Helsinki’s two main contemporary art museums will both be closed for renovation for months beginning in late summer and early autumn **– **while plans are afoot to expand the Amos Anderson Art Museum and potentially bring a Guggenheim museum to the city.
The Helsinki City Art Museum will close its doors in August for more than a year, followed by the Kiasma contemporary art museum, which shuts in September for about half a year.
“It’s an unfortunate coincidence that both of these museums will be closed at the same time,” says Kiasma director Pirkko Siitari. “But hopefully people will find their way to galleries and other museums.
City Art Museum aims to draw cinemagoers
The facade of the Tennis Palace, which houses the City Art Museum, is already covered in plastic. In August, renovation of the interior begins, as the museum absorbs the neighbouring Museum of Cultures and the Kluuvi gallery and overhauls its air conditioning.
The project is expected to cost 3.6 million euros and last more than a year.
The long-debated overhaul follows the closures of the Kluuvi gallery and the Meilahti branch of the museum, which suffered from moisture problems.
Museum director Maija Tanninen-Mattila hopes that the rejuvenated museum will attract a bigger share of the two million people who enter the building complex annually. Most of them come for its multiplex cinema and restaurants, but Tanninen-Mattila aims to double the museum’s attendance.
Kiasma price still unclear
Kiasma, which is part of the Finnish National Gallery system, will undergo a complete renovation of its 15-year-old building, including repairs to the glass roof over its main foyer and the Kiasma theatre’s stage, and a replacement of its air conditioning.
The cost of the facelift has not yet been ascertained, as the bidding process is still underway. The state real estate company Senate Properties expects it to be within the same price range as the Helsinki City Art Museum renovation.
Kiasma, designed by the leading American architect Steven Holl, opened in 1998 after a two-year construction project.
