1.
Bilbao
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Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 345,141 As of 2015, Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region. Bilbao is situated in the part of Spain, some 16 kilometres south of the Bay of Biscay, where the economic social development is located. Its main urban core is surrounded by two mountain ranges with an average elevation of 400 metres. This was due to its port activity based on the export of iron extracted from the Biscayan quarries, at the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities. The official name of the town is Bilbao, as known in most languages of the world, there is no consensus among historians about the origin of the name. Generally accepted accounts state that prior to the 12th century the independent rulers of the territory, the symbols of their patrimony are the tower and church used in the shield of Bilbao to this day. One possible origin was suggested by the engineer Evaristo de Churruca and he said that it was a Basque custom to name a place after its location. For Bilbao this would be the result of the union of the Basque words for river and cove, the historian José Tussel Gómez argues that it is just a natural evolution of the Spanish words bello vado, beautiful river crossing. On the other hand, according to the writer Esteban Calle Iturrino, the first, where the present Casco Viejo is located, would be called billa, which means stacking in Basque, after the configuration of the buildings. The second, on the bank, where now Bilbao La Vieja is located, would be called vaho. From the union of these two derives the name Bilbao, which was written as Bilvao and Biluao, as documented in its municipal charter. An -ao ending is present in nearby Sestao and Ugao. Titles Bilbao holds the historic category of borough, with the titles of «Very noble and very loyal and it was the Catholic Monarchs who awarded the title «Noble borough» on 20 September 1475. Philip III of Spain, via a letter in 1603 awarded the borough the titles of «Very noble, after the Siege of Bilbao, during the First Carlist War, on 25 December 1836, the title of «Unbeaten» was added. Remains of an ancient settlement were found on the top of Mount Malmasín, burial sites were also found on Mounts Avril and Artxanda, dated 6,000 years old. Some authors identify the old settlement of Bilbao as Amanun Portus, cited by Pliny the Elder, or with Flaviobriga, ancient walls, which date from around the 11th century, have been discovered below the Church of San Antón. On 21 June 1511, Queen Joanna of Castile ordered the creation of the Consulate of Bilbao and this would become the most influential institution of the borough for centuries, and would claim jurisdiction over the estuary, improving its infrastructure
2.
Art museum
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An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art. Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection, the term is used for both public galleries, which are non-profit or publicly owned museums that display selected collections of art. On the other hand, private galleries refers to the commercial enterprises for the sale of art, however, both types of gallery may host traveling exhibits or temporary exhibitions including art borrowed from elsewhere. In broad terms, in North American usage, the word gallery alone often implies a private gallery, the term contemporary art gallery refers usually to a privately owned for-profit commercial gallery. These galleries are found clustered together in large urban centers. Smaller cities are home to at least one gallery, but they may also be found in towns or villages. Contemporary art galleries are open to the general public without charge, however. They usually profit by taking a portion of art sales, from 25% to 50% is typical, there are also many non-profit or collective galleries. Some galleries in cities like Tokyo charge the artists a flat rate per day, curators often create group shows that say something about a certain theme, trend in art, or group of associated artists. Galleries sometimes choose to represent artists exclusively, giving them the opportunity to show regularly, a gallerys definition can also include the artist cooperative or artist-run space, which often operates as a space with a more democratic mission and selection process. A vanity gallery is an art gallery that charges fees from artists in order to show their work, the shows are not legitimately curated and will frequently or usually include as many artists as possible. Most art professionals are able to identify them on an artists resume, University art museums and galleries constitute collections of art that are developed, owned, and maintained by all kinds of schools, community colleges, colleges, and universities. This phenomenon exists in both the West and East, making it a global practice, although largely overlooked, there are over 700 university art museums in America alone. This number, in comparison to other kinds of art museums, throughout history, large and expensive works of art have generally been commissioned by religious institutions and monarchs and been displayed in temples, churches, and palaces. Although these collections of art were private, they were made available for viewing for a portion of the public. In classical times, religious institutions began to function as a form of art gallery. Wealthy Roman collectors of engraved gems and other precious objects often donated their collections to temples and it is unclear how easy it was in practice for the public to view these items. At the Palace of Versailles, entrance was restricted to wearing the proper apparel – the appropriate accessories could be hired from shops outside
3.
