An American In Venice

But can the Guggenheim continue to expand amid a global economic slowdown? The Rio project may be a barometer. On paper, the project is a stunner: designed by the radical French architect Jean Nouvel, the museum is to be in part underwater, with glass structures allowing natural light into exhibition spaces located under the lapping waves of the bay. Above is a 50-m cylindrical tower, capped by an observatory deck and restaurants. Like the Bilbao Guggenheim, it is meant to be an architectural masterpiece and tourist magnet.

The business side of the project is a work of art in its own right. The city will provide the site, fund the construction of and own the building, and assure operational and exhibition funding. The Guggenheim, along with the Hermitage and the Kunsthistorisches Museums, will provide expertise in museum development, curatorial matters and programming. The museum will cost $125 million to build, and the Guggenheim will receive $28.5 million over three years in licensing fees.

It's the sort of deal other museum directors can only dream about, and for Mikhail Piotrovski, director of the Hermitage Museum, it exemplifies Krens' business savvy. "Most museums make money in a very primitive way," he says. "Tom sells intellectual product. He takes risks, but I like it because it's close to how Russian generals used to think — on a big scale."
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Krens' stock in Russia may be riding high, but in Rio he's not even officially trading. The city's right-wing mayor, Cesar Maia, is embroiled in a court case concerning the legality of his contracts with Krens and Nouvel. Many Brazilian museums and local politicians are dismayed at the enormous investment the Guggenheim project would require. "It's a crime against the city. If we go through with this, we'll have no money for anything else," complains Mario del Rei, the city councilor who has instigated judicial proceedings to halt the project, accusing Maia and four senior colleagues of the misuse of public funds and improper licensing of contracts. Maia denies the charges, and is confident the museum will be built: "No matter how we calculate it, we have no doubt that we will be making a profit within four years." The Guggenheim will do for Rio, he reasons, what it did for Bilbao.

Those hopes have been thrown into limbo by Mario del Rei's legal challenge. There's no telling how long the case will take to run its course. Krens, however, gives the impression that the kerfuffle in Rio is no more than a minor hiccup. Despite the judge's order to freeze the project, he says, "I expect to be able to thaw the situation within a couple of months. We're still on target to complete by December 2006."

He's much less confident of engineering a thaw in the State Department over the nomination of the American artist for the next Biennale, due in 2005. His proposal that the Guggenheim be allowed to choose the artist every third Biennale was met by a State Department demand that the Guggenheim pay for the exhibition. Krens has decided on a tactical retreat: "I didn't raise this as some kind of jihad against the State Department, so I said, 'No thank you.'" Now he says he may sell the pavilion, leaving the U.S. government to pay for its annual upkeep. The State Department wouldn't be pleased — but what's another enemy to a man used to wearing a target on his back?