New York, NY (March 11, 2024)—The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in collaboration with the Academy of American Poets, welcomes Meg Day as the Poet-in-Residence for 2024. The residency, now in its third year, builds upon the institution’s legacy of engaging forms of abstraction in the visual arts and beyond, as well as its history with poetry events, and continues the Guggenheim’s commitment to amplifying diverse voices and perspectives within its programming. In their new role, Day will present All Ears, a project that will highlight Deaf poetry as visual art.
Poetry has long been celebrated at the Guggenheim, beginning in 1963 with the Academy of American Poets’ presentation of poetry readings in the Peter B. Lewis Theater. The Guggenheim established the Poet-in-Residence program in collaboration with the Academy of American Poets in 2021, with major support from Van Cleef & Arpels, to create enriching experiences with poetry for visitors while considering how the museum may serve as an active public space for people to gather and develop both visionary ideas and a sense of community. Taylor Johnson was the inaugural Poet-in-Residence in 2022, followed by Ama Codjoe in 2023.
All Ears will include readings by Deaf poets, responses in American Sign Language to works of art in the museum, and activations that capture the echoes, vibrations, and movement of the Guggenheim’s architecture. Day’s project aims to highlight Deaf poets as visual artists by welcoming them into the museum space in new ways; encourage the hearing-majority public to engage with American Sign Language and Deaf sonics through unexpected encounters; and reorient visitors’ understanding of language and fluency as visible, just as much as it is aural.
“I'm most looking forward to exploring how we can use space in the Guggenheim to enact or perform a new kind of living ekphrasis,” said Day.
“Poetry allows us to imagine through words new images, new ideas, even new forms of language in much the same way that visual art does. We are thrilled to welcome Meg Day to the Guggenheim and to introduce their work to our audiences,” said Cyra Levenson, Deputy Director and Gail Engelberg Director of Education and Public Engagement.
“For nearly sixty years, the Guggenheim Museum and the Academy of American Poets have worked together to bring art and poetry into deeper, fuller dialogue, embracing their mutual role in helping us discover the immense possibilities of our imagination,” said Ricardo Maldonado, Academy President and Executive Director. “Through readings and lectures by former Chancellors like W. H. Auden, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Langston Hughes, and Claudia Rankine, we have also offered a platform to some of today's most exciting and imaginative voices, including the 2022 and 2023 poets-in-residence, Talyor Johnson and Ama Codjoe. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with the museum and Meg Day on their 2024 residency, while celebrating the living contributions Deaf poets make to reading and artistic communities.”
Day will also participate in poetry readings and discursive programs at the Guggenheim copresented by the museum and the Academy of American Poets and collaborate on the conception of installations in the museum’s Aye Simon Reading Room, a public engagement space that brings poetry into focus alongside the Guggenheim’s current exhibitions, energizing the imagination and offering new ways of engaging in creative practice.
On the evening of Tuesday, March 26, writer Terrance Hayes will deliver poetry readings from his two newest books, So to Speak and Watch Your Language (Penguin Books, 2023), and participate in a conversation about poetry, language, and abstraction. The program, presented at the Guggenheim, will conclude with an introduction to and reading by Meg Day. Furthermore, on Thursday, April 18, the museum will celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day by handing out poems to visitors written by the current and former Poets-in-Residence.
Through an open call organized with the academy, Meg Day was selected as Poet-in-Residence by Laili Amighi, manager, Public Programs and Adult Learning, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Kyle Dacuyan, poet and former executive director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s; Nicole Cecilia Delgado, poet, translator, and book artist; Rachel Eliza Griffiths, multimedia artist, novelist, poet, and NAACP Image Award nominee; and Ricardo Maldonado, president and executive director, Academy of American Poets.
About Poet-in-Residence Meg Day
Meg Day is the author of Last Psalm at Sea Level (Barrow Street, 2014), which received the Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde Award. Day is the winner of the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship and an NEA fellowship in poetry. Their recent work can be found in Best American Poetry and the New York Times. Day is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing, Department of English, at North Carolina State University, Raleigh.
About the Academy of American Poets
Celebrating its ninetieth anniversary in 2024, the Academy of American Poets is a leading publisher of contemporary poetry and a champion of poets across the country. The organization annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization through its prize program, giving a total of $1.25 million to more than two hundred poets at various stages of their careers. The organization also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; organizes National Poetry Month; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture.
About Van Cleef & Arpels
Founded at Paris’ 22 Place Vendôme in 1906, Van Cleef & Arpels came into being following Estelle Arpels’ marriage to Alfred Van Cleef in 1895. With a blend of inventiveness and poetry, Van Cleef & Arpels perpetuates a highly distinctive style. Its selection of exceptional gems that instill an emotion and the savoir-faire of its craftsmen have given birth to enchanting jewelry and watchmaking collections. Whether inspired by nature, couture, dance, or imaginary worlds, the Maison opens the gate to a timeless universe of beauty and harmony. Van Cleef & Arpels’ constant commitment to creation also finds expression in its various activities as a partner and patron in the cultural field. Reflecting the Maison’s attachment to values of transmission and sharing, these initiatives take place in sectors that it holds dear: they include heritage protection, fine and decorative arts, design, ballet, and poetry.
About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The international constellation of museums includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. An architectural icon and “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is now among a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright structures in the United States recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. To learn more about the museum and the Guggenheim’s activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org.