City of Helsinki receives the concept and development study for a potential Guggenheim museum in Helsinki | World Design Capital Helsinki 2012

A new Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki would make a distinct contribution to Finland’s cultural landscape, according to the concept and development study that representatives of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation delivered officially on Tuesday morning, January 10, to Mayor Jussi Pajunen. The study was commissioned by the City of Helsinki a year ago to explore the possibility of creating a new Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki.

The report by the Guggenheim study team proposes that a museum would be built on a City-owned site along the South Harbor waterfront, where the Kanava Terminal Building currently stands. The total area of the museum would be approximately 12,000 square meters (129,000 square feet), with 3,920 square meters (42,000 square feet) devoted to exhibition galleries.

The estimated construction costs of the building and its design would be approximately €140 million. The mid-range estimated attendance for a museum is 500,000 – 550,000 visits per year, of which approximately 300,000 visits would be by Finnish residents. Helsinki anticipates funding the project through a combination of public, private, and corporate sources.

The study finds that international exhibitions and programs of a new museum likely would not overlap with those of existing Helsinki institutions. Moreover, a new museum would give the city a signature space that symbolizes Helsinki’s aspirations to be a cultural capital. According to the study, a museum would powerfully contribute to the Finnish arts community by acting as an artistic center that convenes and collaborates with Helsinki’s other institutions and that draws greater global attention to Helsinki’s cultural contributions. Moreover, a museum would be likely to increase cultural tourism and so would have the potential to increase overall attendance at other Helsinki arts institutions.
The study recommends that a Guggenheim Helsinki be largely a non-collecting institution. It would incorporate some conventional elements of an art museum while pushing the boundaries of process, presentation, and audience engagement. The museum potentially would present two to three major and three to five smaller exhibitions each year, supplemented by short-term non-traditional programs and an innovative education program.
The study also recommends that a new museum absorb some of the functions currently performed by the Helsinki Art Museum. The collections and public art functions of the Helsinki Art Museum would be continued and further developed under the auspices of a division of the City of Helsinki dedicated to this purpose. The exhibitions and education functions now performed by the Helsinki Art Museum would be developed as part of the mission and operations of the proposed Guggenheim Helsinki.
“Helsinki now has an incredible possibility that we should embrace,” stated Jussi Pajunen, the Mayor of Helsinki.
“The study’s calculations clearly state that investment in the proposed Guggenheim would also be worthwhile economically. The long-term effects will benefit both the City of Helsinki and Finland as a whole,” stated Pajunen.
“By giving artists, designers and architects access to major international networks, and by promoting new types of conversations of the arts, a Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki would offer global exposure and unprecedented opportunities to practitioners in the field of visual culture in Finland as well as in the Baltic and Nordic regions in general," said Tuula Haatainen, Helsinki's Deputy Mayor (Education, Culture and Personnel Affairs.
“One of the rewards of this study will be a closer ongoing relationship between the staff of the Guggenheim and the cultural community of Helsinki”, stated Ari Wiseman, Deputy Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
No decisions have been made regarding the proposal that is set forth in the study. The City Board and the City Council of Helsinki will review the recommendations of the study over the next weeks, in a public process that will extend at least into February 2012. The City of Helsinki will then decide whether to move to the next phase of the project. At that time, the Board of the Guggenheim Foundation, in consultation with representatives of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, will also formally decide whether to endorse moving ahead.

Source: City of Helsinki