list 04: museums & collections

The Rubell Family Collection (RFC) was established in 1964 in New York City, shortly after its founders Donald and Mera Rubell were married. It is now one of the world’s largest, privately owned contemporary art collections.

In Miami, Florida, since 1993, the RFC is exhibited within a 45,000-square-foot repurposed Drug Enforcement Agency confiscated goods facility and is publicly accessible. The Contemporary Arts Foundation (CAF) was created in 1994 to expand the RFC’s public mission inside the paradigm of a contemporary art museum.

The collection is constantly expanding and features such well-known artists as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker and Andy Warhol. In addition to displaying internationally established artists, the RFC actively acquires, exhibits and champions emerging artists working at the forefront of contemporary art.

Each year the Foundation presents thematic exhibitions drawn from the collection with accompanying catalogs. These exhibitions often travel to museums around the world. Recent exhibitions have been presented at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Palm Springs Art Museum in California and the North Carolina Museum of Art. Sponsors for recent exhibitions have included Bank of America, Puma, Audi, Lanvin and Dedon.

The Foundation has been recognized as a pioneer in what is often referred to as the “Miami model,” whereby private collectors create a new, independent form of public institution.

The Foundation also maintains an internship program, an ongoing lecture series and an extensive artwork loan program to facilitate exhibitions at museums around the world. Its ongoing partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools enables thousands of schoolchildren to visit and engage with the Foundation every year. In addition, the Foundation has a public research library containing over 40,000 volumes and a comprehensive contemporary art bookstore.

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art opened, after several years of preparation, as an international art and cultural center for the display of both Korean art and world art. The late Hoam Lee Byung-chul, the founder of Samsung, had displayed his beloved collections of Korean national treasures and art pieces in the Ho-Am Art Museum, Ho-Am Gallery, and the Rodin Gallery. Inheriting the founder’s will, Mr. Lee Kun-hee, the president of Samsung, has been passionately collecting fine artworks of Korean and international contemporary artists, accumulating and preserving Korean treasures with a high historical value. Now, as a fruit of years of hard work, we are opening the Leeum, Samsung Museum or Art to share with you our outstanding art collection.

The architecture of our museum is a combination of three distinctive styles of three internationally renowned architects, designed to give you a satisfying artistic experience.

The Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art has a Museum 1 and a Museum 2. Museum 1 houses Korean traditional art and Museum 2 exhibits works of art by Korean and international contemporary artists. Furthermore, these museums and the Samsung Child Education and Culture Center, which contributes to the education of future leaders, compose the composite complex. The buildings of The Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art were designed by the internationally renowned architects Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel, and Rem Koolhaas to combine the past, present, and future of art and culture, and are in themselves remarkable artistic experiences.
Leeum desires to be, as an artistic and cultural root, the center of Asian art, and desires to be a leader for the future.

Located on the slopes of the Namsan where you can enjoy nature in the city, The Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art is motivated towards developing Seoul as a city of international culture. It cultivates new cultural geographical structures that connect Seoul’s main cultural facilities, along with the National Museum of Korea and the National Theater. Welcoming the emerging global age, Leeum seeks to be a center of Asian art. It is a museum of new ideas, and bridges the East and the West, with its eye on the future. Please enjoy a new world of art and culture in Leeum, where the past and present coexist, and where art, culture, and people share an urban architectural space in harmony with nature.

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. Initiated in 1984 by Alain Dominique Perrin, President of Cartier International at the time, on a suggestion by the artist César, and directed by Hervé Chandès, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is a unique example of corporate philanthropy in France.

Since moving to Paris in 1994, the Fondation Cartier has been housed in an airy building filled with light that was designed by the architect Jean Nouvel. In this unique setting, exhibitions, conferences and artistic productions come to life.

At once a creative space for artists and a place where art and the general public can meet, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is dedicated to promoting and raising public awareness of contemporary art. Each year, the Fondation Cartier organizes a program of exhibitions based on either individual artists or themes, and commissions work from artists, thus enriching an important collection. It also organizes the Nomadic Nights, a rendezvous that focuses on the performing arts, where artists explore links between the visual arts and other forms of contemporary artistic expression. Exhibitions and the collection itself are frequently sent to institutions abroad, enhancing the Fondation Cartier’s international profile.

As a reflection of our times, the Fondation Cartier embraces all creative fields and genres of contemporary art, ranging from design to photography, from painting to video art and from fashion to performance art. This testifies to the Fondation Cartier’s commitment and skill, to its blend of rigor and eclecticism which opens up contemporary art and renders it more accessible.
Recognized on the international artistic scene and hailed by the public, the Fondation Cartier distinguishes itself by its curiosity, originality and heterogeneity.

