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Carol Bove
Guggenheim Museum, New YorkOpening Dates: March 5, 2026 - August 2, 2026
Location: Rotunda
Role: Exhibition Designer at the Guggenheim
Carol Bove’s retrospective filled the rotunda with 25 years of work, from her early book assemblages to monumental painted steel sculptures. The show ran in reverse chronology, so visitors began with her newest work and climbed toward her earliest. Bove also wove in the building itself, introducing moments of rest and play along the iconic spiral and pairing her pieces with works by other artists and cutting a diamond-shaped opening to reveal a long-hidden Miró and Artigas mural.
Rather than resisting Frank Lloyd Wright’s spiral, the exhibition design embraced it. A gradient of more than 40 greys, deepest at the base and lightest at the summit, traced Bove’s career in reverse as visitors ascended. Level platforms exaggerated the ramps’ three-degree pitch, while mathematically placed aluminum panels and a flush-fitted High Gallery floor refined the details.
Paint was a quiet narrative device: a gradient of greys, more than 40 shades developed with Farrow & Ball, was applied to the back walls of the Guggenheim, moving from dark to light as visitors ascended the spiral. The deep charcoals set off the saturated color of Bove’s recent sculptures, while the pale greys suited the restraint of her early work, shaping the experience without announcing itself.
Together with Carol and her team, we built five sofa lounges into the Guggenheim’s ramps, giving visitors a place to rest or take in the art from a seat on nearly every level. The gesture reflects her view that museums can feel unwelcoming, and that they are often missing a place to sit quietly.
https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/carol-bove https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/arts/design/carol-bove-guggenheim-museum.html
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-guggenheim-carol-bove-bends-metal-minimalism-will
https://www.vogue.com/article/carol-bove-guggenheim
https://galeriemagazine.com/carol-bove-farrow-and-ball-survey-guggenheim/