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Why were Beyoncé ads blasted onto NYC museums? The museums say they don’t know.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Mar 21, 2024
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By
Giulia Heyward
Published Mar 21, 2024
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Promotional materials for Beyoncé’s new album were projected in light onto the exteriors of the Guggenheim, Whitney, the New Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design on Wednesday night. But at least two of these museums said they weren’t in on the publicity stunt.
New Yorkers roaming the Upper East Side on Wednesday evening snapped photos of the Guggenheim’s facade, which featured a projection of the phrase “This isn’t a country album. It’s a Beyoncé album.”
The other museums featured photos of the album’s cover art on their exterior walls. Fans shared photos of the museums on X and Instagram.
But a spokesperson with the Guggenheim denied any involvement with the stunt.
“The Guggenheim was not informed about and did not authorize this activation,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
They added that Beyoncé and her fans were welcome to attend the upcoming Jenny Holzer exhibition.
After the stunt, the Guggenheim Museum included the opening line of Beyoncé’s newly released hit single “Texas Hold ‘Em” in a social media post on Thursday discussing artwork by German painter Franz Marc.
“This ain’t Texas,” the post read.
The Whitney Museum didn’t confirm its involvement in the apparent publicity stunt but said Beyoncé was welcome to attend the Biennial.
For her part, Beyoncé shared the GPS coordinates of the Guggenheim on her Instagram story on Wednesday. The singer is known for teasing major news on her social media accounts.
Fans who spotted the museums’ transformations — either in person or online — expressed mixed emotions on social media.
“I'm not arguing that arts institutions like the Guggenheim are beacons of artistic or moral purity but something about seeing an ad projected onto a museum feels kinda ghoulish,” one user wrote on X.
“Cowboy Carter” is set to be released on March 29, and while it isn’t the Grammy-award singer’s first experiment with country music, it is her first full-length foray into the genre.
“Texas Hold ‘Em” has already spent multiple weeks at the top of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart since its debut last month.
Beyoncé previously enlisted another cultural institution to promote her music. She and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, released a music video for their 2018 joint single “Apes--t” that was filmed at the Louvre in Paris.
The music video featured multiple shots of the world-famous museum's iconic artworks, which the Louvre highlighted on its website.
Neither the New Museum nor the Museum of Arts and Design responded to requests for comment from Gothamist.
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Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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