Mayor Pajunen certain of arrival of Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki

Museum is estimated to cost EUR 100 to 200 million; Helsinki is looking for sponsors

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The famous Guggenheim Foundation would like to see its next arts museum to be built in Helsinki, while also Helsinki’s decision-makers would welcome a Guggenheim Museum in the Finnish capital, believing that the project will go ahead.
      ”Yes, it will be set up in Helsinki in 2018”, believes Mayor Jussi Pajunen.
      ”I could bet money that Helsinki will get a Guggenheim around 2017”, says Hannu Penttilä, Deputy Mayor for City of Helsinki Real Estate and City Planning.
      Helsingin Sanomat asked even some other important decision-makers, who all said that they were confident of the arrival of the new museum. Only the Deputy Chairman of the Helsinki City Board, Arto Bryggare (SDP), refused to bet anything.
      ”First figures, then comments”, he says bluntly.
     
The Guggenheim Foudation’s Deputy Director Ari Wiseman confirmed in yesterday’s issue of Helsingin Sanomat that the foundation is inclined to choose Helsinki as the next city with a Guggenheim.
      ”We understand the benefits offered by Katajanokka”, Wiseman noted.
      Mayor Pajunen is not willing to name any favourite location.
      ”The crucial question is the opening of a Guggenheim museum in Helsinki in the first place; I am open to all optional locations”, Pajunen said.
      Other pivotal decision-makers are openly waving the flag for Katajanokka, but even the Töölönlahti Bay area has been mentioned as an alternative.
      ”Katajanokka is a good place if the architecture of the new museum is sensible”, says Osmo Soininvaara (Green League), the Deputy Chairman of Helsinki’s City Planning Committee.
      ”The museum’s architecture could be impressive but not gaudy. The glossy cross-shaped hotel would have been too showy”, Soininvaara says, referring to the design hotel project on the waterfront of Katajanokka that was rejected by the City Council last year.
     
The funding of the new museum will be subject to the toughest wrangling. The building costs could amount to EUR 100 to 200 million, and this excludes normal operating costs.
      ”The price is rather high. It could mean bad news for many other culture projects, including the capital’s new Central Library. It is possible to carry out such a wow project only once in a decade”, Penttilä argues.
      However, Pajunen does not regard the Central Library and the museum as deadly rivals.
      ”The Guggenheim Museum is a separate project, and the Central Library is another. They will both proceed”, Pajunen notes.
      When it comes to funding, it would nevertheless be good to find some sponsors. This is an issue that all Helsinki’s decision-makers agree upon.
      Pajunen names as alternative sponsors for example the government and private financiers.
      ”We would also like to discuss the issue with other cities, including Espoo and Vantaa”, Pajunen notes.
      Osku Pajamäki (SDP), a member in the Helsinki City Board, says that such partnerships will be essential.
      ”The City of Helsinki would not be able to pay for it alone. Such a proposal would simply not be passed at the City Council”, Pajamäki argues.
     
Pajunen points out that this is not a question of a museum alone, as the project would benefit the entire area, with various indirect knock-on effects.
     
     
We will also be carrying a weekly article on the subject of the Guggenheim in Tuesday's edition.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Guggenheim chooses Helsinki over Taipei, Rio, and Guadalajara (19.1.2011)
  Helsinki could get its own Guggenheim (18.1.2011)

See also:
  Helsinki City Council rejects Katajanokka hotel project at heated meeting (8.4.2010)
  COMMENTARY: Big Bad G is coming to town (25.1.2011)

Links:
  Guggenheim Foundation

Helsingin Sanomat