The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2001–2003
The Guggenheim brought the Art of the Motorcycle to Las Vegas for 15 months
The Rem Koolhaas-designed Guggenheim at The Venetian opened in October 2001 with one exhibition and shut 15 months later; the gallery became a showroom.
Guggenheim Las Vegas · The Venetian · Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation · 2003-01
What happened
On 7 October 2001 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and The Venetian opened Guggenheim Las Vegas — a 63,700-square-foot gallery designed by Rem Koolhaas's OMA, built at a cost of $25 million inside the casino resort. It staged exactly one exhibition: The Art of the Motorcycle.
The timing broke it. Post-9/11 tourism to Las Vegas fell, attendance disappointed, and serious critics scoffed at motorcycles as museum material. When the show's run ended, neither partner could fund a successor: underwriting costs were high, and the Guggenheim Foundation was retrenching, cutting budgets and shelving a planned $950 million New York museum.
The exhibition closed in January 2003 after 15 months, and Venetian president Rob Goldstein conceded the museum 'didn't have the commercial viability I thought it would.' The Venetian then spent more than another $25 million converting the Koolhaas gallery into a showroom for stage productions. The smaller Guggenheim Hermitage gallery at the resort's entrance held on until 2008.
Why it happened
- A 63,700-square-foot gallery needed blockbuster attendance to pay its overhead; post-9/11 Las Vegas tourism couldn't provide it.
- With only one exhibition ever staged, the museum's fate was tied to a single show — and no sponsor appeared for a second.
- The Guggenheim Foundation was retrenching globally at the same moment, leaving the joint venture alone with its costs.
The lesson
The Guggenheim bet a $25M gallery on one exhibition, in a city hit by a tourism slump. Fifteen months later the motorcycles rolled out and a showroom rolled in — for another $25M.
Aftermath
The space became a showroom for large-scale stage productions; the neighbouring Guggenheim Hermitage gallery continued until 2008.
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2003 — Las Vegas Venetian Resort's Pop Culture Museum Folds (opened 2001; exhibition closed January 2003 after a 15-month run; built for $25 million, conversion to theater to cost more than $25 million; 63,700-square-foot space; only exhibition The Art of the Motorcycle hurt by post-9/11 tourism downturn; replacement exhibition abandoned over high underwriting costs and Guggenheim Foundation budget cuts; Venetian president Rob Goldstein: 'it didn't have the commercial viability I thought it would'; Guggenheim Hermitage gallery remained open at about 1,000 visitors daily)
- BBC News, January 2003 — Las Vegas Guggenheim shuts (museum closing 15 months after opening; closure described as part of a radical cost-cutting exercise at the Guggenheim Foundation, alongside a scrapped $950 million New York museum plan)
- Wikipedia — Guggenheim Las Vegas (museum at The Venetian, opened 2001 and closed 2003; designed by Rem Koolhaas; hosted only one exhibition, The Art of the Motorcycle)
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