07 Feb 2020
Building work delays opening of Oslo's £250m Munch Museum
BY Lauren Heath-Jones
The opening of the hotly-anticipated Munchsmeet (Munch Museum) in Oslo, Norway, has been pushed back due to building delays.
According to a spokesperson for the museum, the hold up has been caused by a failure of the internal climate system to meet regulation standards, as well as unexpected delays in the delivery of the fire and security doors.
The museum, worth a reported NOK3bn (£250m, US$320m, €300m), was originally set to open in June but is now scheduled to open in Q3. It will celebrate the life and work of renowned Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch.
It will feature an impressive collection of 45,000 objects - including 1,100 paintings, 6,800 drawings and 18,200 graphic artworks donated to the city by the artist himself. Exhibits will be spread across 13-floors in a new 26,000 sq m (280,000 sq ft) building, designed by Spanish architecture firm Estudio Hereros, by the waterside in Oslo's Bjorvika neighbourhood.
"The building is such a massive project, it's simply delayed. We're just working out the logistics," said British artist Tracey Emin, who created the opening exhibition for the museum, speaking to The Art Newspaper.
"The upside for me is, the longer the delay, the longer I have to enjoy the Munch archive."
Emin's exhibition will explore the parallels between both artists work, as well as Emin's relationship to Munch, who she has previously described as her 'hero'.
Additionally, Emin has created a 9 m (30 ft) bronze sculpture of a kneeling woman, entitled The Mother, inspired by Emin's own mother, which will be permanently installed outside the museum in October. Emin beat out competition from six other artists, including Olafur Eliasson and Ragnar Kjartansson for the commission.
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