The Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, which will open its new building on December 11, 2009, has much in common with LUMU and the two museums have established cooperation in many areas, said LUMU director Barnabás Bencsik.
A building of this scale and size has not been built for such a purpose in Zagreb in the last 125 years, said director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Snjezana Pintaric. The museum has operated from the start as an international institution: in its more than 50-year history, it has strived to collect such works that show something new and different, she added.
Construction of the new building, designed by the architect
Ivan Franic, began in 2003. Referring to the tradition of functionalist architecture, Frani planned a building that would stand on a major traffic route which is an important link between Zagreb's historical centre and its new districts across the Sava River. The northern side of the building, overlooking the city park, is intended to host open-air exhibitions. The ground level is entirely dedicated to various facilities for visitors, including rooms for workshops in the visual arts, a library with a reading room, a smaller exhibition room, a multimedia auditorium, a museum shop, and a restaurant.
The exhibition rooms are located on three levels, and their variety promotes a flexible relationship between the permanent collection and the rooms for temporary exhibitions, offering various possibilities for realizing even the most demanding exhibition projects.
The new museum building will ensure not only adequate storage and the exhibition of its Collection, but also a great variety of programmes that will take place on a daily basis, including workshops in the visual arts, film projections, theatre performances, and concerts - making it possible for the Museum to become a vibrant meeting point for various types of audiences.
The collections of the museum include some twelve thousand contemporary artworks, created by Croatian and foreign artists.
Author: Éva Kelemen / LUMU
Photo: Dániel Kováts
