When the Denver Art Museum unveiled its $110 million addition, it pledged that the sleek, unconventional structure would take the city’s signature art institution in a more ambitious, and global, direction.
Three years and considerable criticism later, it is finally delivering on that promise. Suddenly, Denver’s staid art showplace is taking splashy steps to show off its new international attitude.
A little less than a month ago, the museum marked two firsts when it elevated the German-born Christoph Heinrich, 49, from its curatorial ranks to be its next director. He is the first non-American and first contemporary-art specialist to lead the museum, better known for historical art from the American West and Latin America.
And Saturday, in what is no coincidence, the museum opens “Embrace!” — a massive cutting-edge exhibition that brings together works by 17 of today’s top artists from around the world. It is the first major show that Heinrich, who arrived in October 2007, has organized in Denver.
A second opening
Heinrich frames “Embrace!” as a second opening for the Hamilton Building, which debuted three years ago and sparked heated debate about the pros and cons of architect Daniel Libeskind’s jutting, sharply angled architecture.
Some critics complained that the building’s flamboyant architecture overshadowed the art it was meant to showcase. Others found its spiky shapes and titanium cladding cold and off-putting. A few even charged that the sloped interior walls gave them vertigo.
Heinrich agrees the museum took risks with the structure.
“It’s just a good moment to remind yourself that this was an enormously bold thing that the city of Denver, that the citizens of Denver did,” Heinrich said. “You don’t have a museum like this in the whole country, the whole world. It’s really very special.”
But “Embrace!” also can be seen as a new start for the entire institution, which boasts a collection of more than 68,000 objects and an annual operating budget of $16.5 million.
The ambitious, contemporary and international flavor of this exhibition, which will run through April 4, signals the kind of future that can be expected at the Denver Art Museum under Heinrich.
New perspectives
“Christoph comes from a different place, and he brings new, exciting and different perspectives. This show is very much a function of someone coming in and saying, ‘Why haven’t you tried that?’ ” said Dean Sobel, director of Denver’s Clyfford Still Museum.
While Heinrich has emphasized that he does not want to turn the institution into a contemporary art museum, “Embrace!” makes clear that art created in the present will have an important place under his leadership.
Whether that will alienate longtime patrons remains to be seen. No doubt the historical collections will continue to dominate, but they will share attention with the new bent toward the new.
“They’re putting a lot of resources toward a show of very recent art, which I think happened once in a while at the Denver Art Museum, but it’s happening in a very significant way with this show. It really sort of announces the contemporary program as well,” Sobel said.
No artist said no
Other evidence of the museum’s enhanced focus on the contemporary can be seen in its addition of Kent Logan, a nationally known collector of vanguard art, to its board and an aggressive program in the native-arts department to raise funds to purchase major works by today’s top African artists.
To find the participants for “Embrace!,” Heinrich looked beyond international borders and art-world fame. He invited 17 artists, including Tobias Rehberger, winner of the top prize at this year’s Venice Biennale, to take part, and no one said no.
They were invited to custom-make pieces that address or embrace the Hamilton Building’s distinctive architecture. And in more firsts for the museum, the artists worked on-site as visitors looked on, transforming walls, corners and other spaces that in many cases were never originally intended to exhibit art.
“His stamp” on structure
The result is an exhibition that not only sets a new, daring tone for the institution but also gives visitors an opportunity to see the Hamilton Building in an entirely new way and to understand how it can be put to productive use going forward.
“Christoph is now the director-to-be. It’s three years into the building. It makes perfect sense that he would put his stamp on a very significant structure with a very significant curatorial project,” said Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, director and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum.
With Heinrich and “Embrace!” the museum’s future starts now.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
