Displaying items by tag: proposal

City boosters in this Nordic capital dream of a Guggenheim museum of Finnish wood rising near the Baltic Sea and one day drawing millions of tourists and cruise passengers. But the huge costs of the proposed development are stirring a backlash here against an institution that is ordinarily accustomed to eager suitors.

The proposal for the city of Helsinki to team up with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York to build a museum here is splitting politicians into camps of pro-business supporters seeking the wealth and attention that comes with an international brand, and Social Democrats and other left-of-center party members who are skeptical about shouldering the costs of a 130 million euro ($177 million) development deal.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced plans this month to build a new wing spanning Wilshire Boulevard.

It also wants to build up — way up.

The museum is working on an ambitious proposal for a skyscraper near the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax Avenue, on land partly owned by LACMA across from its main campus.

Museum officials envision the tower, rising above a planned Metropolitan Transportation Authority subway station at Wilshire and Orange Grove Avenue, as having a hotel and condominiums. It would also contain LACMA galleries, including a new architecture and design wing and, potentially, architect Frank Gehry's archives.

Helsinki, Finland is expecting a second proposal for a Guggenheim museum after rejecting the first offer due to its high cost. Plans for a Guggenheim franchise in the Finnish capital were vetoed by the Helsinki city council in May of last year, despite having the support of the city’s mayor Jussi Pajunen. The original proposal speculated that the project would cost around $186 million to complete.

Helsinki’s deputy mayor Rita Viljanen told AFP that executives of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York have been talking with several Finnish representatives. Together with the foundation’s director, Richard Armstrong, they are trying to determine a way to improve the project plan while keeping costs down. A new proposal is expected to be submitted to the city by September 2013.

The Guggenheim’s proposition has been met with some opposition from The Greens, Finland’s Social Democratic Party, the Left Alliance and the populist Finns Party. Dissenters feel that the Guggenheim’s endeavor is motivated more by tourism than a true interest in the development of contemporary art in Finland.

The Guggenheim currently has museums in New York, Bilbao, Berlin, Venice, and another is under construction in Abu Dhabi.