Doug Wheeler: PSAD Synthetic Desert III at the Guggenheim

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents the first-ever realized work from a group of installations conceived by Doug Wheeler during the late 1960s and ’70s: Doug Wheeler: PSAD Synthetic Desert III, on view March 24–August 2, 2017. Produced in close collaboration with the artist, the Guggenheim installation is developed from drawings executed in 1968 and will be on view in the museum’s Tower Level 7 gallery. In addition to the architectural modification of an existing room to achieve an optical impression of empty space, which is a familiar element in other other works by Wheeler, PSAD Synthetic Desert III is also a semi-anechoic chamber: a space designed to suppress all but the lowest levels of ambient sound. Into this profound silence other sound will then be introduced. The two elements—optical and acoustic—transform the museum gallery into a world apart. Wheeler compares the impact of the work to his own experience in the deserts of northern Arizona, where near-silent conditions deeply influence the visual and felt sensation of space.

To protect the quality of visitor experience, each visitation group for Synthetic Desert will be limited to five people. A timed ticket that allows visitors to spend either ten or twenty minutes in the gallery is required