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# Locals Remain Lukewarm on Guggenheim's Helsinki Grab
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/locals-remain-lukewarm-on-guggenheims-helsinki-grab/
- Published: 2014-07-15T22:30:17.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:16:48.000Z
- Description: An extensive report in the New York Times today dives into the Guggenheim's longstanding bid for a franchise in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, detailing the rocky reception to the project since it was first proposed in 2011.
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, Guggenheim Helsinki, Guggenheim Museum, Richard Armstrong, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![Screen Shot 2014-07-15 at 3.02.03 PM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/screen-shot-2014-07-15-at-3-02-03-pm.png)

Guggenheim Helsinki site context map (image via Guggenheim Helsinki proposal)

An extensive [report](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/arts/design/helsinki-divided-on-plan-for-a-guggenheim-satellite.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the *New York Times* todaydives into the Guggenheim’s longstanding bid for a franchise in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, detailing the rocky reception to the project since it was [first proposed](http://www.guggenheim.org/guggenheim-foundation/news/3913-helsinki-explores-possible-guggenheim-museum-in-finland?ref=hyperallergic.com) in 2011.

Though initially rejected in 2012, a revised 2013 proposal by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation set the cost for the Helsinki institution at an estimated $177 million, and has pitted the city’s “pro-business supporters seeking the wealth and attention that comes with an international brand” against “Social Democrats and other left-of-center party members who are skeptical about shouldering the costs,” the *Times* writes.

The New York–based Guggenheim nonprofit, which claims in the article to receive “a dozen” franchise requests annually from municipalities worldwide, once intended to charge the Finns a $30 million licensing fee. The *Times* notes that this fee was the basis for [a vote against the project](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06EFD9153BF930A35756C0A9649D8B63&ref=hyperallergic.com) by the Helsinki city council in 2012, but the body reconsidered its verdict upon receipt of an updated proposal, “[reserving](http://www.hel.fi/www/helsinki/en/culture/culture/exhibitions/guggenheim-study-2014?ref=hyperallergic.com)” the possible development site, pictured above, in January 2014.

To avoid the criticism associated with a use of public funds to license the name, the Guggenheim’s current proposal seeks to form a private partnership to accept funds for the licensing fee from donors; it is unclear in the *Times* article what the new licensing fee is. The Louvre [charged](http://www.spiegel.de/international/art-in-the-desert-louvre-abu-dhabi-gets-green-light-a-470356.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) the government of Abu Dhabi €400 million ($520 million in 2007) for the use of its brand: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The Guggenheim launched a [design competition](http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/news/5915-guggenheim-issues-call-for-entries-in-competition-for-proposed-helsinki-museum?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the Helsinki branch in June, and the entries will be considered by an 11-member jury later this year. The *Times* article notes that the local press has been less than forgiving of the Guggenheim’s Richard Armstrong’s overtures, with a [video](http://yle.fi/uutiset/guggenheim%5Fboss%5Fwalks%5Fout%5Fof%5Fyle%5Finterview/7278243?ref=hyperallergic.com) of his snap at a Finnish reporter in June “spread\[ing\] widely on the Internet, provoking accusations of arrogance.” The *Times* continues:

> “I was jet-lagged — I’m human,” Mr. Armstrong said later in a telephone interview. Today, though, he still shies away from discussing alternatives to Finnish funding: “That’s a wife-beater question, so I am not going to answer,” he said, adding: “We all have conditional situations that can develop in the future. I’m not sure how productive it is to be paralyzed by those fears.”

But such fears are hardly unrealistic. A majority of citizens objected to the plan in newspaper polls in 2012, per the *Times*, and the city already contains [an independent art museum](http://www.hel.fi/hki/taimu/en/home?ref=hyperallergic.com). Furthermore, most completed Guggenheim satellite projects have shuttered: of the [Guggenheim Las Vegas](http://www.guggenheim.org/guggenheim-foundation/history/guggenheim-hermitage-museum-and-guggenheim-las-vegas?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Guggenheim Hermitage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim%5FHermitage%5FMuseum?ref=hyperallergic.com) (also in Las Vegas), [Guggenheim Soho](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim%5FMuseum%5FSoHo?ref=hyperallergic.com), [Deutsche Guggenheim](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche%5FGuggenheim?ref=hyperallergic.com), and [Guggenheim Bilbao](http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/en/?ref=hyperallergic.com), only the last remains; a Giuliani-approved, Frank Gehry–designed plan for a downtown [Guggenheim on the East River](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/29/nyregion/guggenheim-on-east-river-is-years-away.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) was also [abandoned by the museum in 2002](http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/31/arts/guggenheim-drops-plans-for-elaborate-new-museum-on-east-river.html?ref=hyperallergic.com).