H.O.R.I.Z.O.N. Digital Commune Now Live, Marking the Close of Countryside, The Future, on View through February 15 at the Guggenheim Museum

On view through February 15, Countryside, The Future is an exhibition addressing urgent environmental, political, and socioeconomic issues through the lens of architect and urbanist Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal, Director of AMO, the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). This timely exhibition investigates the radical changes happening in the “countryside,” or the rural, remote, and wild territories that make up the 98% of the Earth’s surface not occupied by cities. The themes examined in the exhibition, which opened in early 2020, have proved prescient in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, include migration, climate change, modern ideas of leisure, large-scale land planning by political forces, human and nonhuman ecosystems, market-driven preservation, and the possibilities of artificial and organic coexistence.

On the occasion of Countryside, the Institute of Queer Ecology (IQECO) has partnered with the Guggenheim Museum to create H.O.R.I.Z.O.N. or Habitat One: Regenerative Interactive Zone of Nurture, a social simulation video game that plays out in a networked bespoke virtual environment. H.O.R.I.Z.O.N. is available for download now.

Developed as a model for public engagement in a time when physical gathering is limited, H.O.R.I.Z.O.N. functions as a “digital commune,” set within a virtual landscape. Taking inspiration from utopian communities like Lavender Hill, a bygone queer commune in Ithaca, NY, the game invites the public to participate in creating an open archive of original content around themes such as ecology, queerness, and self-sovereign living. The goal of H.O.R.I.Z.O.N. is to assemble a repository of shared information, tools, and an active community around new takes on ecologically conscious practices to inspire change. On February 20 and 21, the virtual stage within H.O.R.I.Z.O.N. will serve as the venue for a launch festival consisting of virtual programs, including workshops, performances, and artist talks.

IQECO is a creative collective that draws on intersectional queer, feminist, and decolonial theory to create alternative models of imagining the world. IQECO initially collaborated with the Guggenheim to present the three-part film series Metamorphosis on the streaming platform DIS as part of OFF THE GRID/ON THE SCREEN, a virtual film program in conjunction with Countryside, The Future in the spring of 2020.

H.O.R.I.Z.O.N. is organized by Alan Seise with support from Laili Amighi and Jennifer Yee of the Guggenheim’s Public Programs department and Troy Conrad Therrien and Ashley Mendelsohn of the Curatorial department.

Additional resources produced for Countryside, The Future, including video content, an audio tour, family activities, and teaching materials, are posted at guggenheim.org/countryside.

Current exhibitions include Away from the Easel: Jackson Pollock’s Mural, a focused presentation of Jackson Pollock’s first monumental work; Knotted, Torn, Scattered: Sculpture after Abstract Expressionism, featuring a range of sculptural works from the 1960s and ‘70s; The Fullness of Color: 1960s Painting, which explores the experiments of a group of avant-garde painters; and Marking Time: Process in Minimal Abstraction, with works by Agnes Martin, Roman Opałka, and Park Seo-Bo that invite viewers to imagine the creative process. An ongoing presentation of the Thannhauser Collection showcases works by several artists including Vasily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso.

Countryside, The Future is organized by Troy Conrad Therrien, Curator of Architecture and Digital Initiatives, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal, Rita Varjabedian, Anne Schneider, Aleksandr Zinovev, Sebastian Bernardy, Yotam Ben Hur, and Valentin Bansac, with Ashley Mendelsohn, former Assistant Curator, Architecture and Digital Initiatives, at the Guggenheim.

Key collaborators include Niklas Maak, Stephan Petermann, Irma Boom, Janna Bystrykh, Clemens Driessen, Lenora Ditzler, Kayoko Ota, Linda Nkatha, Etta Mideva Madete, Keigo Kobayashi, Federico Martelli, Ingo Niermann, James Westcott, Jiang Jun, Alexandra Kharitonova, Sebastien Marot, Fatma al Sahlawi, and Vivian Song.

Countryside, The Future is made possible by Lavazza, American Express, and an anonymous donor. Major support for Countryside, The Future is provided by the IKEA Foundation and Sies Marjan. Additional support is provided by Northern Trust and Design Trust.

The Leadership Committee, chaired by Dasha Zhukova, is gratefully acknowledged for its support, with special thanks to the Blavatnik Family Foundation, Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Naomi Milgrom AO, The Durst Organization, Robert M. Rubin and Stéphane Samuel, and an anonymous donor. Additional funding is provided by Creative Industries Fund NL, the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, and the Netherland-America Foundation.

In-kind support for this exhibition provided by NethWork, Infinite Acres, Deutz-Fahr, 80 Acres Farms, Priva, Planet Labs, Inc., Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Volkswagen, Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds, and AMO B.V.

Funding for the Institute of Queer Ecology is provided by a Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Admission: Adults $25, students/seniors (65+) $18, members and children under 12 free. Open Thursdays through Mondays from 11 am to 6 pm. Pay What You Wish hours are Saturdays from 4 to 6 pm. Timed tickets are required and available at guggenheim.org/tickets. Explore the Guggenheim with our free Digital Guide, a part of the Bloomberg Connects app. Find it in the Apple App Store or in the Google Play Store.

The Guggenheim is implementing health and safety measures in consideration of visitors and employees and in compliance with New York State and City guidelines. Face masks are mandatory inside the museum for anyone over the age of two. New requirements should be reviewed in advance of a visit; they are posted on COVID-19 Safety Measures: What to Expect When Visiting.