Euskotren Tranbia
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It began operations for the first time in Bilbao in 2002 and in Vitoria in 2008. It is one of the four commercial brands under which Basque Railways operates, the entire network, as the Euskotren Trena network, uses 1,000 mm narrow gauge rail tracks. Euskotren Tranbia operates the services, while Euskotren Trena operates the commuter rail networks, Euskotren Autobusa the bus services. In 2012 the commercial brand changed from Euskotran to Euskotren Tranbia with the word tranbia being Basque for tram, the first network, then named EuskoTran and later Euskotran started in Bilbao in 2002, after two years under construction, connecting the Bilbao-Atxuri Station with Uribitarte. The line was expanded to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the hospital of Basurto. The tramway of Vitoria-Gasteiz opened in 2008 and has a Y-shaped network, Euskotran Tranbia runs on a mixture of street track shared with other traffic, dedicated tracks and grass tracks. The stops of Bilbao-Atxuri Station, Ribera and Abando, all of them in Bilbao, do not have their own separate stop, except for Bilbao-Atxuri and Legibitzarra/Parlamento, the second one in the Vitoria network, all stops are unstaffed and rely on automated ticket machines. All the stations have displays and screens with the map, the current time and temperature. Due the low platforms, the access between them crossing the tracks by pedestrian level crossing. They are virtually level with the doors and are all wider than 2 m and this allows wheelchairs, prams, pushchairs and the elderly to board the tram easily with no steps. In street sections, the pavement is integrated with the tram stop, the Bilbao line has 14 stops, while the Vitoria one has 20. The Euskotren Tranbia networks serves the following stations, bilbaos tram uses both regular paper tickets than can be acquired in the automated machines in every stop, there are simple, daily and monthly tickets available. The ticket pricing is not based on zone-based rules, as theres a price for the whole network. The Creditrans is available in the whole network, in the future the smart electronic card Barik will be available for use as well. A simple ticket costs €1,40 or €0,70 as of 2012, vitorias tram uses both regular paper tickets and the electronic cards BAT, which also work for the TUVISA bus system. The TUVISA bus cards are also valid, the ticket pricing is not based on zone-based rules, as theres a unique price for the whole network. A simple ticket costs €1,25 or €0,66 as of 2012, Euskotren Tranbia operates with the Urbos series produced by the Basque company CAF. Each 25 m long tram can carry 192 people,50 of them seated, access to the trams is at platform level, making it easy for handicapped passengers to get on and off through the trams eight doors
4.
Museum
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Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
5.
