Stillspotting is a series of off-site exhibitions exploring stillness and quiet in the urban environment. These exhibits incorporate stories commissioned by artists, writers and musicians from each of the five New York boroughs. Among these are artist Pedro Reyes with an installation called sanatorium, architects SO-IL with an installation called Transhistoria, and architects Snohetta with an installation called tintinnabuli.

Over the course of two years, the Guggenheim Museum took its programming out to the streets to create this multidisciplinary project as a response to everyday issues of noise, anxiety and stillness in the loud urban environments of New York; and to create a sense of community within the boroughs. 

For example, in the Queens installation of this project, architects at SO-IL explored how one finds calm and inner peace in bustling Jackson Heights, Queens. For their installation titled, Transhistoria, SO-IL commissioned local writers to tell stories of migration, displacement, and finding home away from home.

-Intuitive assessments from a cultural and institutional context

-Horizon scans with qualitative and quantitative research and context interpretation

-Future scenarios and impact assessment

– Curatorial Masterplan development

– Program development

– Space / Design Analysis and future Space Needs

– Initial International Design References Research 

– Pre Designer Selection Research