Luxembourg goes contemporary

The Musee d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, a.k.a. Mudam, opened July 1 in Luxembourg, capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, under the directorship of Marie-Claude Beaud, former head of the Fondation Cartier (1984-94) and the American Center (1994-96), both in Paris. The 97,000-square-foot structure, designed by I.M. Pei, sits near the Place de l'Europe, a site associated with the country's new commercial and cultural development impetus. Shaped at its base like an arrowhead, the three-level building anchors a park laid out by Parisian landscape architect Michel Desvigne. The entire complex is situated on a hill just above the city's historic section and adjacent to the excavated foundation of Fort Thungen, constructed in 1832 using a 1688 plan by Louis XIV's esteemed military engineer, Marshal Vauban.

Mudam was conceived during Luxembourg's economic boom of the late 1980s under prime minister Jacques Santer, who is now president of the museum's board of directors. Enabling legislation was passed in 1997. Pei originally proposed building directly atop the remnants of the fort (today a museum in its own right) but altered his design in response to preservationist pressures. The military facility, recently designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, was named after the Austrian baron who commanded the outpost until it was razed in 1867, when Luxembourg became a neutral territory under the Treaty of London.

Pei's concrete structure--characterized by eccentric angles, glass-and-metal light wells, hardwood floors and limestone facing--encompasses roughly 51,000 square feet of exhibition space, plus an auditorium, a museum shop and a cafe. Over the past 10 years, the museum, which commemorates the 1964-2000 reign of its namesake, has collected works by some 120 contemporary artists, including Tony Cragg, Marina Abramovic, Shirin Neshat, Thomas Ruff, Cy Twombly, Katharina Sieverding, Thomas Struth, Kimsooja, Andreas Gursky, Fabrice Hybert, Gunther Forg, Steve McQueen and Wolfgang Tillmans. A pre-opening exhibition program called "Be My Guest" has for more than five years enabled artists to mount work in a wide variety of public spaces. The inaugural exhibition, "Eldorado" [through Nov. 20], features pieces by over 90 artists, such as James Coleman, Wim Delvoye, Cai Guo-Qiang, Pipilotti Rist and Nari Ward. In 2007, the city of Luxembourg (along with Sibiu, Romania) will hold the title of Cultural Capital of Europe.

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