STEP 2: SELECT A LOCATION
Pardon the pun, but there is an art to figuring out where to locate your private museum. Most benefactors will want the museum to be close to home, near where they (and their social circle) live. But in high-density, costly cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong, centrally located real estate—in fact, land of any description—comes at a steep price. You’re looking at US$14,000 per square metre for a prime spot in central Singapore, double that in Hong Kong.
In the United States, Miami’s Rubell Gallery recently relocated to the gritty industrial neighbourhood of Allapattah. This allowed the private museum housing Don and Mera Rubell’s 7,200-work collection to occupy a vast 9,200sqm block featuring 40 galleries, a theatre, library, bookshop and restaurant.
Your decision: location, location, location? Or: space, space, space? China’s He family, the billionaire clan behind Midea electronics, chose the latter, situating their expansive 16,000sqm He Art Museum in Shunde district in Guangdong province. Opening this month, the museum—built at a cost of some 200 million yuan (more than US$28 million)—will house the family’s impressive collection, including major works by Picasso, Damien Hirst,
Anish Kapoor, Zhang Daqian and Liu Ye.
Mainland China is in the midst of a museum-building spree. Where only a few hundred existed in the 1980s, there are now more than 5,100. Numerous museums have been created on Shanghai’s West Bund—the strip is now crammed with culture. Beijing’s Chaoyang District is another area where visitors are artistically spoilt for choice.
Other countries in Asia are less well served, however, which could be a factor in the decision over where to establish a new institution. “It would be great to see a good-quality contemporary private museum in Singapore,” says Phua Gajardo. “Space or land is always the issue. Taxes and government subsidies, or lack thereof, also pose a challenge.”
According to Hampe, “The whole region needs more institutions; they’re welcome anywhere.” He says aspiring private museum founders should heed the example of entrepreneur Haryanto Adikoesoemo, the driving force behind Museum Macan in Jakarta. “He identified a space in terms of contemporary art museums in Indonesia that just didn’t exist, and he went ahead and resourced a fully operational museum, totally through private funds,” says Hampe admiringly.