The council has teamed up with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to produce a feasibility study.

The study will explore the mission and structure of a Guggenheim Helsinki – a museum of visual culture in Finland.

Once completed, a report will be produced outlining the museum’s exhibition and education programmes, prospective relationship with Helsinki’s existing visual-art institutions, the museum’s potential economic impact and the scope of the Guggenheim Foundation’s involvement in its operation.

Jussi Pajunen, mayor of Helsinki, is driving the project alongside Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

Pajunen said: “It is widely recognized that cultural destinations can help drive economic growth for a country, provided they are created within an intelligent overall plan for development.

“We have such a plan—and the Guggenheim, as a truly global institution, is the ideal institution to collaborate with us in studying how to realize our goals. This is a collaboration that can help Helsinki and Finland prosper in an increasingly interconnected and competitive world.”

The study is expected to conclude at the end of 2011, at which time any initial recommendations about a new Guggenheim Museum would be subject to approval by both the city council of Helsinki and the board of trustees of the Guggenheim Foundation.

Under its current agreement with the foundation, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao must also approve any agreement under which the Guggenheim would manage or operate the new museum.

The principal managers of the study team will be Juan Ignacio Vidarte, deputy director for Global Strategies of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Ari Wiseman, Deputy Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

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