City of Helsinki receives the concept and development study for a potential Guggenheim museum in Helsinki

Report Proposes Location, Purpose, Financing and Governance of a Museum and Recommends Moving Forward with an Architectural Competition.

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.

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.

The new institution would help contextualize Finnish art, design, and architecture within the broader tradition of modern art while presenting Finnish audiences with artworks from around the world. A Guggenheim Helsinki would have a stronger focus on architecture and design than other Guggenheim affiliates. As the newest affiliate, Helsinki would also be able to play a unique role in testing new approaches and technologies that could eventually benefit other members of the global network (and museums around the world) through Finland’s uniquely advanced technological networks and educated population.

Although the Guggenheim’s mission statement includes all “manifestations of visual culture” within its institutional mandate, architecture, and specifically design, have infrequently been featured in the Guggenheim’s programs and exhibitions. Precisely because of its historic connections to advanced painting and sculpture, the Guggenheim would offer new audiences in Helsinki access to the broad, transnational practices that characterize contemporary art. Just as Helsinki would in turn open doors to subjects and practices, and artists not well known to the Guggenheim, the Guggenheim would open doors for Helsinki to access the global art community.

“Helsinki now has an incredible possibility that we should embrace,” stated Jussi Pajunen, the Mayor of Helsinki. “As the study shows, a Guggenheim Museum would be a distinct place in Finland´s cultural landscape.”

The City of Helsinki hosted a Study Presentation Seminar at Finlandia Hall to review the results of the study before an invited audience of members of the Helsinki City Council and other elected officials, representatives of the state administration, key figures in the museum and cultural field in Finland and members of the media. Presentations were made by Ari Wiseman, Deputy Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and Juan Ignacio Vidarte, Deputy Director and Chief Officer for Global Strategies, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Mayor Jussi Pajunen, Deputy Mayor Tuula Haatainen; and Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén, Director of the Helsinki Art Museum. The Study Presentation Seminar was chaired by Pekka Timonen, Executive Director of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

“It is significant and natural that the museum proposed for Helsinki should focus on design and architecture, more so than the other Guggenheim Museums. It would further accentuate Helsinki's status as an important centre for design and architecture", says Pekka Timonen, Executive Director of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

More information in the City of Helsinki press release on the Guggenheim study.