An attention-grabbing promo for Beyoncé‘s new album at the Guggenheim this week was not discussed ahead of time and wasn’t given the green light, museums officials said.
Projections for “Cowboy Carter,” due to drop next week, appeared Wednesday night on the side of several New York City fine arts institutions, including the Guggenheim, the Whitney, the New Museum and the Museum of Art and Design.
#COWBOYCARTER promo on the storied Guggenheim Museum in New York City. pic.twitter.com/qcxyZ6GiqO
— BEYONCÉ LEGION (@BeyLegion) March 21, 2024
Displayed on the Guggenheim’s famous façade were the words, “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album,” along with the album’s title and its March 29 release date.
The opening line referenced the 32-time Grammy winner’s message addressing the racially charged controversy surrounding her foray into country music.
While the superstar posted an Instagram story on Wednesday night featuring the coordinates of the museum, the street savvy marketing ploy apparently took the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed museum by surprise.
In a statement shared with ARTnews on Thursday, the Upper East Side institution said it “was not informed about and did not authorize this activation.”
NYC design critic Alexandra Lange also took to social media to call out an important point regarding the display.
“The Guggenheim owns the rights to reproductions of itself,” she wrote. “So if you want to publish your own photo of the museum, you have to pay them.”
But the Guggenheim seemed to want to ride the Queen Bey wave anyway by using it as an opportunity to promote its upcoming exhibition.
“We invite the public — including Beyoncé and her devoted fans — to visit the museum May 16–20 when we present projections by artist Jenny Holzer on the façade of our iconic building to celebrate the opening of her major exhibition.”
Statements from other museums indicated the displays on the side of their buildings were unexpected as well.
“While the Museum of Arts and Design was not involved in the activation, we are thrilled to see Beyoncé shining a light on the importance of museums in the cultural landscape,” said MAD.
The Guggenheim is currently hosting “Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility,” an exhibition showcasing “more than 100 works by a group of 28 artists, the majority of whom are Black and more than half of whom are women.”