Palazzo Grassi. François Pinault was born on August 21, 1936, in Champs-Géraux in Brittany. He established his first wood business in Rennes in 1963. Subsequently, he widened the scope of his activities in different sectors.

In 1999, PPR had become third largest firm in the luxury-goods sector world-wide, after acquiring the Gucci Group (Gucci, Yves Saint-Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi, Boucheron, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Balenciaga).

In 1992, he created Artemis, a private company entirely owned by the Pinault family. Artemis controls the Château-Latour vineyard in Bordeaux, the news magazine Le Point and the daily newspaper l’Agefi. François Pinault also controls the auction house Christie’s, a world leader in the art market, as well as being a controlling shareholder in the Bouygues Group and Vinci.
François Pinault is also the owner of a French premiere league football team, Stade Rennais Football Club, and of the Théâtre Marigny in Paris.

In 2003, François Pinault entrusts his group to his son François-Henri Pinault.

A great lover of art, and one of the largest collectors of contemporary art in the world, François Pinault has decided to share his passion with the greatest number of people possible. In May 2005, he acquired the prestigious Palazzo Grassi in Venice, where he presented a part of his collection during three exhibitions: Where Are We Going?, Post-Pop, and Sequence 1.

In June 2007 François Pinault was selected by the City of Venice to undertake the transformation of Punta della Dogana into a new center for contemporary art, where his collection will be on permanent display. Renovated by Tadao Ando, Punta della Dogana opened the 6th of June 2009.

Solicited by many municipalities, public and private institutions, François Pinault also presents a part of his collection outside of Venice, for instance, the exhibition Passage du Temps at the Tri Postal in Lille (2007), Un certain Etat du Monde? at the Melnikov Garage in Moscow (2009) and Qui a peur des artistes? at Dinard in Brittany (2009).

He was nominated President of the Comité Français in October 2008 and appointed International Adviser to the candidate selection committee for the 2009 Praemium Imperiale. François Pinault was named the most influential person in the world of contemporary art for two years running (2006 and 2007) by the magazine Art Review.

The DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art is a non-profit institution based in Athens, Greece. The Foundation was established in Geneva in 1983 by collector Dakis Joannou, together with curators Adelina von Fürstenberg and Efi Strousa. Ever since, DESTE has been organizing exhibitions and has been supporting projects and publications internationally.

Through an exhibition program that promotes emerging as well as established artists, the DESTE Foundation aims to broaden the audience for contemporary art, to enhance opportunities for young artists and to explore the connections between contemporary art and culture. The flexibility of DESTE’s exhibition schedule enables the Foundation to respond to what is current in the art world and to embark on interesting projects on short notice. DESTE’s program also extends to curatorial projects and special events that explore the connections between art and fashion, music, film, architecture, design, and contemporary culture.

From its inception until 1998, DESTE organized and supported shows in Greece, Cyprus and Switzerland. These shows include Cultural Geometry (1988),

Psychological Abstraction (1989), Artificial Nature (1990), Post Human (1992-1993), and Everything That’s Interesting is New (1996), a series of exhibitions that drew on the holdings of the Dakis Joannou Collection. In 1998 the DESTE Foundation moved to its first permanent space in Neo Psychico, Athens, where an ambitious exhibition program developed, including Global Vision (1999), Jeff Koons’ A Millennium Celebration (1999-2000) and Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s Masters of the Universe (2000). As part of the Athens 2004 Cultural Program, the DESTE Foundation mounted Monument to Now, the Foundation’s most ambitious project to date, a group show with more than 60 participating artists, curated by Dan Cameron, Jeffrey Deitch, Allison Gingeras, Massimiliano Gioni and Nancy Spector.

Since January 2006, DESTE has been housed in a renovated former sock factory in Nea Ionia, Athens. The exhibition program of the new space was inaugurated by Panic Room (2006-2007), a group show with works on paper from The Dakis Joannou Collection, and by the Yellow Room Projects Anathena (2006-2007) and Part Time Punks (2007), both of which were selected through an open call. Recent DESTE shows

include Fractured Figure (2007–2008) and A GUEST + A HOST = A GHOST (2009).

Apart from the shows that draw on works from the Dakis Joannou Collection, the DESTE Foundation also initiates a number of ongoing projects: the DESTE Prize, awarded biannually to an emerging Greek artist, the Hydra Slaughterhouse Project and the destefashioncollection.

To further support its mission, DESTE has also established the Contemporary Greek Artists’ Archive, a helpful resource for curators and researchers, as well as a specialized art library which is open to the public.

