Dates: May 7 to September 19

Curators: Cathérine Hug, Kunsthaus Zürich, and Petra Joos, Guggenheim
Museum Bilbao

Exhibition design: Calixto Bieito

The exhibition is a cooperation between the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Kunsthaus Zürich

Sponsor: BBK

– The 1920s were a decade of both progression and backlash to the trauma experienced in World War I and the pandemic that ensued in 1918, remarkably parallel to the current coronavirus, which awakened people’s intense thirst for life, as reflected in this exhibition.

-The main new feature of this show is the pioneering collaboration between the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and renowned playwright and opera director Calixto Bieito, who created an exhibition design to foster an enriching dialogue between the fine arts and the performing arts.

– The 1920s witnessed an explosion of creativity and freedom in all spheres of art and in lifestyles, the harbingers of changes that are still in effect today.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents The Roaring Twenties, sponsored by BBK, a stimulating tour through the groundbreaking 1920s through more than 300 objects representing the most important artistic disciplines of the time, from painting, sculpture, and drawing to photography, film, collage, architecture, fashion and furniture design.

The exhibition will introduce visitors European cities like Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and Zurich, where major changes and progress were occurring in all spheres, many of which can still be felt today. Even though we cannot compare 1:1 our decade with the 1920s, there surprisingly a lot of parallels, dominated by the trauma of a pandemic and a major recession due to World War I. Yet at the same time it was a decade of progress, with an explosion of creativity and freedom, so this glimpse into the past offers encouraging ideas and inspiration for the future.