Before an audience representing a cross-section of Helsinki’s cultural, civic, and business communities, leaders of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation shared a revised proposal for developing a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki. The purpose of the event was to inform the people of Helsinki and of Finland about the Guggenheim’s latest thinking about the project in order to inaugurate an extended period of public discussion and propose an architectural competition as the next step.
Richard Armstrong, Director of the Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, and Ari Wiseman, Deputy Director, led the presentation at the Media Centre Lume of Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture.
Armstrong stated, “We remain steadfastly committed to exploring the development of a new museum in Helsinki, with its rich legacy of art, design, and architecture. A city that bridges the East and the West, poised at the nexus of the Nordic and Baltic regions, Helsinki is the capital of a nation that honors education and culture as the foundation of its international success. Having revised our proposal after consultation with a range of stakeholders in Helsinki and in Finland, we look forward to the public forums that will now ensue, in the expectation that a full and frank discussion will help move this important project toward realization.”
It is the Guggenheim’s hope that the City Board will decide before the end of 2013 on a measure to allocate the proposed site for the purpose of the architectural competition. Following the conclusion of the competition and the public announcement of the winning design, a second decision on whether to proceed with the construction of the building and the pre-opening phase of the museum would be brought to the City of Helsinki and the Finnish State for consideration.