Museums of the 21st Century
Ideas, Projects, Buildings
27 Museums on 4 Continents in 2 Hours!
It seems that museums have taken over the job of landmarks that cathedrals used to have. They are regarded as symbols of cultural identification in a society that currently finds itself in a state of insecurity, due not least of all to increasing globalization. The most spectacular museum buildings enhance the attractiveness of cities, shift remote places to the center of public attention with their conspicuous presence.
As the only stop in Austria for an international tour, the Lentos Art Museum presents an exhibition of 21st century museum architecture. 27 projects from four continents offer a cross-section of the most interesting museum buildings that have been built, are being built, or in planning. The models include not only art museums, but also museums for cars, such as the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Plans are presented that arrive at very different solutions through the use of individual formal means. The expressive formal language of Frank O. Gehry or Coop Himmelb(l)au, for instance, is juxtaposed with the clarity and homogeneity of Tadao Ando’s manner of building.
The selected architects include Peter Cook/Colin Fournier, Annette Gigon/Mike Guyer, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Kisho Kurokawa, Daniel Libeskind, Jean Nouvel, UN Studio and Renzo Piano. Models, plans and sketches are exhibited in an unconventional presentation by the Caramel architects.
The exhibition will be supplemented by a presentation of the situation of museum projects in Linz in the 21st century: Lentos Art Museum, expansion of the AEC, and the new construction of the south wing of the Linz Castle. Architecture books from the Lentos library and films on the exhibited projects and about architects additionally offer more in-depth information.
An Art Centre Basel exhibition: Suzanne Greub and Thierry Greub (Idea and Concept), Christine Gisi (Realisation), www.artcentrebasel.com
This project is sponsered by Etermit, Fabasoft and afo.