Sustainable city with Guggenheim Museum
- LAS Group
- Dec 8, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2018
By Irati Kim in Bilbao
(Dec, 08, 2018)
UN suggests 17 goals about the sustainable development. One of the sustainable development goals is “Sustainable cities and communities”. According to the UN, this goal is about making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The Bilbao where is the capital city of the Basque region of Spain was famous for the industrial city. However, in the 1980s. the city experience economic recession. To recover the regional economy, Basque government decided to build the Guggenheim museum. And this choice was right that Bilbao entered new era with a million tourists a year. So, Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum is a good example of a ‘sustainable cities and communities’, eleventh sustainable development goals. This article consists of interviews about Guggenheim Museum with officer of museum.
11 Sustainable cities and communities:
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
Text and photo Courtesy of United Nations (un.org).
Q: Can you introduce yourself?
A: Of course. My name is Samarial and I’m working at the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum at the visitor department.
Q: Can you explain about the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum?
A: Yes. The Guggenheim Museum is a contemporary art museum which opened in October 1997. We have different exhibition. We have an important company connection and current temporary exhibits, a Giacometti on the second floor, we have ‘From Van Gogh to Picasso’ on the third floor and we exhibit ‘Architecture Effects’ and video installation by Diana Thater and also Richard Serra, ‘The Matter of time’ Richard Serra.
Q: Can you explain the impact of the Guggenheim museum on the Bilbao?
A: Yes. It has been a very important impact because Bilbao was an industrial city and in the 80s, Bilbao city suffer a very deep crisis, so the Basque government decided to build a museum and that will be very good for our services to become a service city. So, in the other hand, the Guggenheim Museum needed to create audiences to show the artworks outside from the Guggenheim New York Museum, some Guggenheim New York Museum on out of the Peggy Guggenheim in Venice. So, we can say that this is the result of an agreement between the Guggenheim Foundation and the Basque conformities. And since then, the area had soon hot, other important re-conversation and we have again in a leisure city and in a service city.
Q: Can you explain more about the design of Guggenheim Museum?
A: Okay. Frank O. Gehry was the architect of this place and designed it. The design of the building itself can be the symbol of the museum because it has extraordinary shapes. The building covered by titanium with curved. The glass walls were installed in a complex structure to give the building light and transparency to protect the interior from heat. These things make the building attractively and give beauty and tactility to the surface. If you want to know more about the building, read this pamphlet.
Q: Thank you. And I heard that every Friday of the third week, there is an event special. What is it?
A: We celebrate the Art After Dark. So, inside the museum, in the A2, we have a DJ playing music while people can enjoy our exhibitions and can enjoy the art of the Bilbao Museum. This month, the event will be held on the 14th, so next week. The ticket for Art After Dark is 15 euros.
Q: What is another unique thing of this museum?
A: Well, I will say that you can’t miss the architecture to discover the different shapes, the different spaces that you will discover what you are visiting in, you can and you have to enjoy also ‘The matter of time’ of Richard Serra and the balcony to see our sculptures like ‘Tulips’ by Jeff Koons or ‘Fog’ by Fujiko Nakaya.
Q: Then, the sculptures outside the Guggenheim are also the art works of the Guggenheim Museum?
A: Yes. As I said ‘Tulips’ by Jeff Koons and ‘Fog’ by Nakaya are sculptures of Guggenheim museum. You can see other sculptures such as ‘Maman’ by Louis Bourgeois and Anish Kapoor’s ‘Tall Tree & the Eye’. Also, the bridge is art work of Daniel Buren named ‘Red Arches’. So, I recommend you to look not only inside the museum but also outside. If you go outside on time, you can see artificial fog.
Q: When is the museum open and when is it closed?
A: It opens at 10 a.m. and closes at the 8 p.m. But the ticket booth closes half an hour before museum close.
Q: How much is the entrance fee?
A: It’s important thing to come in the museum. For an adult, it is 16 euros. Student is 9 euros and for children they can get free entrance. The price of a ticket includes an audio guide with explanations for a self-guided tour. And if you join the annual membership, you can get more discount. Maybe you can get student membership.
Q: Can I register the membership now?
A: Unfortunately, no. You need to register on the internet first. Then you pay 5 euros, you can get free entrance for a one year. Also, the guided tours and audio guides are free too.
Q: What are some precautions I should take when I visit the museum?
A: Well, of course, you should not touch the works of art. Also, no smoking and no animals to keep the arts safely. When you are watching the works, don’t make a loud noise as you know its manners for other audience. And In here Guggenheim, you cannot take the photos and video inside the museum.
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