Warsaw's new modern art museum
The vice-president of Warsaw, Andrzej Urbański, and the Minister of Culture, Waldemar Dąbrowski, have signed an agreement on the construction of a new museum of modern art in Warsaw. The contract was signed at the museum's future location, at the junction of ul. Marszałkowska and Świętokrzyska, on an antique desk brought along for the occasion. The museum will replace the sheet metal eyesore that houses the Kupieckie Domy Towarowe and construction should be completed in eight to 10 years' time.
The whole investment will be managed by the city of Warsaw with the help of the Ministry of Culture. An international competition will be held to designate the project contractor, with art inspectors, artists and architects sitting on a supervisory committee. The estimated cost of the construction is EUR 50 (zł.20.5) million and it will be financed by the Ministry of Culture and EU structural funds for 2007-2013. "Building the museum without the aid of the funds is difficult to imagine," says Tadeusz Zielniewicz, an adviser with the Ministry of Culture. "The museum of modern art is one of the most important investments if we want Warsaw to play a role on the European cultural market."
The contract was signed recently under the watchful eye of the late Pope John Paul II, in the form of a massive billboard depicting an image of the Pontiff formed by thousands of Brazilian soldiers photographed from the air by Piotr Uklański. This particular piece was presented at the International Biennale of Modern Art in Sao Paulo last year.
"The main objective of the museum will be the presentation of the acquired possessions of 20th-century Polish art as opposed to international works," said Anna Godzosz, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture. The museum's exhibition will consist of the country's museum collections, purchases, and gifts. It will also build its own collection of art works and conduct research.
"What is important is the museum's localization in the neighborhood of the Palace of Science and Culture. Although the museum cannot compete with the Palace in terms of size, it will definitely constitute a symbolic counterbalance," says arts officer Joanna Mytkowska.
The museum is the latest initiative by the president of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński, following his involvement in the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the preparations for a Museum of Communism at the Palace of Science and Culture, the History of the Polish Jews Museum and the Kopernik Center of Science.
The whole investment will be managed by the city of Warsaw with the help of the Ministry of Culture. An international competition will be held to designate the project contractor, with art inspectors, artists and architects sitting on a supervisory committee. The estimated cost of the construction is EUR 50 (zł.20.5) million and it will be financed by the Ministry of Culture and EU structural funds for 2007-2013. "Building the museum without the aid of the funds is difficult to imagine," says Tadeusz Zielniewicz, an adviser with the Ministry of Culture. "The museum of modern art is one of the most important investments if we want Warsaw to play a role on the European cultural market."
The contract was signed recently under the watchful eye of the late Pope John Paul II, in the form of a massive billboard depicting an image of the Pontiff formed by thousands of Brazilian soldiers photographed from the air by Piotr Uklański. This particular piece was presented at the International Biennale of Modern Art in Sao Paulo last year.
"The main objective of the museum will be the presentation of the acquired possessions of 20th-century Polish art as opposed to international works," said Anna Godzosz, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture. The museum's exhibition will consist of the country's museum collections, purchases, and gifts. It will also build its own collection of art works and conduct research.
"What is important is the museum's localization in the neighborhood of the Palace of Science and Culture. Although the museum cannot compete with the Palace in terms of size, it will definitely constitute a symbolic counterbalance," says arts officer Joanna Mytkowska.
The museum is the latest initiative by the president of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński, following his involvement in the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the preparations for a Museum of Communism at the Palace of Science and Culture, the History of the Polish Jews Museum and the Kopernik Center of Science.
