Home Latest News Miren Arzalluz will be the new director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Miren Arzalluz will be the new director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

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There is already smoke at the Guggenheim Bilbao. Miren Arzalluz is the person chosen to take the reins of the museum and replace Juan Ignacio Vidarte, who has run the museum for 27 years, as well as the art gallery that has transformed all of Bilbao’s urban planning and all of tourism. Euskadi sector. The decision was announced on Tuesday after the extraordinary meeting of the museum’s board of directors attended by Lehendalari Imanol Pradales and the first vice-lehendakari and Minister of Culture and Language Policy, Ibone Bengoetxea. Miren Arzalluz was chosen in a process of election of candidates at the international level, but from the first moment the name of the daughter of Xabier Arzalluz, who was president of the PNV, was mentioned in all the groups.

The Board of Directors argued the choice of Miren Arzalluz (Bilbao, 1978), based on her “experience and international recognition” in the field of cultural institutions, “her long-term commitment to the project, her vision aligned with the mission of the Museum to serve as a key element in the country’s transformation strategy and its sensitivity to the diverse cultural contexts in which the Museum operates with the capacity to integrate local and global values.

Currently director of the Paris Fashion Museum – Palais Galliera, she joins the Guggenheim with “proven experience in leading internationally prestigious organizations in the field of culture, bringing in-depth knowledge of art history , museums and research, combined with extensive experience in the institutional field.” management and international relations,” they emphasized from the Guggenheim.

The replacement will officially take place on April 1, 2025, even if the appointment will be effective one month before. Throughout these four weeks, she will carry out a process of immersion in the Guggenheim Museums in Bilbao and New York, living with Juan Ignacio Vidarte, until April 1, when she will assume the position of general director with all responsibilities. As planned, Vidarte will continue to be linked to the art gallery, in principle as director emeritus, and to the Guggenheim Foundation in international initiatives of a strategic nature.

In the selection process, a total of 79 professionals were taken into account, but Miren Arzalluz was the one who adapted to the desired profile: “Great knowledge of art and the functioning of museums, proven management skills and planning in this area and at the international level. , leadership capacity and experience in fundraising and audience development, communicative competence in different languages, high training and qualification in areas related to the museum world and knowledge of the institutional reality and socio-cultural context of the museum. Museum, among other issues.

Doctor in History from the University of Deusto, Master in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and Master in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics in London, Miren Arzalluz has been directing the Palais Galliera for six years. Knowledgeable about the current Basque cultural scene, Miren Arzalluz is a member of the Artistic Advisory Committee of the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts and, before her stay in Paris, she directed the Etxepare Euskal Institutua, a public body dependent on the Basque Government which works promote the visibility of contemporary Basque culture and creation at the international level. She has also curated exhibitions in different countries around the world and was for five years chief curator of the Balenciaga Foundation and Museum, in charge of exhibitions and the collection.

The new director will have to face, among other problems, the expansion of the art gallery with a second location, planned between Gernika and Murueta, and which, at the moment, is in the air, after the opening of the institutions and the board of directors itself. for a period of reflection on the project and with several requests admitted to the National Court. Vidarte was one of the main proponents of the need for the second headquarters and the Urdaibai Reserve as an ideal location and defended from the beginning that the construction would not alter the environment of the area. In fact, when the first idea to build the second headquarters in the building of the former BBK colonies in Sukarrieta was abandoned, it was Vidarte himself who opted for Gernika and Murueta.

Vidarte’s departure marks the beginning of a new stage in the art gallery, which has consolidated itself as a point of reference among museums throughout the state and as a strong tourist attraction pole, with a number of visitors which is around the average of one million. every year. The latest data for this summer indicates that between June and August a total of 473,493 visitors visited the museum, the second best summer in its history. In the cumulative annual figure as of August 31, 2024, the Guggenheim had 894,040 visitors, a figure in line with last year and 7% more than in 2018, the most successful year before the pandemic.

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