ACTIVITY REPORT 2020 ACTIVITY REPORT 2020 PRESENTATION 4 ART PROGRAM 8 EDUCATION 14 VISITORS 23 COMMUNITY 25 CORPORATE MEMBERS 28 PRESS 32 DIGITAL METRICS 35 STORE/BOOKSTORE 36 PUBLICATIONS 37 SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT MODEL 38 STRATEGIC PLAN 39 ECONOMIC IMPACT 42 VISITS 44 GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO FOUNDATION 46 program, in addition to the utmost safety for our visitors, We took advantage of this complex period to reaffirm with our COVID-19 action protocol receiving certification some of the values that define our work, such as from AENOR, the first museum in Spain to achieve responsibility and commitment to society and the new this. Thus, the Museum welcomed 315,908 visitors, generations, and particularly others such as anticipating PRESENTATION while our online activities, which have multiplied since the future, the capacity for adaptation, and flexibility, the lockdown in spring with such intriguing initiatives as which have been so crucial at times of change and have #GuggenheimBilbaoLive, #CuentaAtrásKandinsky, and magnified our vocation as a proactive agent in the #GuggenheimBilbaoInsights, have been followed by community in the present and future. The increasingly thousands of people all over the world, as attested to by youthfulness of our audience, the increase in the number the digital metrics included in this report. of people following us on the social media (636,210 followers on Instagram, 372,655 on Twitter, and 336,145 on The Museum kicked off last year, in 2020, with the of uncertainty and pain, we revisited to one of the keys In 2020, we made a huge effort to maintain the number Facebook) and high participation in all our digital activities highest hopes, in line with the high expectations we of our mission: opening up new perspectives for people and quality of artistic activities, adapting to the ever- attest to the fact that the Museum is adapting to the have sowed as a result of our evolution in recent years. through art and its values. And we have found that art changing reality thanks to the extraordinarily good times. Our educational mission is another aspect we have However, the international health emergency declared and culture are essential to society’s emotional recovery, relations we have forged with the international institutions gradually augmented; in 2020, 44,674 people participated in March and the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to an helping those who come to the Museum to seek refuge with which we have been partnering. We managed to in the educational activities held, and 217,139 visited the overall lockdown, forcing the Museum to close for eleven in our exhibitions or activities to find that connection extend the dates of the shows we had just opened before didactic spaces that complement the exhibitions. The weeks and signaling the start of a series of restrictive and sense of belonging that art enables us to restore. the Museum’s temporary closure (dedicated to Olafur changes brought about by these unusual circumstances measures that were in place, to a greater or lesser extent, Having been able to meet these expectations has led Eliasson, Richard Artschwager, and Lygia Clark), and include the provenance of the people on the Museum throughout the year, heavily conditioning the activities us to grow and has been a true test of the Museum’s unveiled two new exhibitions in the fall: Lee Krasner. website, as in 2020 the majority of visitors were from and figures from 2020. maturity. We have given our best and strived more than Living Color, the most important show on this American Spain (61%) as opposed to abroad, inverting the usual ever, keeping buoyant spirits and a positive attitude to Abstract Expressionist artist held in Europe in the past trend. People from the Basque Country accounted However, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao interpreted try to generate empathy, trust, and hope in the society half-century, and Kandinsky, which encompassed all for 30%, and among them there was a 50% increase in what we have experienced as an exercise in learning to which we belong and to which we owe our existence. the creative stages of one of the founding painters visitors from Biscay, our region. Likewise, we are proud and overcoming, in flexibility and resilience. During our Despite the difficulties, after the Museum reopened and theoreticians of 20th-century art as part of our and excited that the Community coalescing around the historical experience of a global pandemic, in the midst on June 1, we managed to retain an outstanding art agreement with the Guggenheim Foundation. Museum, art, and culture is continuing to grow and now 4 5 encompasses 67,000 people, including Members and flourish during the period of greatest upheaval that the Followers. We appreciate their encouragement perhaps Museum has ever experienced. When drafting the new now more than ever, and we are especially grateful to the plan for 2021–2023, we have specified ten Strategic 114 Corporate Members that continued to support the Commitments which encompass our direct engagement: