Fine Arts Bilbao formalizes the start of its expansion works, which are expected to start at the end of 2024
Institutions and sponsors have shared with Norman Foster, author of the “Agravitas” project, the symbolic laying of the first stone
BILBAO, 17 Nov. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum has formalized this Thursday the start of its expansion works with the symbolic laying of the first stone of the Agravitas project, a work designed by Norman Foster and Luis María Uriarte and whose inauguration is scheduled for the end of 2024.
The official act of burying a symbolic time capsule took place outside the museum, next to the glass façade of the Alameda Conde Arteche that overlooks the Doña Casilda Park.
The two people in charge of the project, Norman Foster and Luis Uriarte, took part in the ceremony; the Minister of Culture and Language Policy of the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria; the mayor of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburto; the director of the Museum, Miguel Zugaza; the president of the BBK Banking Foundation, Xabier Sagredo; the provincial deputy for Euskera, Culture and Sport, Lorea Bilbao and two Friends of the Museum, the oldest (Carmen López Niclós) and the youngest (Rut Salaverri) who have proceeded to place the capsule in a room on the lawn.
The act was also attended by representatives of the patrons of the museum and the BBK Foundation, politicians and a representation of the Friends of the Museum, civil society and the world of culture, both artists and collectors and art galleries de la Villa and members of the studios and companies involved in the project, as well as members of the museum team.
After burying the time capsule, where the different participants have been successively introducing newspapers, current coins and a copy of the reconsideration act that formalizes the last procedure for the execution of the work, they have all posed in front of the fence designed by Mikel Garay that It will surround the building during the execution of the works that will last for 22 months.
Next, and already inside the hall of the museum, Miguel Zugaza, Aburto, Zupiria, Foster and the professor of Art History and member of the Artistic Advisory Committee of the museum, Maite Paliza Mondoate, took the floor.
COUNTDOWN
In his welcome to those present, Miguel Zugaza assured that the expansion is a future project for the museum and for “the extraordinary cultural and artistic offer of this country”. After three years of waiting, he added, “we can congratulate ourselves that this extension is beginning to become a reality and time begins to count down to the day of its inauguration, scheduled for the end of 2024.”
Next, Xabier Sagredo spoke, pointing out that “with this new milestone, both institutions will renew five decades of joint action that will gain new impetus in the BBK Museoa space, which, in its more than 2,000 square metres, will unite intense program of exhibitions and public activity”.
He has also recorded that, during most of the 22 months in which the project will be carried out, the improved museum is open, showing the collection according to the dynamic BBKateak format of meetings between artists from different periods of art history.
For his part, Juan Mari Aburto has valued the extraordinary opportunity to once again have the talent of Norman Foster in Bilbao, who, together with the work of Luis María Uriarte, offers an exciting new role to the proposal, which combines architectural quality, urban sensitivity and social responsibility to build a luminous and light landmark in the historic heart of Bilbao”.
The Bingen Zupiria has pointed out that the project opens a new stage for the museum and has remarked that its importance is more far-reaching because it underlines the evolution of one of the oldest artistic institutions in the Basque Country, thus revalidating its validity and its transformative capacity of the culture and art with the support of Basque institutions.
In this sense, he stressed that “one of its features has been the way in which it has been related to society and this enlargement will provide new opportunities to look to the future with ambition”.
For his part, Norman Foster has been “delighted” to celebrate the birth of this project that “will unite the cultural heritage of the past with the museum of the future”.
Foster also highlighted that, from now on, the result of his close collaboration with Luis María Uriarte and the museum team “is about to become a reality”.
Finally, the British architect has “extended” his thanks to all the institutions and sponsors participating in the project “for believing in the transformative role of art in urban development.”
“AGGRAVATE” CHARACTERISTICS
The “Agravitas” project recovers the prominence of the 1945 building, restoring its original entrance, and projecting a space of unique dimensions that respectfully sits on the 1945 and 1970 buildings. The intervention also converts the Plaza del Monumento into a Arriaga in the new heart of the backbone of the museum.
On March 31, 2022, the museum published in the Public Procurement Platform in Euskadi the tender for the execution of the work -which had to be reformulated due to the current situation-.
On September 9 of this year, the UTE Ampliación Bellas Artes was awarded, made up of Empresa Constructora Urbelan, SA + Altuna y Uria, SA + Campezo Obras y Servicios, SA and Teusa Técnicas de Restauración, SA
The lifting of the certificate of verification of the stakeout was carried out on November 8, a necessary procedure for the execution of the works, which will be carried out by Foster+Partners LTd + LM Uriarte Arkitektura SLP.
The final budget for the expansion of the museum will be 45 million, and will be paid for in equal parts by the Basque Government, the Bizkaia Provincial Council and the Bilbao City Council, with a contribution of 15 million each, with the aim of coping with the increase.” substantial” of the costs of certain raw materials in the construction industry.
The three institutions, which make up the Museum Foundation, will thus pay the Foundation one third of the amount of the line of credit signed with the financial institution Kutxabank to carry out these works.