(Vilnius, Lithuania– March 28, 2008) Three internationally-acclaimed architects, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid and Massimiliano Fuksas, will unveil their proposals for a new museum in Vilnius on April 8, 2008. A jury consisting of Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Director of the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, Thomas Krens, the Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, Peter Schmal, the Director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, Mayor of the City of Vilnius, Juozas Imbrasas, and Gintaras Caikauskas, Vice Chairman of the Lithuanian Architects’ Association, will determine the winning proposal.
The architectural competition is part of a feasibility study being
conducted by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in collaboration with
the
State
Hermitage
Museum . The study is evaluating the feasibility, from an architectural, economic, and cultural perspective
of establishing a new museum in
Vilnius. The feasibility study was commissioned by the recently established
Jonas
Mekas
Visual
Arts
Center in
Vilnius and is expected to be completed by mid-June 2008.
Vilnius will be assuming an esteemed position as the European Capital of Culture in 2009. The presence of a new museum would be a significant initiative in
transforming the city into a premier destination for cutting-edge art,
film, and architecture. It would also markedly contribute to the enhancement of
Vilnius as an international center of the avant-garde.
All three architectural models will be on public display from April 10 through
the end of June 2008 at the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in a Special
Exhibition being organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and
the State Hermitage Museum entitled: “Imagining the Future: Design Proposals for a New Museum in Vilnius.”
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March 28, 2008
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:
Rasa Razgaitis
Project Manager
Jonas
Mekas
Visual
Arts
Center
14 Gyneju St.
Vilnius, 09601
info@mekas.lt
www.mekas.lt
+370.612.18240 or +370.655.29299
Eleanor R. Goldhar
Deputy Director for External Affairs
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
345 Hudson Street
12th floor
New York,
NY 10014
egoldhar@guggenheim.org
www.guggenheim.org
212.423.3528
Elena Getmanskaya, Ph.D. (Press Manager)
State Hermitage Museum
34, Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya
St. Petersburg, Russia 190000
getmansk@hermitage.ru
www.hermitagemuseum.org
+7 812 710 9502
+7 812 312 1567 fax