On the new museum front, last week brought news that the Dia Art Foundation was planning to build a home in Chelsea, on the footprint of its old premises. Good news when it happens, if it happens. Dia’s turbulent history doesn’t exactly instill confidence.
Nonetheless, two new museums have moved ahead in recent days.
In Denver, the Clyfford Still Museum, which had been stalled by the recession, has started up again, setting groundbreaking for Dec. 14. According to the Denver Post, the $29 million museum will now open in mid-2011, a year after originally planned.
The Styll museum, which was given some 2,400 works by his widow, Patricia, was stalled by the financial crisis. Prudently, its leaders decided not to start construction until they had raised at least $25 million of the budget, plus $5 million for a fledgling endowment. And they asked for a redesign:
The museum’s design, by Portland, Ore., architect Brad Cloepfil, has undergone minor modifications since it was unveiled in March 2008 (it has dropped from 31,500 square feet to 30,000), but its low-lying, rectilinear look remains essentially unchanged.
In part because of those changes and lower construction costs brought on by the depressed economy, the building’s estimated cost has been cut from $33 million to $29 million.
Good moves, I think, but of course we won’t know until we see the building (above, in a 2008 rendering).
UPDATE, Nov. 13: The Barnes Foundation broke ground today on its new home in central Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, in Vancouver, a new museum has opened.
Bob Rennie, a local real estate mogul, has — according to the Vancouver Sun — “spent upwards of $10 million transforming the oldest building in Chinatown into one of Canada’s 
most dramatic spaces.” It has six galleries, 20,000 sq. ft. all told, and Rennie has said he plans to mount three exhibits a year, drawn from his collection.
The first, now on view, is work by Mona Hatoum, a Palestinian artist who lives in London (at right at an art fair, with Hot Spot, which Rennie is also showing).
This is a private museum, though, and news reports suggest it will be open on a limited basis, by appointment. (Here’s another article on it.)
On the other hand, Rennie reportedly has one of the largest collections of contemporary art in Canada, and I’d like to have a look.
Photo: Courtesy Clyfford Still Museum (top).