Frank Gehry
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Frank Owen Gehry, CC is a Canadian-born American architect, residing in Los Angeles. A number of his buildings, including his private residence, have become world-renowned attractions and it was his private residence in Santa Monica, California, that jump-started his career. Gehry is also the designer of the future National Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, Gehry was born Frank Owen Goldberg on February 28,1929, in Toronto, Ontario, to parents Sadie Thelma and Irving Goldberg. His father was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian Jewish parents, a creative child, he was encouraged by his grandmother, with whom he would build little cities out of scraps of wood. With these scraps from her husbands store, she entertained him for hours, building imaginary houses. His use of corrugated steel, chain link fencing, unpainted plywood and he would spend time drawing with his father, while his mother introduced him to the world of art. So the creative genes were there, Gehry says, but my father thought I was a dreamer, I wasnt gonna amount to anything. It was my mother who thought I was just reticent to do things and he was given the Hebrew name Ephraim by his grandfather, but only used it at his bar mitzvah. In 1947, his family immigrated to the United States settling in California, Gehry got a job driving a delivery truck, and studied at Los Angeles City College, eventually to graduate from the University of Southern Californias School of Architecture. During that time, he became a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, according to Gehry, I was a truck driver in L. A. going to City College, and I tried radio announcing, which I wasnt very good at. I tried chemical engineering, which I wasnt very good at and didnt like and you know, somehow I just started wracking my brain about, What do I like. And I remembered art, that I loved going to museums and I loved looking at paintings and those things came from my mother, who took me to concerts and museums. I remembered Grandma and the blocks, and just on a hunch, Gehry graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from USC in 1954. After graduating from college, he spent time away from the field of architecture in other jobs. In the fall of 1956, he moved his family to Cambridge and he left before completing the program, disheartened and underwhelmed. Gehry returned to Los Angeles to work for Victor Gruen Associates, in 1957 he was given the chance to design and construct his first private residence at the age of 28, with friend and old classmate Greg Walsh. Built in Idyllwild, California for his wife Anita’s family neighbor Melvin David, The David Cabin, completed in 1958, beams protrude from the exterior sides and exposed, unfinished ceiling beams are prominent features. In 1961, he moved to Paris where he worked for architects Pereira, in 1962, Gehry established a practice in Los Angeles which became Frank Gehry and Associates in 1967 and then Gehry Partners in 2001
6.
Basque Country (autonomous community)
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The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, the Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community was granted the status of nationality within Spain, attributed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The term Basque Country may also refer to the cultural region, the home of the Basque people. The territory has three areas, which are defined by the two parallel ranges of the Basque Mountains. The main range of forms the watershed between the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins. The highest point of the range is in the Aizkorri massif, the three areas are, Formed by many valleys with short rivers that flow from the mountains to the Bay of Biscay, like the Nervión, Urola or Oria. The coast is rough, with cliffs and small inlets. The main features of the coast are the Bilbao Abra Bay and the Estuary of Bilbao, the Urdaibai estuary, between the two mountain ranges, the area is occupied mainly by a high plateau called Llanada Alavesa, where the capital Gasteiz is located. The rivers flow south from the mountains to the Ebro River, the main rivers are the Zadorra River and Bayas River. From the southern mountains to the Ebro is the so-called Rioja Alavesa, some of Spains production of Rioja wine takes place here. Precipitation average is about 1200 mm, the middle section is more influence by the continental climate, but with a varying degree of the northern oceanic climate. This gives warm, dry summers and cold, snowy winters, the Ebro valley has a pure continental climate, winters are cold and dry and summers very warm and dry, with precipitation peaking in spring and autumn. Precipitation is scarce and irregular, as low as 300 mm, almost half of the 2,155,546 inhabitants of the Basque Autonomous Community live in Greater Bilbao, Bilbaos metropolitan area. Of the ten most populous cities, six form part of Bilbaos conurbation, with 28. 2% of the Basque population born outside this region, immigration is crucial to Basque demographics. Over the 20th century most of this came from other parts of Spain, typically from Galicia or Castile. Over recent years, sizeable numbers of population have returned to their birthplaces and most immigration to the Basque country now comes from abroad. Roman Catholicism is, by far, the largest religion in Basque Country, bilbao-Bilbo Vitoria-Gasteiz San Sebastián-Donostia Barakaldo Getxo Irun Portugalete Santurtzi Basauri Errenteria Spanish and Basque are co-official in all territories of the autonomous community. The Basque-speaking areas in the autonomous community are set against the wider context of the Basque language, spoken to the east in Navarre
7.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
8.
