an elite group indeed, has been an honour and a pleasure."



(Pictured above - Carnie Bing and freereed Freenote at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Memorial Museum in SL).

The museum has already staged two one-woman shows - graphic artist, Griffin Gaffer, and urban realist Nena Janus with musicians Kyle Beltran and Thumper Boucher and DJ Speelo and features an outstanding mural (pictured above) by Japanese-American artist, Kenzo Minami.

According to freereed, the memorial museum raised "good money" for the Red Cross with an art auction of 20 artists' work for the victims of the recent Californian Wildfires and another is planned for Christmas.