Art movement

Go ahead, say it. McGuggenheim. Last week, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation opened two new museums in Las Vegas, the Guggenheim Las Vegas and the Guggenheim Hermitage, a joint venture with Russia's legendary state museum. That brought the number of its global offspring to seven, at which point the word "franchise" does seem hard to resist. Other Guggenheims are in Venice; Berlin; Bilbao, Spain; and New York (2).

The museum's director, Thomas Krens, prefers to call them "discontiguous exhibition spaces." His former professor at Williams College, Mark Taylor, suggests "the image of a global cultural network is more appropriate."

Whatever one calls the extension of the Guggenheim name worldwide, the questions are the same: Why is one of the world's top museums spreading its name and collection around the world? And what, if anything, does this say about museums in the 21st century?

"They wouldn't give us Central Park," says Mr. Krens of his New York-based museum, "so we left."

The search wasn't simply one for more space, however.

"We see this as an extension of our fundamental mission," he says. When Krens came to the Guggenheim in the late 1980s, he says he and the museum board came to the conclusion that in the 21st century the notion of art would expand to encompass "far more than just painting and sculpture. We felt it was important to expand programming that would include architecture, film, video, performance art, all aspects of the art world that are already important to this century."

Contrary to the fast-food or supermarket model, Krens says, "we didn't do this for the money. We did it because there's an audience."

"Krens is like a missionary - "he's bringing religion to the masses," says architect Robert Venturi, author of "Learning from Las Vegas."

"He's trying to create a dialogue on culture," Mr. Taylor says. "It is a worthy endeavor."

The humanities professor in Williamstown, Mass., points out an overlooked aspect to the expansion: The museum is also launching Guggenheim.com, a website dedicated to the global dissemination of culture.

"Guggenheim.com is crucial because it will be educational, it won't just be selling products online," Taylor says.

If the reception in Bilbao is any indication, the masses are responding to the invitation. Lines to enter the titanium-clad Frank Gehry design in the heart of the blue-collar capital city of Spain's Basque region are long, queuing up for hours before opening.

"Many of the local people come over and over," says Saioa Zubizarrreta, a museum employee who hails from one of the most well-known Basque cities in the world, Guernica. "It has changed our city."

It is no exaggeration to say the 1997 edifice put Bilbao on the map for tourists. In what has become standard procedure for the Guggenheim when it enters a new locale, Bilbao officials paid the $50 million tab for the building. (Nevada developer Sheldon Adelson provided $35 million to bring the Guggenheim/Las Vegas and the Guggenheim/Hermitage to his Venetian Hotel.)

Krens, meanwhile, is clear about his desire to make a difference.

"In Bilbao, we're doing city planning ... the attempt to try a new concept of planning was what attracted us in the first place," he says. The city was in the midst of a major push to rejuvenate itself, building a new subway line, airline terminal, convention center, and train station. An internationally recognized cultural landmark was the final step in the plan.

As with the new Las Vegas spaces, Krens says these "baby" Guggenheims are part of a larger plan. "These will change how culture is used and viewed by people all over the world."

"Krens is a visionary," says Mr. Adelson, the Las Vegas developer. "That's what the record will show when the history of art and administration in this century is written. He says, 'my job is to show art and spread culture.' "

Adelson points out that nearly 95 percent of the collections in the nation's museums go unseen for lack of exhibition space. Krens, he says, is taking a creative approach to solving that space crunch. "So, who's to say he can't have a chain of museums?" Adelson says. "He says you can, and he's doing it."

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