After exhibiting in London, Los Angeles and Hong-Kong, the contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth is opening a brand new space. Hauser and Wirth is opening a new private viewing space in Monaco. The mega-gallery, which has opened a string of spaces outside of metropolitan capitals in recent years, is debuting the new Cote d’Azur gallery on June 19.
The Monaco gallery’s inaugural show will be a solo outing dedicated to artist Louise Bourgeois. It will become the first gallery with an international presence to have a space in the principality. The artist’s monumental bronze Spider from 1996 will take residence in the gallery’s gardens from June until September. Two large suspended aluminium sculptures from 2004 will be on view inside the new gallery.
The Monaco location, which will also include a private viewing room, measures just over 3,100 square feet, with 30-foot-high ceilings, and has been designed by the gallery’s longtime architectural collaborator Selldorf Architects. The Bourgeois exhibition will present a combination of the artist’s sculptures, installations, and works on paper and be accompanied by one of her famed “Spider” sculptures, which be installed in the gardens adjacent to the gallery’s building.
The new venue will “play a part in the continuing revival of the art scene in Monaco,” says gallery president Iwan Wirth in a statement. The wealthy tax-haven city-state has long been a retreat for the ultra-rich. The opulent coastal town has been trying to establish a burgeoning art scene in recent years through events like Monaco Art Week and the fair Art Monte-Carlo.
The Monaco space, located along the famed Côte d’Azur, is an extension of Hauser & Wirth’s efforts to open galleries outside traditional art capitals. In addition to Menorca, it also has a space in Somerset, in the English countryside, and ones in Southampton, New York, and St. Moritz, Switzerland, both of which are seasonal resort communities. In his statement, Wirth added, “This is something we have always done. But it’s an even more important step given the impact of events over the last year during which we have sought out new ways to present and sell works of art.”