Norman Foster
Richard Meier
Oswald Mathias Ungers
Robert Venturi
Vittorio Gregotti
Clvaro Siza Vieira
Mario Botta
Rem Koolhaas
Ricardo Legorreta
Daniel Libeskind
Aldo Rossi
Peter Zumthor
Jean Nouvel
Josef Paul Kleihues
Frank O. Gehry
Jose Rafael Moneo
Renzo Piano
Jacques Herzog
Pierre de Meuron
Giorgio Grassi
Juan Navarro Baldeweg
Steven Holl
Tadao Ando
David Chipperfield
Zaha Hadid
Concepts, Projects, Buildings. The exhibition presents a cross-section of the most significant museum projects
Contemporary museum architecture is the focus of the
exhibition Museums for a New Millennium: Concepts,
Projects, Buildings, on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum
May 24 - August 4, 2002. This exhibition presents a
cross-section of the most significant museum projects that
have been designed and built within the last ten years, or
are presently under construction.
Among those featured in this exhibition is the Milwaukee
Art Museum expansion, designed by Santiago Calatrava,
which opened in October 2001. Museums for a New
Millennium at the Milwaukee Art Museum is sponsored by
CG Schmidt, Inc. and Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer &
Associates, Inc.
According to Russell Bowman, director of the Milwaukee Art
Museum, "We are in the midst of one of the most dynamic
museum building booms in history. Museums for a New
Millennium documents this phenomenon with the most
important museum building projects of our time."
The exhibition presents drawings, photographs and original
models of 25 architectural milestones from around the
world. The featured projects, all key works by
internationally renowned architects, offer a cross section
of the complex panorama of museum architecture designed
at the close of the twentieth century. The selection
includes the finest examples of recent museum
architecture, highlighting the buildings that are
representative of significant architectural currents and
cultural demands. The span of works presented in Museums
for a New Millennium is broad, ranging from Norman Foster's
Carre d'Art in Nimes, France, begun in 1984, to Zaha
Hadid's futuristic design for The Contemporary Arts Center
in Cincinnati, scheduled to be completed in 2003.
Bowman states, "We are very pleased that the
Calatrava-designed museum addition is represented among
this prestigious group and that our community will be able
to see how Calatrava's unique vision has contributed to the
optimistic future of museum architecture. This exhibition
puts his work in Milwaukee in a larger context."
As museums have evolved as public institutions, they have
been required to be more than simply repositories for art.
Many museums have responded to an increased demand for
space and for leisure-oriented visitor services such as
restaurants and retail stores. The challenge facing
architects is to design a successful building that will itself
be a work of art, yet will not upstage the art it is
constructed to house. Recent building projects have
illustrated that innovative, dramatic architecture can serve
the art and significantly increase the recognition of the
building, its architect and its city.
The expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum, which was
the first Calatrava project completed in the United States,
has become an important cultural destination due to its
dramatic design. Calatrava's expansion, set on Milwaukee's
scenic lakefront, features a striking glass reception hall, a
suspended pedestrian bridge, and a moveable winglike steel
sunshade (brise soleil) that spans wider than a Boeing 747.
Exemplary of the projects showcased in the Museums for a
New Millennium exhibition, the Milwaukee Art Museum
expansion is a result of both cutting-edge technology and
old-world craftsmanship.
Following its run at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Museums
for a New Millenium travels to five venues in North and
South America and five museums in Japan.
Museums for a New Millennium: Concepts, Projects,
Buildings is a project of the Art Centre Basel, Switzerland,
coordinated under the direction of Suzanne Greub.
Scientific curators and editors of the catalogue are Vittorio
Magnago Lampugnani and Angeli Sachs, from the Institute
for the History and Theory of Architecture at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. The exhibition is
curated at the Milwaukee Art Museum by Margaret Andera,
assistant curator.
Chronological List of Architects and Projects
Norman Foster, Carre d'Art, Nimes
Richard Meier, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Oswald Mathias Ungers, Galerie der Gegenwart, Hamburg
Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Museum of
Contemporary Art, San Diego
Vittorio Gregotti, Manuel Salgado, Centro Cultural de Belm,
Lisbon
Clvaro Siza Vieira, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea,
Santiago de Compostela
Mario Botta, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Rem Koolhaas, ZKM, Zentrum fuer Kunst und
Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe
Ricardo Legorreta, MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo,
Monterrey
Daniel Libeskind, Judisches Museum, Berlin
Aldo Rossi, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht
Peter Zumthor, Kunsthaus Bregenz
Jean Nouvel, Fondation Cartier, Paris
Josef Paul Kleihues, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Frank O. Gehry, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
Jose Rafael Moneo, Moderna Museet/Arkitekturmuseet,
Stockholm
Renzo Piano, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel
Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron, Tate Modern, London
Santiago Calatrava, Milwaukee Art Museum
Giorgio Grassi, Neues Museum, Berlin, 1st Competition
Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Museo de las Cuevas de Altamira,
Santillana del Mar
Steven Holl, Bellevue Art Museum
Tadao Ando, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
David Chipperfield, Neues Museum, Berlin, 2nd Competition
Zaha Hadid, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.
Milwaukee Art Museum
700 N. Art Museum Drive Milwaukee, WI 53202