The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced Friday the creation of a new curatorship aimed at promoting design and innovation on a global scale. Troy Conrad Therrien will join the Guggenheim as curator, architecture and digital initiatives, where he will be tasked with further developing the museum’s engagement with architecture, urban studies, and digital media. Therrien, who has worked as an architect and an independent curator, comes most recently from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation where he was adjunct assistant professor.
“Advancing innovative programming that relates to architecture, technology, and urban studies, particularly on a global stage, is a priority for the Guggenheim,” said Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, in a press release. Indeed, the Guggenheim has long been in the forefront of architecture, commissioning Frank Lloyd Wright to design its famous corkscrew-shaped New York headquarters, completed in 1959, and later tapping another great American Frank, Mr. Gehry, for the museum’s Bilbao outpost. More recent projects have made use of such varied talents as Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, and I. M. Pei.
Last month Architectural Digest highlighted the Guggenheim Foundation’s innovative approach to a design competition for its Helsinki headquarters ; Therrien will be influential in helping to organize an exhibition of the six shortlisted submissions to be held in the spring of 2015. As the Helsinki opening represents an important expansion for the museum, Therrien’s role is an equally essential commitment to the museum’s future.