Museum at such a complex time. with our Collection; with inspiring, inclusive, high-quality programming; with education; with the social value of Finally, citing figures to summarize the impact that the art; with economic sustainability; with the environment; Museum operations have had on the economy our with the digital transformation; with the region; with environs in 2020, we can highlight that the economic innovation; and with outstanding governance. activity generated as a result of our activities was almost 110 million euros, which translates into a 97.4 million euro We at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao want to take contribution to the GDP, an additional 15 million euros in advantage of this opportunity to thank all the individuals income for the Basque Public Treasury, and the continued and groups whose support, participation, direct presence, employment of 2,068 individuals. or online attendance continue to help us promote art, in recognition of its essential role for humanity, even in With these figures, we are closing a year which also difficult times. marked the end of the 2018–2020 Strategic Plan having met our specific goals and objectives, and especially Juan Ignacio Vidarte having learned on-the-ground how to adapt and Director General Presentation 6 7 THE FOUNDATIONS ART PROGRAM OF TODAY’S ART TITLE: Lygia Clark. Painting as an Experimental Field, 1948–1958 DATES: March 6–October 25, 2020 GALLERIES: 305, 306, and 307 CURATOR: Geaninne Guimaraes NR OF WORKS: 83 NR OF VISITORS: 160,996 TITLE: Kandinsky DATES: November 20, 2020– May 23, 2021 GALLERIES: 305, 306, and 307 CURATOR: Megan Fontanella NR OF WORKS: 62 NR OF VISITORS: 42,489 (as of December 31) 9 TEMPORARY VIEWS OF EXHIBITIONS CONTEMPORARY ART TITLE: Richard Artschwager DATES: February 28–August 23, 2020 GALLERY: 105 CURATORS: Germano Celant and Manuel Cirauqui NR OF WORKS: 69 NR OF VISITORS: 115,216 TITLE: Lee Krasner. Living Color DATES: September 18, 2020– January 10, 2021 TITLE: Olafur Eliasson: In real life GALLERY: 105 DATES: February 14, 2020–April 11, 2021 CURATORS: Eleanor Nairne and Lucía Agirre GALLERIES: second floor NR OF WORKS: 62 CURATORS: Mark Godfrey and Lucía Agirre NR OF VISITORS: 86,726 NR OF WORKS: 34 (as of December 31) NR OF VISITORS: 251,943 (as of December 31) Art Program 10 11 VIEWS OF CONTEMPORARY ART: FILM & VIDEO TITLE: William Kentridge: 7 Fragments DATES: March 12, 2020–February 7, 2021 GALLERY: 103 CURATOR: Manuel Cirauqui NR OF WORKS: 3 NR OF VISITORS: 198,807 (as of December 31) PROJECTS Starting on December 3, the Museum presented José Manuel Ballester [2020/03/15], featuring a number of photographs taken in Bilbao by the artist in April during the lockdown, accompanied by the image About the Guernica that is part of his Hidden Spaces series. Until December 31, the project was seen by 35,512 people. Collaborators: Estudios Durero, LIN3S, and Giroa-Veolia Art Program 12 13 Finally, the use of digital tools increased significantly in audiences who were not able to come physically to the the past months. This helped expand the reach of the Museum due to the limitations in capacy or restrictions Museum’s educational programs normally targeted at to mobility. All this has facilitated the internationalization schoolchildren and families. Thanks to these digitally- of the educational project of the Guggenheim Museum EDUCATION driven activities, it was possible to reach all kinds of Bilbao initiated in 2019. EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES DIDAKTIKA This unique initiative, unmatched by any other Despite the difficulties and restrictions generated by the The Museum also organized the 6th edition of contemporary art Museum, is designed to help visitors pandemic, in 2020 the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao the Basque students program at the Solomon R. plan and prepare their time at the Museum and view the managed to organize a diverse educational and cultural Guggenheim Museum in New York. Implemented Art Program from multiple, enriching perspectives. Set program, with courses, talks, workshops, and lectures, as in virtual format this year, it provided opportunities up in special areas separate from the galleries, as part of well as activities connected to the performing arts and to devise new learning and teaching formulas in the the program Connect with Art. living arts in general. Additionally, online materials and museum education sphere. Among the projects tools were designed to facilitate access to shared learning organized jointly by the Guggenheim Museums in New of contents and experiences. York, Venice, Bilbao were the 6th International Encounter Drawing the Guggenheim, and the new online project Beneficiaries 2020 Among the most noteworthy points is the launch of the Guggenheim Together, which also included Abu Dhabi, Educational areas 217,139 innovative digital initiative The Museum and Families and was meant to reinforce connection and creativity with BBK, conceived as an online alternative to the on through the respective museums’ art collections in site children’s programs during lockdown and afterwards.