Solo show
The Facade Commission: Carol Bove, The séances aren't helping
1 Mar 2021 — 26 Oct 2021 at Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
In 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented The Facade Commission: Carol Bove, The séances aren't helping, the latest installment in the Met's ongoing series of site-specific commissions for its Fifth Avenue facade.
Swiss-American artist Carol Bove created a bold ensemble of large-scale sculptures designed to engage directly with the museum's neoclassical architecture. Working with her characteristic vocabulary of bent steel pipes, raw industrial materials, and biomorphic forms, Bove produced works that feel simultaneously monumental and intimate.
The title — The séances aren't helping — introduces a note of wry humor and existential unease, suggesting a world in which conventional means of seeking answers have failed. Installed across the museum's grand exterior, the sculptures invite passersby to reconsider the relationship between contemporary art, historical institutions, and the urban landscape of New York City.
Swiss-American artist Carol Bove created a bold ensemble of large-scale sculptures designed to engage directly with the museum's neoclassical architecture. Working with her characteristic vocabulary of bent steel pipes, raw industrial materials, and biomorphic forms, Bove produced works that feel simultaneously monumental and intimate.
The title — The séances aren't helping — introduces a note of wry humor and existential unease, suggesting a world in which conventional means of seeking answers have failed. Installed across the museum's grand exterior, the sculptures invite passersby to reconsider the relationship between contemporary art, historical institutions, and the urban landscape of New York City.
About the artist
About the venue
Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5,727,258 visitors in fiscal year 2025, it was the most-visited museum in…