Monarchy of Spain
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The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as the Crown, is a constitutional institution and historic office of Spain. It used to be called the Hispanic Monarchy. The monarchy comprises the monarch, his or her family. The Spanish monarchy is represented by King Felipe VI, his wife Queen Letizia, and their daughters Leonor, Princess of Asturias, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 reestablished a constitutional monarchy as the form of government for Spain. The 1978 constitution affirmed the role of the King of Spain as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish State, constitutionally, the king is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces. According to the constitution, the monarch is also instrumental in promoting relations with the nations of its historical community, the King of Spain serves as the president of the Ibero-American States Organization, purportedly representing over 700,000,000 people in twenty-four member nations worldwide. In 2008, Juan Carlos I was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America, a dynastic marriage between Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon united Spain in the 15th century. The last pretender of the Crown of the Byzantine Empire, Andreas Palaiologos, sold his title to Ferdinand II of Aragon. However, there is no evidence that any Spanish monarch has used the Byzantine imperial titles, the Spanish Empire became one of the first global powers as Isabella and Ferdinand funded Christopher Columbuss exploratory voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. This led to the discovery of America, which became the focus of Spanish colonization, in 2010, the budget for the Spanish monarchy was 7.4 million euros, one of the lowest public expenditures for the institution of monarchy in Europe. One of the earliest influential dynasties was the House of Jiménez which united much of Christian Iberia under its leadership in the 11th century. From Sancho III of Navarre until Urraca of León and Castile, the Jiménez rulers sought to bring their kingdoms into the European mainstream and often engaged in cross-Pyrenees alliances and marriages, and became patrons to Cluniac Reforms. Urracas son and heir Alfonso VII of León and Castile, the first of the Spanish branch of the Burgundy Family, was the last to claim the title of Spain. The Castilian Civil War ended with the death of King Peter at the hands of his illegitimate half-brother Henry, Henry II became the first of the House of Trastámara to rule over a Spanish kingdom. King Peters heiress, his granddaughter Catherine of Lancaster, married Henry III, reuniting the dynasties in the person of their son, each kingdom retained its basic structure. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs conquered the Kingdom of Granada in southern Spain and this date marks the unification of Spain. The territories of the Spanish empire overseas were dependencies of the crown of Castile, in the early 16th century, the Spanish monarchy controlled several territories in Europe under the Habsburg King Charles I, son of Queen Joanna of Castile. His reign ushered in the Spanish Golden Age a period of colonial expansion
9.
Juan Carlos I of Spain
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Juan Carlos I was King of Spain from 1975 until his abdication in 2014. Juan Carlos is the grandson of Alfonso XIII, the last king of Spain prior to the abolition in 1931. Juan Carlos was born in Rome, Italy, during his familys exile, Juan Carloss father, Don Juan, was the fourth child of Alfonso who had renounced his claims to the throne in January 1941. Don Juan was seen by Franco to be too liberal and in 1969, was bypassed in favour of Juan Carlos as Francos successor, Juan Carlos spent his early years in Italy and came to Spain in 1947 to continue his studies. After completing his education in 1955, he began his military training. Later, he attended the Naval Military School, the General Academy of the Air, in 1962, Juan Carlos married Princess Sophia of Greece in Athens, daughter of King Paul. The couple had two daughters and a son together, Elena, Cristina, and Felipe, due to Francos declining health, Juan Carlos first began periodically acting as Spains head of state in the summer of 1974. Expected to continue Francos legacy, soon after his accession, Juan Carlos, however, introduced reforms to dismantle the Francoist regime and this led to the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum, which re-established a constitutional monarchy. In 1981, Juan Carlos played a role in preventing a coup that attempted to revert Spain to Francoist government in the Kings name. In 2008, he was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America, in 2014, Juan Carlos, citing personal