The Guggenheim Rounds Out 2025 Public Programming Series with December Lineup

The Guggenheim New York concludes 2025 with a dynamic slate of public programs, including playful poetry engagements led by poet and New York Times best-selling author Rio Cortez, a concert by the Cornelius Eady Group, and a musical performance by sound designer Skooby Laposky and musician Shelly Bauer that draws on biodata from the plants featured in Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers. The museum continues its collaborations with local community partners, bringing new perspectives and opportunities for audiences to engage with Johnson’s exhibition.  

Throughout December, programming on Rotunda Stage will be curated by the Academy of American Poets, the largest membership-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting American poets and fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry.  

Additional highlights include a Works & Process Rotunda Project featuring a live reimagining of Johnson’s film The Hikers, with choreography by Claudia Schreier, dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company, and live piano accompaniment by Aku Orraca-Tetteh; and an evening of call-and-response poetry led by 2025 Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence Traci Brimhall during December’s extended-hours Late Shift, in celebration of the winter solstice.

December programming highlights include:  

Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers Performance Series 

Sanguine piano: Fridays, 4 pm, and Sundays, 1 pm 

Rotunda Stage: Mondays, 4 pm, and Saturdays, 1 pm 

Reserve Tickets 

Free with Admission 

Every Friday through Monday, New York’s creative community brings to life two installations by Rashid Johnson through poetry, music, and live art.  

In December, the Academy of American Poets invites poets Rio Cortez, Cornelius Eady, and Afaa Michael Weaver to activate Rotunda Stage. Rio Cortez’s programming, “This is Not a Poem,” centers on the idea that poetry exists in all that we do. Featuring writers, dancers, singers, artists, and musicians—including Shira Erlichman, Naomi Extra, Vanisha Gould, Dominica Green, Briana Hunter, Kyla Marshell, Angel Nafis, and Aldrin Regina Valdez—the performances take place on select Mondays. On December 6, Afaa Michael Weaver, recipient of the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize and the 2023 Wallace Stevens Award, among others, will present a selection of poems inspired by Amiri Baraka and other literary figures referenced in A Poem for Deep Thinkers. On December 20, National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize–nominated poet Cornelius Eady will appear with the Cornelius Eady Group, which sets his poetry to music.  

Within Sanguine, programming includes piano sets by student and alumni musicians from Mannes Prep and NYU Steinhardt, as well as an improvised collaboration by Shelly Bauer and Skooby Laposky. 

Shelly Bauer and Skooby Laposky Present: 
Sanguine Studies (for Flute, Piano, and Biodata Sonification Synthesis) 

Sunday, December 14, 1 pm 

Reserve Tickets 

Free with Admission 

Join us at Sanguine as sound designer and artist Skooby Laposky collects biodata from plants within Rashid Johnson’s work using electrodes attached to their leaves, which detect changes in electrical conductivity. These fluctuations—caused by processes like water movement and photosynthesis—are converted into musical data and translated into sound through a modular synthesizer system. This process, known as bio-sonification, produces a unique real-time musical output generated by the plants themselves. Harlem School of the Arts music director Shelly Bauer will then join Laposky for a performance inspired and informed by these sonic patterns. 

Rotunda Stage Pop-Up: FUTURE BODIES  

Wednesday, December 17, 2–3 pm 

Reserve Tickets 

Free with Admission  

This performance is the culmination of a semester-long course called “Future Bodies,” taught by Fiona Dieffenbacher, Associate Professor of Fashion at Parsons School of Design. Parsons students working at the intersection of fashion, philosophy, art, architecture, and dance, collaborated with choreographers to create a site-specific experimental performance that engages Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural philosophy in relation to the “future body.” The performers challenge the division between body and soul and invite audiences to tune in to their own organic connection to space.  

Works & Process and the Guggenheim New York Present Rashid Johnson’s The Hikers 

Wednesday, December 17, 6:30 pm and 8 pm 

Reserve Tickets 

On the occasion of Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers, the Guggenheim New York and Works & Process co-present The Hikers, staged live under the direction of Johnson and choreographed by Claudia Schreier. 

Originally conceived by Johnson as a film, The Hikers tells the story of two anxious travelers who cross paths and share an unexpected, profound connection for a fleeting moment.  

