Taichung can’t sign Guggenheim museum contract without money

Hu told Thomas Krens, director of the Solomon P. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, he was sorry the expected contract could not be inked according to schedule.

Krens flew in here from New York in the morning to meet Hu in Taichung.

The mayor asked Krens to wait four to six months for signing the contract, under which the Guggenheim’s satellite museum will be built in Taichung.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun promised the contribution on September 20. The contribution was budgeted in a NT$500 billion special funding bill, which has yet to be enacted by the Legislative Yuan.

The city of Taichung, which would contribute 20 percent of the funding needed to establish the museum, could not make that contribution before the Cabinet makes its promised fund available.

“Our city council has approved the contribution, with a proviso that the contract has to be signed after the Cabinet fund has been appropriated,” Hu said.

It takes half a year to obtain the Cabinet appropriation, Hu added. “We have to wait,” he told Krens.

Krens said he could not understand why the budgeting should be a snag. He wanted Hu to give him a timetable for the establishment of the Guggenheim museum in Taichung.

No timetable is available, however. Hu is not certain if and when the Legislative Yuan would approve the special funding.

Designed by Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi-born architect based in London, the museum in Taichung would have a floor space of 300,000 square feet. It is a “brand new vocabulary for museum architecture,” according to Krens.

The new museum would expand the Guggenheim’s international scope. The foundation now operates satellite museums in Bilbao, Las Vegas, Venice and Berlin.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email