New York, NY (April 21, 2022)— The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum welcomes Taylor Johnson as its inaugural Poet-in-Residence for the year of 2022. In his role, Johnson will develop a suite of programs engaging with the museum's architecture and history of abstraction under the theme of Temple of Spirit. Programs will take place both within and outside the museum, in a collaborative partnership with the Academy of American Poets.

Engagements will be presented in a range of formats including public talks and panels, pop-up readings, the Digital Guide, and audio and web-based materials, providing multiple avenues through which visitors may encounter the projects. Johnson has selected a dynamic group of poets and collaborators to lead the series and infuse the Guggenheim experience with poetry, spoken word, and prose. Many of the programs will be included with general admission to the museum, available free with RSVP, and are intended to foster cross-disciplinary exchange for visitors of all ages through collective interactions with poetry and visual art.

As part of his project, Johnson will introduce Poem Signs, a composition of new verses by a selection of poets that will be displayed in the Aye Simon Reading Room, an interactive and dynamic space dedicated to poetry that intersects with current exhibitions and the creative practices of artists on view. Collectively responding to the residency’s theme, Temple of Spirit, these texts intend to set a contemplative tone and consider what a liberated space might look like in the context of a poem. Visitors will be guided through the unexpected and sometimes surprising spatial experiences of the Guggenheim’s distinct architecture and poetic nature. Poem Signs will launch on June 1 and will be published and archived on Poets.org. A selection will be chosen for inclusion in the weekend edition of Poem-a-Day, the Academy of American Poets’ daily digital series.

To accompany programming, Johnson’s voice will be featured on the museum’s Digital Guide, which will include a short introduction to his practice, readings of his poems, and video interviews with other poets. He will also collaborate with the Guggenheim’s Education Department to develop Teen Programs that bring poetry and poetic practices to New York City students. On April 29, the Guggenheim will participate in Poem In Your Pocket Day, an initiative organized by the Academy of American Poets and New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Punctuating the dynamic calendar there will be regular pop-up poetry readings where poets will uniquely respond to the Guggenheim’s architecture, exhibitions, and collection. Pop-up readings will take place at the museum on May 21, September 17, and November 19. 

Accompanying these readings will be a series of three conversation panels exploring topics of movement, sound, and environmental conservation, transpiring in June, August, and December. In these programs, poets will engage in dialogue with multidisciplinary artists, emphasizing the bond between different practices. The panels include Spirit of Movement with Harmony Holiday, jaamil olawale kosoko, and Jayson P. Smith (June 22); Poetry of the Senses with Cecilia Vicuñna, Camila Marambio, and special guests (August); and Spirit of Sound with participants to be announced (December 15).

Funders

The Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence is made possible by Van Cleefs & Arpels.

About the Poet-in-Residence Initiative

The Poet-in-Residence at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a new one-year position created in collaboration with the Academy of American Poets that is specifically focused on public engagement. The Poet-in-Residence will work together with the Guggenheim Education team to design and produce a suite of poetry-related programs for adult, teen, and intergenerational audiences to take place over the 2022 calendar year.

About the Poet-in-Residence

Taylor Johnson is from Washington, D.C. He is the author of Inheritance (Alice James Books, 2020), winner of the Norma Faber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America and named as a best poetry book of 2020 by the New York Times. Taylor has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Yaddo, the Nicholson Project, Callaloo, and the Conversation Literary Festival, among other organizations. He is the winner of the 2017 Larry Neal Writers’ Award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the 2021 Judith A. Markowitz Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ Writers from Lambda Literary, and a 2021 Pushcart Prize for his poem “Trans is against nostalgia”. His work appears in Poetry magazine, The Paris Review, and Scalawag, among other literary journals. Taylor is a student of the percussive architecture of go-go music.

About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The international constellation of museums includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. An architectural icon and “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is now among a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright structures in the United States recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. To learn more about the museum and the Guggenheim’s activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org.

Visitor Information

Admission: Adults $25, students/seniors (65+) $18, members and children under 12 free. Open Sunday–Monday and Wednesday–Friday, 11 am to 6 pm, Saturday, 11 am to 8 pm. Closed Tuesday. Members-only on select Mondays, 6 pm to 8 pm. Pay What You Wish hours are Saturdays, 4 pm to 6 pm. Purchase of timed tickets are encouraged ahead of visit. Explore the Guggenheim with our free Digital Guide, a part of the Bloomberg Connects app. Find it in the Apple App Store or in the Google Play Store.

The Guggenheim Museum requires masks for all visitors regardless of vaccination status. Learn more about our COVID-19 safety protocols.