Expansion of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
The expansion of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on the site of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni makes important progress this fall with the opening of a converted property on the southeast corner, at number 704 Dorsoduro, overlooking the Rio delle Torreselle. This expansion is to be inaugurated on October 11, with the presentation of a new sculpture by Fabrizio Plessi (Digital Water, 2003, Gift of the Artist and Stahlbau Pichler) and of the exhibition Peggy and Kiesler: The Collector and The Visionary, dedicated to Peggy Guggenheim’s 1942 New York museum-gallery Art of This Century, which was designed by the Austrian architect Frederick Kiesler. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Archive, Vienna, and funded by Intrapresae Collezione Guggenheim.
Growing attendance and manifold exhibitions, events and programs (two or more temporary exhibitions per year, didactic activities for children, programs for members, garden concerts, etc.) have made compelling the need to increase public space and improve visitor services at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The new property will bring new benefits and facilities: a sculpture court (166 sq.m.), an entrance foyer and checkroom facilities, a new museum shop (two rooms), exhibition space (100 sq.m.), public bathrooms (8) and improved wheelchair access.
The new property will provide access to the museum via a single large foyer (replacing the two small entrances currently operative), with furnishings designed and built by Progetto Lissone, which will have the capacity to process the museum’s 300,000 visitors per annum. The opening of the new shop will enable the former shop to be converted for temporary exhibition use. Two new exhibition galleries will be linked to the existing spaces and make possible larger exhibitions or concurrent small and medium-sized exhibitions. The opening of the new entrance will see the introduction of electronic ticketing and of a new generation of audioguides provided by ‘acoustiguide’. The additional restrooms will better serve the museum’s visitors who have more than doubled in number over the past ten years (currently ca. 300,000 visitors per year), and will include a facility equipped for visitors in wheelchairs.
The building will be fully equipped with burglar and fire alarms, fire retardant systems, as well as lighting, temperature and humidity controls, all of wich are environmentally friendly. In particular, thanks to Enel.si, the museum will benefit from an innovative microturbine electricity generating plant that significantly reduces polluting gas emissions in comparison to traditional microturbines plants. The conversion of the property has been overseen by Arch. Clemente di Thiene and Arch. Giacomo di Thiene.
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was planned in the mid 18th century by Lorenzo Boschetti as a grandiose five story palace, mirroring the Roman classicism of Ca’ Corner opposite. (A scale model exists in the Museo Correr, Venice.) The palace was hardly begun, ca. 1750, when work was halted for reasons unknown. It now consists merely of a terrace, ground floor, and mezzanine of the forward block, facing the Grand Canal. Peggy Guggenheim purchased Palazzo Venier in 1949 and lived there until her death in 1979. The collection has been open to the public since 1951, and has been operated by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation since 1979.
The purchase and conversion of 704 Dorsoduro has been financed by a capital campaign led by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory, chaired by the late William Feick, Jr., and by Benjamin B. Rauch, with additional major contributions from Banca del Gottardo, the Regione del Veneto, Inrapresae Collezione Guggenheim. The Peggy Guggenheim is grateful to ENEL and Progetto Lissone for their contributions to the expanded museum.
Institutional Patrons: Banca del Gottardo, Ras, Regione Veneto
The programs of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection are made possible by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory Board and Intrapresæ Collezione Guggenheim.