reasons, abdicated in favour of his son, who acceded the throne as Felipe VI. He was baptized as Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias and he was given the name Juan Carlos after his father and maternal grandfather, Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. His early life was dictated largely by the concerns of his father. He moved to Spain in 1948 to be educated there after his father persuaded Franco to allow it and he began his studies in San Sebastián and finished them in 1954 at the San Isidro Institute in Madrid. He then joined the army, doing his officer training from 1955 to 1957 at the Military Academy of Zaragoza, Juan Carlos has two sisters, Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, and Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria. He also had a brother, Alfonso. On the evening of Holy Thursday,29 March 1956, Juan Carloss younger brother Alfonso died in a gun accident at the familys home Villa Giralda in Estoril, Portugal. The accident took place at 20.30 hours, after the Infantes return from the Maundy Thursday religious service and it is alleged that Juan Carlos began playing with a gun that had apparently been given to Alfonso by General Franco. Rumors appeared in newspapers that the gun had actually held by Juan Carlos at the moment the shot was fired
10.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
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The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1937 by philanthropist Solomon R. Guggenheim and his long-time art advisor, artist Hilla von Rebay. The foundation is an institution for the collection, preservation. The first museum established by the foundation was The Museum of Non-Objective Painting and this became The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952, and the foundation moved the collection into its first permanent museum building, in New York City, in 1959. The foundation next opened the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy, the Foundation seeks, in its constituent museums, to unite distinguished architecture and artworks. The foundations first permanent museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, is housed in a spiral building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Both of these innovative designs received wide press and critical attention, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is housed in an 18th-century Italian palace, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, on the Grand Canal. The foundations collections have expanded greatly through eight decades and include every major movement of 20th- and its directors and curators have attempted to form a single collection that is not encyclopedic, but rather based on their unique visions. The collection has grown in scope to include new media and performance art, Solomon R. Guggenheim, a member of a wealthy mining family, began collecting works of the old masters in the 1890s. He retired from his business in 1919 to devote time to art collecting. In 1926, at age 66, he met artist Hilla von Rebay, Rebay introduced him to European avant-garde art, in particular abstract art that she felt had a spiritual and utopian aspect. Guggenheim completely changed his collecting strategy, in 1930, the two visited Wassily Kandinskys studio in Dessau, Germany, and Guggenheim began to purchase Kandinskys work. The same year, Guggenheim began to display the collection to the public at his apartment in the Plaza Hotel in New York City, in 1937, Guggenheim established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to foster the appreciation of modern art. The foundations first venue for the display of art was called the Museum of Non-Objective Painting and it opened in 1939 under the direction of Rebay, its first curator, in a former automobile showroom at East 54th Street in midtown Manhattan. This moved, in 1947, to another rented space at 1071 Fifth Avenue, by the early 1940s, the foundation had accumulated such a large collection of avant-garde paintings that the need for a permanent building to house the art collection had become apparent. In 1943, Guggenheim and Rebay commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design the museum building, Rebay conceived of the space as a temple of the spirit that would facilitate a new way of looking at the modern pieces in the collection. In 1948, the collection was expanded through the purchase of art dealer Karl Nierendorfs estate of some 730 objects. By that time, the collection included a broad spectrum of expressionist and surrealist works, including paintings by Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka. Guggenheim died in 1949, and the museum was renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952, the foundation expanded its display activities with a series of traveling exhibitions
11.
