Gego retrospective at Guggenheim Bilbao explores infinity through line and space

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents 'Gego. Measuring the Infinite,' a retrospective of German-Venezuelan artist Gertrud Goldschmid (1912–1994), known as Gego. Curated by Geannine Gutiérrez-Guimarães, the exhibition features sculptures, installations, drawings, artist books, textile works, and public projects. Gego fled Nazi persecution to Venezuela in 1939, where she initially worked as an architect and engineer before turning to art at age 41. Her practice deconstructed traditional sculpture through linear networks, exemplified by the immersive 1969 installation 'Reticulárea' made of hand-bent wire. Later series include 'Drawings without Paper' (1976–1988) using found materials like rusted wires and buttons, and the chaotic small-scale 'Bichos' assemblages. Her final 'Tejeduras' works interweave magazine pages and commercial brochures. The exhibition aims to increase her visibility outside Latin America, as Gutiérrez-Guimarães notes the responsibility of curators to highlight overlooked 20th-century women artists. The Gego Foundation, run by her children Tomás and Barbara Gunz, supports preservation and study of her legacy.