Guggenheim's Vegas Gallery Craps Out

The Guggenheim Museum's second venue on the Las Vegas Strip is closing its doors after 7 years. The nonprofit satellite gallery, which presented works from both the New York museum and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, was housed in the decidedly for-profit Venetian Hotel. A larger space folded only 18 months after opening in 2001 because of lack of funds and poor attendance, the Las Vegas Sun reports

Both were designed by Rem Koolhaas. Local art patrons complained that the Guggenheim treated its Vegas outpost as an afterthought. “Among cultural tourists there is an expectation of seeing exhibitions that organize new knowledge with the works of art, said a local museum director. "At Guggenheim, it was more like showcasing great paintings.” Thomas Krens, the Guggenheim Foundation director who spearheaded the museum's global expansion, stepped down in February. (More Las Vegas stories.)