GUGGENHEIM IN GLOOMY BILBAO
Bilbao, Spain
26 May

San Sebastian is an amazing city. So far, I have found that the smaller cities in Europe attracted me the most. They´re the right size to be walked around on foot and they´re generally friendlier and full of character. Even the tourists are nicer, you rarely hear of the loud Americans comparing things here to things at home. It is very laid back, with a beautiful view of the beach. Too bad the weather hasn´t been too friendly.

Yesterday, it was soooo hard to wake up in the morning. It was cold and foggy and just gloomy. We found our way to the Information centre to find out about how to get to Bilbao - to check out the infamous Guggenheim Museum. That turned out to be easy so instead of walking around in cold San Sebastian, we decided to hop on a bus to Bilbao. The bus stop was easy to find but there was no ticket person in sight. We weren´t the only one who was clueless. Mark, a fellow backpacker from Brisbane, Australia quickly befriended us and we managed to run to the ticket office (that´s one block away..) and back to the bus.

An hour or so later we arrived in Bilbao. Unlike other cities in Spain, everything in Bilbao is relatively new and they´re still building. The Guggenheim brought life to what used to be an old industrial dump into a modern stylish city. Even the trams are new and cool! With just 1€, it got us from the bus terminus to the museum in about 5 minutes.

The Guggenheim is THE GUGGENHEIM. The feeling is like,... ¨Hmm finally I see the real thing!" The infamous Gehry piece of architecture is amazing. We took dozens of photos of the majestic outer structure before entering the museum. If only the sky was better looking. Sigh. It was flat white with absolutely no sunshine. Inside we learned that some sections of the galleries were closed due to installation of new works and that the price has been reduced to 7€ and we get the audio guide for free.

The audio guide was the most annoying part of the journey. When it comes to admiring art, I hate to be told what to do and hwat to feel. Yes, of course background information is always good but when things were said in that BBC old-skool newscaster style, it completely turned you off. It´s totally inappropriate for the modern art on display. The Guggenheim Bilbao was having a retrospect on the works of Thomas Rodensqvist (I dunno if I get the spelling correctly) and his fellow Pop Art artists. Amazing works on display.

I must say that my favourite part is an installation by the American artist Jenny Holzer, specially designed for Gallerry 101 in the GUggenheim BIlbao. It´s a series od LED panels that´s positioned like columns to support the ceiling. It displays moving words that created a poetry. It has a machine like feel to it, like a big robot on a visual speaker said to you I come I see you I watch you I observe you. The words move from the inside the floor into the ceiling without stopping in a few different languages. If you just stay there and watch all the words, it´s actually a very personal-human statement. You feel the move from the strong facade to a more vulnerable emotive inside.

Amazing.

PAQ, I was there...