Guggenheim Helsinki Plan

Following the 2011 proposal of a plan by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for a museum next to South Harbour, Helsinki, a debate was waged among local political and culture activists.

[3] In 2013, Finland's Parliamentary Ombudsman issued a report concluding that Finnish investor and art collector Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth, a member of the Board of Directors of the Guggenheim Foundation, and Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén, director of the Helsinki City Art Museum and a chief exponent of the Guggenheim plan, had conflicts of interest involving the plan and each other.

[4] The competition, which was organised by London-based specialists Malcolm Reading Consultants, drew a record 1,715 submissions, and six finalists were announced.

"[9] Berndt Arell, Director of the National Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, supported the project and participated in the steering committee of the evaluation.

[11] Paavo Arhinmäki, Finland’s Minister for Culture and Sport, and a member of the Helsinki city council, doubted the estimate.

[10] In May 2012, the city council rejected the plan in a narrow vote of 8 against 7,[3] citing the costs of the project, including the Guggenheim's licensing fee of 23.4 million euros, that would have been borne by Helsinki.

[1][2] In May 2013, Finland's Parliamentary Ombudsman issued a report concerning conflicts of interest affecting Sirén and Finnish investor and art collector Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth, who has been a member of the Guggenheim Foundation board since 2008.

Sirén helped to coordinate both the presentation of the feasibility study on the project and the Guggenheim Foundation's proposal to the City of Helsinki, and he advocated for the museum's plan.

[16][17] The report found Sirén's impartiality with respect to the project compromised and stated that he should have recused himself from participating in the proposal.

[16] In September 2013, the Guggenheim Foundation advanced a revised proposal under which the museum would focus on Nordic and international architecture and design in the context of other forms of modern and contemporary art.

Journalist Lee Rosenbaum called the new estimates, again prepared with the assistance of Boston Consulting Group, "speculative at best".

[20] In January 2014, the city council agreed to reserve a site for the potential museum at Eteläsatama (on the other side of the bay from the earlier planned location, and nearer to the city center), and the Guggenheim Foundation was permitted to hold an international architecture competition to design the potential museum, though no decision was then made about whether to proceed with the project.

[4] One of the factors cited for considering the new plan was the Guggenheim Foundation's pledge to arrange private funds to pay the licensing fee.

It "comprises [a fragmented, non-hierarchical, horizontal campus] of darkly clad pavilions with concave roofs ... linked by a series of garden patios.

Osku Pajamäki, vice chairman of the city’s executive board, said: "The symbol of the lighthouse is arrogant in the middle of the historical center ... [like] a Guggenheim museum next to Notre Dame in Paris.

Satu Nurmio, a reporter from Yle, concluded that the main reasons for the rejection of the plan were that "the low level of funding pledged by the private sector was an indication that donors did not see it as a viable investment.

[31] Jorma Bergholm, a member of the Helsinki City Council, believed that the figures estimated for construction of the museum were 150 million euros too low, overestimated its revenue-earning capacity by 50% and ignored some ongoing expenses.

[38] Another deputy mayor, Tuula Haatainen, said: "By giving artists, designers and architects access to major international networks, and by promoting new types of conversations of the arts, a Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki would offer global exposure and unprecedented opportunities to practitioners in the field of visual culture in Finland as well as in the Baltic and Nordic regions in general.

[41] In 2013, Defence Minister Carl Haglund told public broadcaster YLE that he welcomed the Guggenheim's continued interest in the project.

Mayor Pajunen continued his support for the museum, saying that it would "greatly increase tourist interest and strengthen Helsinki as a cultural city.

As the architectural competition heated up, critics called the proposed museum "a misguided vanity project, and a symbol of the Finnish capital selling out to an American brand", and a group of independent arts organisations launched a rival competition to "attract innovative ideas about how to more fully meet the city’s cultural, spatial and sustainability needs.