New spaces and new facilities at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, thanks to a Capital Campaign, recently concluded
Venice, May 2017
Thanks to a three-year Capital Campaign led by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory Board and begun in 2014, an important expansion and conversion project at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection has now been accomplished. Fund-raising was orchestrated by a Campaign Committee composed of representatives of the museum’s Advisory Board: Alberto Vitale (chair), Barbara Maccaferri (co-chair), Marco Carbonari, Stefano Del Vecchio, Giovanna Forlanelli Rovati, David Gallagher, Leon Koffler, Benjamin B. Rauch, Miles Rubin and James B. Sherwood.
The Campaign served to acquire a contiguous house and garden, where a new cafeteria and sculpture garden are now located. The empty spaces left by the old café and bar made possible the creation of two new exhibition rooms, the conversion of a veranda into a sculpture exhibition space and relaxation zone (with Wifi) for visitors, and an Education Center for workshops for adults and children. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is grateful to the Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi, Venice, for its collaborative role. The project was carried out by Th&Ma Architettura of Venice, led by Architect Giacomo di Thiene.
The Capital Campaign was sustained above all by the Collection’s Advisory Board, which since 1980 has served as a vital consultative and support group for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and its director, especially during the repeated phases of the museum’s growth. The Campaign also received major support, in recognition of the museum’s education and cultural mission, from the Fondazione Araldi Guinetti Vaduz. Numerous other donors include various friends of the Collection, members of the International Patrons and Guggenheim Circle, and donors who have preferred to remain anonymous. To all of them the museum is grateful.
In addition to individual donors, national and international corporations have contributed to the Campaign: Enel, Lavazza, Aermec, Manifatture Sigaro Toscano, and Swatch. Several of the Guggenheim Intrapresae companies contributed to the project with quality goods and services: Aermec again, Arclinea, Florim, Arper, Mapei, Reggiani Illuminazione, Hangar Design Group, and the Istituto Europeo di Design.
On August 31, 2016, in the recently acquired property near the museum, the new Peggy Guggenheim Café was opened: a luminous space, with a large veranda and garden, in which visitors can relax among the Collection’s sculptures, sipping coffee or having lunch, choosing from the rich luncheon menu. Essential to this new destination have been the contributions of Arclinea, which planned and donated the Bar, Arper, which donated designer chairs and tables, Florim, leader in ceramic floor and wall tile production, Reggiani Illuminazioni for the lighting, Mapei, which provided high quality building materials, and Hangar Design Group for the design phase. The state-of the-art restaurant kitchen is by Electrolux.
The opening of the café-restaurant was followed by that of the Project Rooms, inaugurated on February 25 on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition Rita Kernn-Larsen. Surrealist Paintings, curated by Gražina Subelytė. The two new rooms are well-suited to hosting focused and specialized exhibitions, deepening our understanding of a single artist or focusing on a work in Peggy Guggenheim’s collection, The inaugural exhibition pays homage to the Danish artist Rita Kernn-Larsen, who was given her first solo show by Guggenheim in her London gallery Guggenheim Jeune in 1938. This will be followed by Picasso on the Beach, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, opening August 26 (Peggy Guggenheim’s birthday): a selection of eleven drawings, paintings and a sculpture by PIcasso, dating from February -December 1937, all of them related to the theme of the beach and to Picasso’s masterpiece, On the Beach (1937) in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
A further milestone in the museum’s expansion project is the Education Center: a new area dedicated to the museum’s educational activities, conceived as a flexible, functional space for diverse uses. It serves for workshops for the youngest visitors, and at the same time as a meeting point for formative projects for adults. It hosts, for example, “Double Meaning,” a project that provides access to the museum’s art collections for the blind and visually impaired. Crucial to the realization of the Education Center was the donation of Mary and Howard S. Frank. The mosaic floors and walls are the generous contribution of Orsoni, historically celebrated for Venetian mosaic. A group of students from IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), Venice, were enthusiastic participants in the planning phases. Both Orsoni and IED are members of Guggenheim Intrapresae.