For this special presentation, the work has been reimagined as a live performance in the Guggenheim’s Rotunda, amplifying the dialogue between movement, architecture, and Johnson’s expansive practice. The performance features Lloyd Knight and Leslie Andrea Williams, both acclaimed members of the Martha Graham Dance Company, with live piano accompaniment by composer and multi-instrumentalist Aku Orraca-Tetteh. Orraca-Tetteh is the pianist and harmonizer for Florence and the Machine and a frequent collaborator of Bill T. Jones, Santigold, TV On the Radio, and Saul Williams. 

The evening includes a viewing of Johnson’s mid-career survey, which features the original 2019 film version of The Hikers on Rotunda Level 5. 

Late Shift  

Thursday, December 18, 5:30–8 pm 

Reserve Tickets 

Taking place just before the winter solstice, December’s Late Shift celebrates one of the longest nights of dreaming in the calendar year. 2025 Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence Traci Brimhall has crafted an unforgettable culminating event inspired by the sensory experience of dreaming. Visitors are invited to create collaborative poetry in response to a live jazz performance by saxophonist Camille Thurman and the Darrell Green Quartet, participate in hands-on poetry activities in Café Rebay, and take a surreal journey through the galleries with imaginative fill-in-the-blank poetry cards.  

Visitors can enjoy cozy signature cocktails at our cash bar on the Rotunda Floor and enter to win limited-edition poetry oracle decks created by Brimhall. The Guggenheim Shop will remain open throughout the evening with 10% off all poetry titles. Please join us in celebrating the solstice and Brimhall’s provocation of the museum as a space of dreaming, making, and being.  

An Afternoon on Rotunda Stage 

Saturday, December 20, 1 pm and 4 pm 

Reserve Tickets 

Free with Admission 

Join us for a special afternoon on Rotunda Stage, beginning with a poetry reading by participants in “The Subconscious as Muse,” a workshop led by writer Swati Sudarsan and presented in collaboration with the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. At 4 pm, the Cornelius Eady Group, featuring poet, playwright, songwriter, and Cave Canem cofounder Cornelius Eady, along with guitarists Lisa Liu and Charlie Rauh, and violinist Concetta Abbate, will read from his in-process poetry cycle The Ballad of Willie Dixon, then perform folk songs from their 2025 album The Misery Tree and their unreleased project Cigarettes and Beer.  

Public programs will be announced monthly; please visit guggenheim.org/calendar for additional information and updates. Event details are subject to change. 

Sponsors 

Lead support for Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers is provided by Ford Foundation.  

Visionary support is provided by A4 Arts Foundation, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Edlis-Neeson Foundation, and Daniel Xu and Flora Huang. Major support is provided by Neuberger Berman. The Leadership Committee for this exhibition is gratefully acknowledged for its generosity, with special thanks to Hauser & Wirth, David Kordansky Gallery, Madeleine Arison, Heather and Felix Baker, Justin Bayless, Marie-Josée Coutu, Nancy and Steve Crown, Natasha and François-Xavier de Mallmann, The George Economou Collection, Anton J. Levy, Jennifer and Alec Litowitz, and David Shuman.   

Additional leadership funding is provided by Candace and Michael Barasch, Allison and Larry Berg, Mahshid and Jamshid Ehsani, Alex and Greg Mondre, Dr. Daniel S. Berger Charitable Giving Fund, Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian and Ago Demirdjian, Nicola Erni Collection, Katherine Farley and Jerry I. Speyer, The Forman Family Collection, Paul and Dedrea Gray, John and Amy Griffin Foundation, Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia, Kathy and Mitchell Jacobson, Judelson Family Foundation, LaVon Kellner and Tom Roush, Amanda Precourt, Gary Steele and Steven Rice, George Wells and Manfred Rantner, Debi and Steven Wisch, Marilyn and Larry Fields, Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi, Jessica and Brian Robinson, Carol and Lawrence Saper, Ann and Mel Schaffer, The Sherman Family Foundation, and those who wish to remain anonymous. Support is also generously provided by The Kate Cassidy Foundation, The Robert Lehman Foundation, and The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Guggenheim New York’s 2024 International Director’s Council.  

Yamaha Piano provided by Yamaha Artist Services New York.  

Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence is presented in association with the Academy of American Poets and is made possible by Van Cleef & Arpels. 

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 Guggenheim New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. A “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet, the Guggenheim New York is among a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright structures in the United States designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. To learn more about the Guggenheim New York and the Guggenheim’s activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org

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