Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Art Guggenheim's Cattelan Blockbuster Attracts Record Crowds, Requires Extra Hours
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 10:40 AM
As expected the Guggenheim's dramatic Maurizio Cattelan retrospective All (through January 22), in which all but two pieces the 51-year-old Italian conceptualist and sculptor ever created are strung up from the ceiling of Frank Lloyd Wright's soaring atrium, is bringing in many, many visitors, enough to necessitate McQueen-style extra hours. The blockbuster show is bringing in 33 percent more visitors than the museum was receiving at this time last year, proving once and for all that museum-goers prefer contemporary comedy to an inter-wars historical survey.
The one-third increase in attendance reported in the Times means a daily average of 4,000 visitors to the Gugg—and so, if my math works, last fall's Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918—1936 got about 3,000 visitors per day.
Those extra 1,000 attendees, and the prospect of packing a few more in during the evenings, has lead the museum to announce extra hours for the Cattelan show. Starting December 6 the Gugg will stay open two extra hours on Tuesday evenings, until 7:45pm. As of December 26, it will do likewise on Monday evenings. Those additional hours of Cattelan will continue through January 17.
The additional two hours, assuming a constant attendance rate, could get the Gugg as much as an extra 1,000 visitors every Monday and Tuesday. This also means that you really have no excuse for missing this show which, despite its flaws, is absolutely a must-see.
(ArtInfo)
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