The NYC That Never Was
Profile of Frank Gehry in New York Magazine offers a gloss on the nature of ’starchitecture,’ the roster of stillborn projects Gehry has designed for NYC, and the challenge of being Frank Gehry, age 80, in an era when developers are bankrupt (monetarily and creatively):
“You’re buying into the fairy tale,” he protests. “Bilbao opened in 1997. It was only ten years later that I was asked to do another museum. A lot of other people got work because of Bilbao.” The “Bilbao effect” refers to the power of a flamboyant new cultural building to invigorate the local economy. But the phrase could also describe his paradoxical challenge: How do you satisfy clients who come for similar explosions of innovation? How does Frank Gehry compete with “Frank Gehry”?
Model of the never-built East River Guggenheim
For the harscrabble son of immigrants, there are never any easy answers. A good read, indeed.
Thanks to reader ASR fpr the recommendation.
