Guggenheim's road to Rio - Front Page - Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in Rio de Janeiro

Art in America, March, 2003 by Lee Rosenbaum

In late January, the trustees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation approved proceeding with plans for the proposed new Guggenheim branch in Rio de Janeiro, subject to review of the contract, which was still not finalized at this writing. According to Guggenheim spokesperson Betsy Ennis, "the financial terms are still in negotiation," including the amount to be paid by Rio for the Guggenheim's "brand." The Brazilian press has repeatedly put that amount at $20 million. But Thomas Krens, director of the financially ailing foundation, revealed previously, in a wide-ranging interview with this reporter [see A.i.A., Feb. '03], that he hoped for $40 million for the Guggenheim's imprimatur. Also still in discussion was the proposed fee for architect Jean Nouvel, said to be $10 million, according to an article in Rio's O Globo.

The local press also reported that about 40 individuals participated in a Jan. 29 demonstration against the project at Maua Pier, site of the proposed 240,000-square-foot museum. Critics, who say the museum's structure resembles a ship, have called it a "cultural Titanic" that would squander public funds. The project has an estimated price tag of $250 million, and an anticipated annual operating budget of $25 million, plus acquisitions expenses. In a Jan. 28 e-mail to Brazil's new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, several prominent Brazilian cultural and political figures decried the project as "huge, very expensive and of doubtful return." But Rio's mayor, Cesar Maia, endorses the project as a strong catalyst for urban renewal and an important part of the city's broader cultural agenda.

Meanwhile in Las Vegas, according to Ennis, the Guggenheim "is in the process of reviewing certain terms and provisions" with the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, which houses the Guggenheim Hermitage and the much larger, now dormant Guggenheim Las Vegas. Under negotiation, she said, is the amount of future rent to be paid by the Guggenheim Hermitage to the Venetian, which bankrolled both facilities' construction and start-up costs. A Jan. 21 article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal fueled rumors that the space may be converted into a theater, by reporting that "two leading contenders"--Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera and Jerry Herman's Miss Spectacular--are vying "to take over the Guggenheim Las Vegas." A.i.A. has learned that Lloyd Webber personally examined the space in January, accompanied by Robert Goldstein, the Venetian's president. But Ennis maintained that "the management of the Venetian and the Guggenheim remain committed to the original purpose of the space."