Guggenheim Weighs Building Fourth European Museum at Helsinki Harbor Site - Bloomberg
Guggenheim Weighs Building Fourth European Museum at Helsinki Harbor Site
Q
By Diana ben-Aaron - Jan 10, 2012 3:00 AM ET
inShare
1More Print Email
The Guggenheim Foundation proposed establishing a fourth European museum in the Helsinki harbor to help the Nordic city increase tourism and strengthen its image as a design and technology hub.
The museum on the site of a former ship terminal could be opened in 2018, the City of Helsinki said today in a report. The city and the New York-based foundation still must decide whether to proceed with the project.
Helsinki is competing with other medium-sized cities around Europe for tourism as well as for investments in creative, fast- growth businesses such as software. The New York Times last week placed Finland’s biggest city second after Panama on its list of places to go this year, citing its position as World Design Capital 2012 and the Music Center that opened last year.
“The Guggenheim Helsinki would have a stronger focus on architecture and design than other Guggenheim affiliates,” according to the report.
The 140 million-euro ($179 million) Helsinki museum project is “largely conceived as a non-collecting institution” that would host traveling exhibitions of contemporary art, including shows from Russian museums. The museum would serve as a “center of gravity” for the city’s other museums and a “town green” for social events, offering extended opening hours and free public access to some areas.
New Visitors
Attendance is estimated at about half a million people per year, including 45 percent foreign visitors and 65,000 new visitors to the city, according to the midrange scenario in the report. The project was conceived as an idea a year ago.
The Guggenheim Bilbao museum in Spain, designed by Frank Gehry, has attracted more than 10 million visitors since it was first opened in 1997. The Bilbao museum will have right of approval of the Helsinki museum. The foundation also operates museums in New York, Berlin, Venice and Abu Dhabi.
“Helsinki now has an incredible possibility that we should embrace,” Mayor Jussi Pajunen said in a statement. “The Guggenheim Museum would be a distinct place in Finland’s cultural landscape.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki at dbenaaron1@bloomberg.net
Q
By Diana ben-Aaron - Jan 10, 2012 3:00 AM ET
inShare
1More Print Email
The Guggenheim Foundation proposed establishing a fourth European museum in the Helsinki harbor to help the Nordic city increase tourism and strengthen its image as a design and technology hub.
The museum on the site of a former ship terminal could be opened in 2018, the City of Helsinki said today in a report. The city and the New York-based foundation still must decide whether to proceed with the project.
Helsinki is competing with other medium-sized cities around Europe for tourism as well as for investments in creative, fast- growth businesses such as software. The New York Times last week placed Finland’s biggest city second after Panama on its list of places to go this year, citing its position as World Design Capital 2012 and the Music Center that opened last year.
“The Guggenheim Helsinki would have a stronger focus on architecture and design than other Guggenheim affiliates,” according to the report.
The 140 million-euro ($179 million) Helsinki museum project is “largely conceived as a non-collecting institution” that would host traveling exhibitions of contemporary art, including shows from Russian museums. The museum would serve as a “center of gravity” for the city’s other museums and a “town green” for social events, offering extended opening hours and free public access to some areas.
New Visitors
Attendance is estimated at about half a million people per year, including 45 percent foreign visitors and 65,000 new visitors to the city, according to the midrange scenario in the report. The project was conceived as an idea a year ago.
The Guggenheim Bilbao museum in Spain, designed by Frank Gehry, has attracted more than 10 million visitors since it was first opened in 1997. The Bilbao museum will have right of approval of the Helsinki museum. The foundation also operates museums in New York, Berlin, Venice and Abu Dhabi.
“Helsinki now has an incredible possibility that we should embrace,” Mayor Jussi Pajunen said in a statement. “The Guggenheim Museum would be a distinct place in Finland’s cultural landscape.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki at dbenaaron1@bloomberg.net