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) is a comprehensive, not-for-profit art center serving a global Beijing public. Located at the heart of the 798 Art District, it was founded by collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens and opened in November 2007 . Through a wide array of exhibitions and programs, UCCA promotes the development of the local artistic environment, fosters international exchange, and showcases the latest in art, design, and other fields. UCCA’s cultural and educational programs bring the public into close contact with cutting -edge thought in art and the humanities, advancing the public cultural sensibility and bringing new experiences to its audience.

Fondation Beyeler. During his fifty years as an art dealer Ernst Beyeler was constantly collecting art. In time, this required him to make provisions for the future of his pictures and sculptures. The most obvious solution would have been to bequest the works to the Kunstmuseum Basel. However, when the government of the canton Basel City put forward suggestions for a new home for the collection, it soon became apparent that none of these locations could do justice to the works of art.

So the foundation was launched and with it came the idea of building a museum specifically to house the collection. Ernst Beyeler was excited by the vision of combining groups of works by major artists from the last hundred years with sculptures from Africa and Oceania in a compatible setting. However, this setting had yet to be created. Having been highly impressed by the work of Renzo Piano, who designed the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Menil Collection in Houston, he commissioned the acclaimed Italian architect without competition to design the new museum.

The beautiful grounds of the Villa Berower estate, provided by the municipality of Riehen, offered ideal surroundings for a museum intended as a home for Monet’s Water Lilies. The idea of creating an exciting synthesis of nature, daylight and art could not have met with more favourable conditions. There was something altogether painterly about the meadow parkland with its richly varied vegetation. Ernst Beyeler and Renzo Piano engaged in an extensive exchange of ideas throughout the entire process of planning and building the museum. From the outset Renzo Piano proposed building a museum tract that would consist of three sections integrated into the terrain in a series of steps. A section was added along the building’s eastern side – like the side deck of an aircraft carrier – which also screened the museum from the main road. To the west, an adjoining winter garden opens up a view of the countryside as it sweeps down towards the river Wiese at the foot of the Tüllinger Hill.

Renzo Piano paid considerable attention to the design of the roof, seeking ways of allowing the changing phases of daylight to be experienced inside the galleries while abiding by conservation requirements. The building was designed to radiate simplicity while maintaining harmony with its setting. Ernst Beyeler’s wish that visitors should be able to experience the museum and its collection on a single floor without the need to climb stairs, and that a pond be created outside the south-facing façade, was fulfilled by sinking the entire complex to a lower level in the ground. This draws the museum into closer communion with the landscape as well as lending it a more intimate character.

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. We host exhibitions, programs and events that explore and celebrate art by Arab artists and offer an Arab perspective on international modern and contemporary art. We hope you will use us as an inspiring space for dialogue and scholarship about modern and contemporary art in the region, the Arab diaspora, and beyond. Our story really begins more than twenty years ago, when our patron and founder H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani first began to imagine what an Arab Museum of Modern Art might look like. He started to build a collection that could serve artists and public as a rich and representative treasure-house of modern Arab art. And he saw this collection as a starting point, to create more opportunities for artists and for art-lovers in Doha and around the world.

What to do with an unmatched collection of Arab art – over six thousand pieces, representing every decade since the mid-19th century and every major production center?We have formed a team to bring it to the world.Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art is our friendly, beautiful, modern space, where we invite you to look at the thriving art production of the Arab world, Iran, and Turkey.This is a remarkable time for cultural initiatives across the region. Mathaf’s growing collection represents a priceless resource to help connect our rich cultural heritages to the promise of contemporary art movements.Based in Qatar, looking forward into the 21st century, we want to offer a platform for all kinds of local and international visitors, scholars, artists, collectors and enthusiasts to meet, converse and engage more closely with the art of the Arab world and beyond.

Zabludowicz Collection. Founded in 1994 by Poju and Anita Zabludowicz, this dynamic and growing collection spans four decades of art, from the 1970s to today, and exhibits in venues in the UK, USA and Finland. The collection actively creates new opportunities for audiences to engage with emerging art, and supports arts organisations and artists around the world. Its activities are shaped by an ethos of philanthropy and a commitment to engaging with local contexts and communities.

De Pont museum of contemporary art. De Pont has been named after the attorney and businessman J.H. de Pont (1915-1987), whose estate provided for the establishment of a foundation to stimulate contemporary visual art in 1988. In the southern Dutch city of Tilburg.

De Pont is housed in a former woolspinning mill that has been transformed by Benthem Crouwel Architects into a space where contemporary art can be seen at its best. The vast, light main area of the monumental old factory and the intimate ‘wool-storage rooms’ constitute a beautiful environment for the many works of art that De Pont has collected since its opening to the public in September 1992. The acquisition policy aims at accentuating not the breadth but rather the depth of collecting, for which roughly three large exhibitions per year serve as the breeding ground. The additional program of smaller solo presentations in the project space is not directly related to the collection.