ekphrasis in air

sixth stanza: ekphrasis in air

Ekphrasis in Air features original poems—signed by celebrated Deaf poets in American and British Sign Language—that respond to the art and architecture of the Guggenheim. Presented as a series of video projections, these works highlight the visual artistry that sign language can bring to the lineage of ekphrasis—a literary device that complicates the meaning of a work of art through evocative description. They honor the long history of Deaf literature by engaging traditional and contemporary uses of rhyming handshapes, facial grammar, the manual alphabet, and visual vernacular. When signing poets engage in ekphrasis, the visual nature of sign language and of art intermingle to invoke an experience of shared embodiment. Organized by Day, Ekphrasis in Air underscores this potential and asks viewers to remain open to the many ways of encountering the communicative nature of art.

Ekphrasis in Air was presented on the sixth level of the museum’s rotunda as part of the installation Sixth Stanza, on view from October 2024 to March 2025.

“ONe trick pony”

“One Trick Pony” is an ekphrastic response to Circus Equestrienne / Sur une écuyère de haute école (1916) by Albert Gleizes. It is Deaf contrapuntal—a poem whose ASL version intersects with its English version to create a third text—written and signed by poet Meg Day for installation as a projection in the exhibition Sixth Stanza: Ekphrasis in Air on the Guggenheim Museum’s sixth ramp. Run time for “One Trick Pony” is 4:47. The poem was shown without captions.

From About This Poem: “This poem was born in [that] moment of reflection. I began thinking about the long and fraught history of Deaf and disabled people in the circus: the sideshow, the freak show, dime museums, and other human exhibitions during the “ugly laws” in the United States. In what covert ways have those performances persisted? When I made this poem, I was conjuring all the flashy ringmasters in my life and the ways I sometimes become fragmented or obscured in pursuit of their praise, or in avoidance of their ire.”

“Guggenheim with you”

“Guggenheim with You” is a traditional ABC poem made in American Sign Language and was installed via projection in the Aye Simon Reading Room in tandem with the Jenny Holzer Light/Line exhibition from April 2024-September 2024. Run time for “Guggenheim with You” is 4:20. The poem was shown without captions.