The iconic Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum — part of a UNESCO World Heritage site located at 1071 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan — is generally regarded as the masterwork of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. During the building phase and after its completion in 1959, the building’s modern, slightly otherworldly innovative design drew both curiosity and criticism. Today, the landmark structure houses both permanent and temporary world-class exhibits.

Next time you find yourself in the big city, spend a day exploring for yourself the art housed within the once-controversial space.

Here’s what’s coming up:

The colorful, fantastical “Soundsuits,” created by artist Nick Cave, had their origin following the March 1991 police beatings endured by Rodney King in Los Angeles. Cave imagined his textile works as symbolic suits of armor with the power to both conceal and shield the body. Today, Cave’s pieces have taken on added significance, functioning also as alternate personas obscuring gender, race and economic class — protecting the wearer from judgements based on those personal identity metrics.

Through April 10, Nick Cave: Forothermore explores the artist’s catalog of work through installations, textile sculptures, video and early works, many rarely on view to the public. The exhibition is staged in the museum’s tower galleries, divided into thematic sections drawn from an old African American greeting titled “What it Was,” “What it Is” and “What it Shall Be.”

New exhibitions opening March 31 include Gego: Measuring Infinity. Architect-turned-artist Gertrud Goldschmidt (1912–1994), known as Gego, fled Germany and Nazi tyranny in 1939 and immigrated to Venezuela. She then launched a career that included both two- and three-dimensional works in a variety of mediums exploring the language of abstraction. Until Sept. 10, around 200 pieces, including sculptures, drawings, prints, textiles and the artist’s own books, will be displayed on five ramps across the museum’s rotunda.

Also opening March 31 and running through Sept. 19 is Sarah Sze: Timelapse. Sze uses elements of sound, print, drawing, painting, sculpture, video and architecture to confront and experiment with boundaries of various kinds, from testing the lines drawn between what is tactile and what is imagined, to questioning what we perceive to be permanent or temporary. The exhibition utilizes both interior and exterior spaces throughout the museum complex.