Palermo
Waiting for Guggenheim

Palermo was expecting the opening of the new Guggenheim museum in April 2003. It would be situated in the Sant'Elia palace, constructed in 1756 on Via Maqueda. The museum would be the only museum of contemporary art in south Italy and the second Guggenheim in Italy after Venice. The president of the Province of Palermo, the director of the Guggenheim foundation in Italy and a representative of the Ministry of Culture had signed at the beginning of the year 2003 the agreement for the founding of the new Guggenheim. In fact, this agreement had been expressed unofficially long before. The project was presented to the public through a series of cultural events called “Waiting for Guggenheim” that took place in Palermo from March 9 to 18, 2003. The province had already appointed architects, decorators and museum designers to renew and prepare the palace. Investment: 6 millions of Euro. The permanent collection and three four-month exhibitions were supposed to be ready for the opening. The bookshop and coffee shop were to be managed by the province, which had for this occasion founded a special association sponsored via governmental founds. The new Guggenheim museum was supposed to bring tourism, investments and prosperity to the city. Of course some people remained skeptical. Daily newspapers asked whether Palermo really needed such an institution. Would it bring advantages? Wouldn’t it be wiser to invest the money into things more serious than art? At the same time the day of the opening was continuously postponed. The media started calling the museum a “phantom museum”. And they were right. The Guggenheim museum in Palermo remained a banner on the façade of the Sant’Elia palace and the subject of a few newspaper articles. Moreover, the New York Guggenheim foundation denied any knowledge about the events in Palermo. It is not the only phantom case in Palermo though. The Palermitans are still waiting in for a film school and a museum of photography.