David GOGISHVILI, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Julio PAULOS, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
International media play an important role in the development of cultural flagships such as the Museum of Tomorrow (Rio de Janeiro) or the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi). Cities investing in such endeavours hope to attract large media attention at the very inception of the project idea through to its inauguration and everyday operations. It is argued that media, particularly its international segment, has a crucial role to play in amplifying urban image through the material culture of iconic architecture projects. Thus, cities use them to create, change or disrupt their urban image to be able to compete in the global market for investment and attention. For emerging economies, such as Brazil or the United Arab Emirates, the results have been highly relevant over the past two decades as these countries have invested in various megaprojects, ranging from mega-events to cultural landmarks, in the hope of gaining international attention.
In this study, content analysis of selected international media outlets is used to illustrate the role media plays in the formation of the image of the new cultural flagships and their urban iconicity. Focusing on two iconic architecture projects from emerging economies –Museum of Tomorrow of Santiago Calatrava and Louvre Abu Dhabi of Jean Nouvel– our study examines the international narratives that have evolved around these two iconic museums, and the intensity and importance of the international media coverage. We explore whether exposure to the star architecture projects in the international English language media influences the actions that these novel museums pursue or whether the role of star architecture companies is to guarantee the imaginary prominence of these flagship museums.
Keywords: Cultural flagships|museums|urban image|worlding|star architecture companies
A104487DG