The Roof Garden Commission
5 total works
Known for his ephemeral, interconnected installations and monumental sculpture, Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas (b. 1980) transformed The Met Roof into an immersive banquet scene for the 2017 Roof Garden Commission. This book retraces the artist’s process by illustrating his conversations and discoveries at The Met, which informed an installation that negotiates the museum as both a social space and a space for the display of art. Villar Rojas merges these institutional functions by framing art within the context of a party where viewers and artworks can directly interact. The publication, an integral part of Villar Rojas’s installation, covers themes as diverse as museology, history, and the activation of art—offering a meditation on how museums as artifacts represent and historicize art.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(04/14/17–10/29/17)
A book that documents Alicja Kwade’s 2019 Roof Garden commission at The Met—large-scale sculptures that reference celestial bodies
Contemporary artist Alicja Kwade (b. 1979) has received international acclaim for her minimalist, large-scale sculptures and installations intended to parse, but not resolve, various scientific and metaphysical conundrums. Kwade’s site-specific installation for the 2019 Roof Garden commission at The Met consists of two immersive sculptures that resemble an astrolabe, the instrument historically used to measure the location of the stars and planets over time. This compact volume presents images and analysis of this new installation, setting its creation in the context of the artist’s past work. An interview with Kwade conducted for this publication sheds further light on her process and inspirations.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Contemporary artist Alicja Kwade (b. 1979) has received international acclaim for her minimalist, large-scale sculptures and installations intended to parse, but not resolve, various scientific and metaphysical conundrums. Kwade’s site-specific installation for the 2019 Roof Garden commission at The Met consists of two immersive sculptures that resemble an astrolabe, the instrument historically used to measure the location of the stars and planets over time. This compact volume presents images and analysis of this new installation, setting its creation in the context of the artist’s past work. An interview with Kwade conducted for this publication sheds further light on her process and inspirations.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(April 16–October 27, 2019)
French conceptual artist Pierre Huyghe (b. 1962) is known for experimental and complex works that employ a variety of media, including photography, film, drawing, sculpture, music, and even public happenings and living organisms. His thought-provoking and innovative pieces have been presented internationally to great acclaim over the past 20 years.
This book presents Huyghe’s site-specific installation for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden, and contextualizes this work within his career. The creatively designed publication includes striking full-color images of a number of Huyghe’s celebrated works as well as a fold-out poster cover of the installation. An interview with Huyghe by Sheena Wagstaff allows this articulate artist to explain his work directly to the reader. An essential companion to the must-see Roof Garden installation, this book provides a focused study of one of today’s most fascinating contemporary artists.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
This book presents Huyghe’s site-specific installation for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden, and contextualizes this work within his career. The creatively designed publication includes striking full-color images of a number of Huyghe’s celebrated works as well as a fold-out poster cover of the installation. An interview with Huyghe by Sheena Wagstaff allows this articulate artist to explain his work directly to the reader. An essential companion to the must-see Roof Garden installation, this book provides a focused study of one of today’s most fascinating contemporary artists.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(05/12/15–11/01/15)
Huma Bhabha: We Come in Peace
by Shanay Jhaveri, Ed Halter, and Sheena Wagstaff
Published 24 July 2018
A compact volume that illuminates the work of Huma Bhabha and chronicles her piece for the 2018 Met Roof Garden commission
Often described as “post apocalyptic,” the work of Pakistani sculptor Huma Bhabha (b. 1962) responds to the violence and turmoil in the world around her through depictions of anthropomorphic figures that often appear to be dismembered, melted, or dissected. This compact volume, accompanying a site-specific installation at the Metropolitan Museum’s Roof Garden, features an interview with the artist that provides new insight into her diverse influences. Essays discuss the impact of cinema and science fiction on Bhabha’s sculpture, explore art historical connections, and illuminate the artist’s process and oeuvre over the past 20 years. Like the installation, this book—the sixth in a series devoted to the Met’s Roof Garden Commissions—connects Bhabha’s contemporary practice to both art history and global current events.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Often described as “post apocalyptic,” the work of Pakistani sculptor Huma Bhabha (b. 1962) responds to the violence and turmoil in the world around her through depictions of anthropomorphic figures that often appear to be dismembered, melted, or dissected. This compact volume, accompanying a site-specific installation at the Metropolitan Museum’s Roof Garden, features an interview with the artist that provides new insight into her diverse influences. Essays discuss the impact of cinema and science fiction on Bhabha’s sculpture, explore art historical connections, and illuminate the artist’s process and oeuvre over the past 20 years. Like the installation, this book—the sixth in a series devoted to the Met’s Roof Garden Commissions—connects Bhabha’s contemporary practice to both art history and global current events.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(04/16/18–10/28/18)
Turner Prize–nominated British artist Cornelia Parker (b. 1956) is well known for her large-scale, site-specific installations. Her work has been featured in many solo exhibitions and is included in collections around the world. Often composed of ordinary objects, her installations make the familiar extraordinary, whimsical, and even poignant. Her work for the 2016 Roof Garden Commission at the Metropolitan Museum, documented here, merges two iconic examples of American architecture: the red barn and the infamous mansion on a hill from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho – itself inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. The resulting piece is brilliantly allusive, exploring the tension between the tropes represented by these two cultural symbols. This slim volume includes an interview with the artist in which she eloquently illuminates her work and influences.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Distributed by Yale University Press
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(4/19/16–10/31/16)