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THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO: CULTURAL TOURISM, URBAN RENEWAL, AND POLITICAL RISK by John Thomas Suau submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of American University in Partial Fulfillment o f The Requirement for the Degree o f Master o f Arts m Arts Management, Interdisciplinary lie VaiLFossiVanFossen StorrAnnie Robert Goler CUL&UU^S Laura Gomez Dean^jf CAS Date 1999 American University Washington, D.C. 20016 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1397556 ___ ® UMI UMI Microform 1397556 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To my family, Elio and Elaine Suau, Darius Suziedelis, George and Theo Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO: CULTURAL TOURISM, URBAN RENEWAL, AND POLITICAL RISK BY John Thomas Suau ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the long-term feasibility of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. It examines the extent to which the feasibility study, conducted by the city planners of Bilbao, Spain and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation administration of New York City, addressed the potential political risks of the region. It questions the implications those risks may have on the long-term economic sustainability and tourism potential of the project. A history of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, an concise outline of the Basque culture, and an outline of the history of the city of Bilbao assist in the analysis of the project’s success. By contrasting these components with a personal interview of the director of the New York museum, the thesis challenges the notion of tourism in an area ridden with terrorism and addresses the necessity of continued negotiations between local and global cultures inherent in a project of this kind. 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, as will become apparent in this thesis, has been a frequent topic in the past five years for Journalists worldwide. In just the last three months of 1997, hundreds of articles were written in every language about the newest “star” in the Guggenheim constellation - the Museoa Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain. Just five years in the making, Frank Gehry’s museum is an architectural model for streamlining the building process by completing the project in record time, as compared to Los Angeles’ Disney theatre, by the same architect. It is also the focal point for city planners interested in rejuvenating economically failing urban areas through cultural tourism. Unique to this project, however, is the direct challenge to terrorism by the Basque government with major public expenditures in culture and tourism. Even more crucial to the Basques’ success, however, is the press coverage of their homeland for something other than terrorism. Having lived in Madrid, Spain duringLa Movida, the “Golden Age” o f the Socialists years, I worked for a young art dealer, a cultural monthly magazine El Europeo and eventually for EXPO’92 in Seville. When the economic boom bottomed out in 1992, my tenure in Spain came to a gradual end. By the mid-90’s, I began to make plans to pursue graduate studies in arts administration in Washington, D.C. My knowledge of the iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. During my studies at American University, I had the pleasure of visiting the museum on three occasions. Thanks to American University’s graduate scholarships for thesis research, I was able to afford a trip in March of 1997. I toured the building just six months prior to its inauguration. On that trip to the Basque Country, I had the opportunity to interview Nerea Abasolo, Public Affairs Director for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Before that visit, I had serious doubts about the feasibility of the project. During my six years in Spain, I never had the occasion to visit Bilbao. It was not a city that figured prominently on the cultural tourism map of Iberia. When I saw the structure, even before it opened, I was overwhelmed with a sense of hope that architecture could still impact an entire region’s image, much like the Sydney Opera house had done for Australia. I only hoped the project could survive the violence of Basque separatists and the other political risks that I foresaw. My second time in Bilbao was for a one-day visit. I was called to interview for a position in the Corporate Membership offices of the new museum. The museum, I later learned, received over 60,000 applications - a sign of the seriousness of unemployment in the region. I was honored to have been chosen for an interview to work in the monumental structure. When I arrived in Madrid two days before my interview with the Guggenheim in Bilbao, I found Joseba Zulaika’s book Cronica de una Seduccion in which he describes in detail his interviews with the Basques and Americans responsible for the project. He outlines their relationship and interactions with Thomas Krens, the New York museum’s director and the visionary behind the project. It was then that my perspective about the project was altered. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. My last visit to the museum was at the opening on October 19, 1998. I went as a U.S. journalist for a professional publication and as interpreter for a group of thirty African-American children from the “Children of the Gospel Choir,” a group based in Washington, D.C. Coincidentally, they had been hired by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to perform at the inauguration of the museum. On the eve before departing for Spain, my worst fears became a reality. A terrorist attempt was uncovered, bombs were found on the grounds of the museum and anErxtaina, a local Basque policeman, was killed in a shootout. While nervous about the political turmoil and traveling to the region with thirty children and ten adults with little understanding of the Basque problem, I was relieved that the attempt had been discovered before our arrival. It was on this trip to Bilbao that I was able to first interview Thomas Krens among all the other reporters in the city to cover the event. The events leading up to the opening of the museum were the final turning points for my thesis. My most rewarding exchange with Thomas Krens did not take place until eight months after the opening of the Spanish museum in his office on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Mr. Krens, in a two-hour conversation about the project, gave me the insight to begin writing. V Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The fact that my thesis is about this particular subject is, as are most oflife’s events, based upon a combination of conscious decisions and odd circumstances, the influence of external forces and the discovery of new friends and teachers, whom I would like to acknowledge here. They each know their role in my life; my unending thanks are extended to each and every one of them. In Spain, I would like to thank Nerea Abasolo for taking me inside the Guggenheim Bilbao before it was finished. Thanks to my dear friend and art teacher, Mar Estrada and her “peque” Laura. To my professional mentor, Javier Aiguabeila, thank you for giving me work. To my friends Hector Garrigos, Ignacio Merino, Yolanda Garcia Serrano, Julia Altares, Nicolas Murga and my entire family of friends and museum professionals who welcomed me during my six years in Spain. I owe my most sincere gratitude for their hospitality and warmth. To Enrique Dorado Villalobos, a Basque friend who risked his life and showed me San Sebastian for the first time, may God be with you wherever you are. In the United States, for their willingness to open their doors my thanks to Thomas Krens, Director; Scott Gutterman, Director of Public Affairs; and Paul Pincus, Director of International Planning Operations, of The Solomon R.