Mayoral candidate eyes big picture with museum

Drawing millions of tourists to the Basque region of Spain each year, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is widely considered to be one of the world’s most spectacular buildings, and one Perth lord mayoral candidate is determined that Perth should have its own.

Businessman and former stockbroker Neil McKinnon wants to put Perth on the world map by being the first city in the Asia-Pacific region to have a Guggenheim Museum which would be dedicated to showcasing international and Western Australian-owned art collections.

Mr McKinnon told WA Business News he was not suggesting a copy of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum be placed on the city foreshore near the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, but rather an architecturally bold creation inspired by the WA landscape.

Designed by renowned Canadian/American architect Frank Gehry and opened in 1997, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has organically sculptured and titanium plated contours which draw on the city’s port heritage by resembling a ship.

Inside, about 11,000 square metres of exhibition space is distributed across 19 galleries that house collections of modern and contemporary art, donated by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Like the Sydney Opera House, Mr McKinnon said the Perth Centre for the Arts would be the subject of an international design competition to source a concept which would slot into the city landscape without being imposing.

 “The design of the centre must be representative of the city and state it is built in, and be harmonious with the Swan River,” Mr McKinnon said.

“This could be Perth’s chance to showcase our magnificent art collections to the world including the Berndt Collection at UWA, one of the most important collections of Aboriginal art and artifacts ever amassed in Australia.”

Despite the state government’s existing plans to transform the Mounts Bay Road foreshore into a residential and tourism hub, Mr McKinnon believed the Centre for the Arts could still be the jewel of the precinct, which stretched to Barrack Square.

Mr McKinnon suggested the City of Perth initiative could be kick-started with just a slice of the $2.5 billion in iron ore royalties the state amassed last year, along with commonwealth and corporate support.

“If the Queensland Government can commit to raising $600 million over the next ten years for clean coal initiatives by putting a voluntary levy on every tonne of coal sold, then I think the WA government has every opportunity to raise its share for the project.”

Aside from Bilbao, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has created Guggenheim Museums in New York and Las Vegas in the US, Venice in Italy and Berlin in Germany.

The Guggenheim Guadalajara and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi are under construction in Mexico and the United Arab Emirates respectively.

In the lead-up to the City of Perth elections on October 20, Mr McKinnon has proposed several ideas which he believes will further distinguish Perth from other Australian cities, including attaining a carbon neutral status, developing an integrated low-wash, ferry transport system on the river and strategic car parking facilities on the city fringe.