Contemporary architecture
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Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. Contemporary buildings are designed to be noticed and to astonish, Some feature concrete structures wrapped in glass or aluminum screens, very asymmetric facades, and cantilevered sections which hang over the street. Skyscrapers twist, or break into crystal-like facets, facades are designed to shimmer or change color at different times of day. Most of the landmarks of contemporary architecture are the works of a group of architects who work on an international scale. Some of the most striking and innovative works of architecture are art museums, which are often examples of sculptural architecture. The Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Its structure includes a movable, wing-like brise soleil that opens up for a wingspan of 217 feet during the day, folding over the tall and it also harmonizes with two stone churches opposite. Inside, the walls of the galleries are all different, sloping, Libeskind completed another striking museum, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, also known as The Crystal, a building whose form, resembles a shattered crystal. Libeskinds museums have been admired and attacked by critics. The De Young Museum in San Francisco was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and it opened in 2005, replacing an older structure that was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1989. The new museum was designed to blend with the landscape of the park. The building can move up to three feet on ball-bearing sliding plates and viscous fluid dampers that absorb kinetic energy, the Zentrum Paul Klee by Renzo Piano is an art museum near Berne Switzerland located next to an autoroute in the Swiss countryside. The museum blends into the landscape by taking the form of three rolling hills, made of steel and glass, one building houses the gallery while the other two hills contain an education center and administrative offices. The roofs geometry is irregular, featuring curves and counter-curves over the entire building, the entire wooden structure is covered with a white fibreglass membrane and a coating of teflon, which protects from direct sunlight, but allows light to pass through. The Louis Vuitton Foundation by Frank Gehry is gallery of art located adjacent to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris was opened in October 2014. Gehry had to work within strict height and volume restrictions, which required any part of the building two stories to be made of glass. Because of the limits, the building is low, sited in an artificial lake with water cascading beneath the building. The interior gallery structures are covered in a white fiber-reinforced concrete called Ductal, similar in concept to Gehrys Walt Disney Concert Hall, the building is wrapped in curving glass panels resembling sails inflated by the wind
12.
Thomas Krens
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From the beginning of his work at the Guggenheim, Krens promised, and delivered, great change, and was frequently in the spotlight, often as a figure of controversy. Krens spearheaded spectacular exhibitions such as The Art of the Motorcycle and ambitious shows covering the art of entire countries, including China, as director, Krens increased the Guggenheim’s endowment from US$20 million to US$118 million. Krens graduated from Williams College in 1969 with a degree in political science, after earning a masters degree in studio art from SUNY Albany in 1971, he returned to Williams to teach printmaking and was appointed director of the Williams College Museum of Art in 1980. During this time, Krens earned an M. B. A. from Yale University, in 1986, he was made consultant for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and two years later became director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The 90s were a period of expansion of museums across the US, not only the Guggenheim. Krens was at the forefront of movement, and became a high-profile figure in the world of art museums, corporate and foundation philanthropy. On the subject of branding the Guggenheim, Krens said, A good brand becomes an article of faith among a consumer audience. If you buy a BMW or a Mercedes, or stay at a Four Seasons hotel or go the Louvre, you can be pretty much guaranteed a quality experience. During his tenure, Krens has increased the Guggenheim’s endowment to $118 million from $20 million, moreover, under his leadership the Guggenheim organized major retrospectives of Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Roni Horn, Richard Prince, and Matthew Barney. In 1989, Krens negotiated a gift of Impressionist paintings from the widow of Justin K and these works later became part of the Guggenheim’s collection. In Bilbao, Krens led a program that has included major installations of works by Richard Serra, Koons, Jenny Holzer. He also has doubled the size of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, krenss conception came to fruition when the site became the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in 1999. He was not discouraged by those that did not get off the ground, Krens pointed out that the Guggenheim and many museums already had more objects in storage than they could hope to display, and spreading them geographically is a good solution. The Guggenheim in 1992 had space to display at one time 3% of its 6,000 works, the strategy pursued, radical in the eyes of traditionalists, consisted of new construction and renovation, financed by bonds, and franchising by building satellite institutions around the world. Krens denied that deaccessioning was a policy as well, though he was accused of treating the museums collection of masterpieces as mere assets, the success of the Guggenheim Bilbao expansion was credited to Krens tenacity and salesmanship, and was a major victory for him. As of 2006 the Guggenheim museums worldwide had received a steady 2.5 million visitors a year for the prior 4–5 years, part of the strategy of international expansion was for host country governments to bear the costs, benefiting from prestige and tourist income. Krens pointed out that the works acquired were no longer considered contemporary, but rather classics, Krens has been the subject of criticism, both for his businesslike style and the way he changed museums, in particular the showmanship, populism and commercialization involved. Krens denied seeking to become a figure, and said his media reputation is the result of mostly inaccurate caricatures
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