Tom Krens, the museum consultant formerly known as the director of the Guggenheim Foundation and booster of multi-branch museums, has always lived by the philosophy of “Go Big or Go Home.”
Now, he is at it again. Last week, the Berkshire Eagle reported that Krens–who first proposed the creation of Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass. nearly three decades ago–wants to start another massive art venue nearby. The new art palace would create 160,000-sq. ft. of gallery space on North Adams’s Harriman-West Airport grounds.
Said the Eagle:
The idea for the museum, which would be privately owned by a for-profit group of investors and cost an estimated $10 million to $15 million to build, was presented to the city’s Airport Commission during a special meeting on Tuesday. It would be named the Global Contemporary Collection and Museum and contain a collection of about 400 works of art, according to Krens.
“The basic concept is to work with a group of, essentially investors, to put together a world-class collection of contemporary art,” Krens said.
The idea was a hit. The Airport Commission unanimously voted to begin lease negotiations with Krens.
Krens said that construction could begin next year if the idea gains financial backing. The article also said:
The 68-year-old Krens said he’d been working on the concept for about five years. It was originally planned for China, he said, but “the idea of spending a little more time in the Berkshires was attractive to me.”
This proposal can be viewed in two ways. As I wrote just about a year ago in The New York Times, Â Mass MoCA is also expanding, doubling its exhibition space to 260,000 sq. ft. Â The state of Massachusetts provided money for the expansion on the theory that a bigger Mass MoCA, along with the expanded Clark Art Institute and the Williams College Museum of Art, both nearby, will be too much to see in one day and thus turn day-tripping tourists into over-nighters.
That’s believable if you think the audience for art is pretty big–and likely to want to spend two full days in a gorgeous setting inside looking at art.
Krens, in the Eagle, also argued that his GCC will be complementary, not competition for Mass MoCA. “pointing out that Mass MoCA does not have a collection and his museum would not have exhibition programming. The Global Contemporary Collection and Museum would be ‘positioned to complement the Clark, to complement Mass MoCA,’ not compete with them…”
Krens has pulled off many long-shots before, and lost some too. Who knows whether he can persuade investors to give him money for this. He does have a personal motivation: ” A graduate of Williams College, Krens still owns a home in Williamstown that he purchased in 1972.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Williams College Museum of Art