Pearl River The Organizers’ Forum recently visited Bilbao in Spain. In making the agenda we had to deal with the fact that many people, especially in contemporary North American and perhaps globally only know the city culturally, because of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. To go one step farther, most only know the museum because of the unique architectural design and accomplishment of Frank Gehry and the shapes and materials used to fabricate the exterior and cladding of the museum.
Our conundrum was simple: should we schedule time for people to visit? The whole point of the Forum is meeting with similar organizations and projects in another country. No way that an art museum made that list. At the end of another meeting, as we looked for a place to eat, down the street, we could see the larger-than-life Gehry creation at a distance. In a game time decision, we gave people the option after dinner of going on back to handle their own business or, if some wanted, they could run down to the Guggenheim before it closed in the next hour, which four of our number chose. Their verdict was simple: interesting structure, boring art.
That verdict was kinder than what we learned of the Guggenheim’s operations in this part of Spain towards the end of our visit when we met with David Henderson and he detailed the huge campaign in recent years to prevent the expansion of the museum elsewhere in Basque Country in the Guggenheim Urdaibai expansion project as part of a massive tourism development. The Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve on the Bay of Biscay coast in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, where they wanted to locate the museum, is a UNESCO recognized site. 600 different species of birds can be seen there, which is what first triggered Henderson’s interest. The town is small and the impact on the biosphere and the entire area would be huge forcing the campaign of locals, environmentalists, and others to be equally large.
The Guggenheim Urdaibai STOP campaign mobilized people throughout the region to try and block the expansion with actions, rallies, and petitions. Greenpeace, WWF, Ecologists in Action, Friends of the Earth and SEO/BirdLife were among the environmental groups that joined the effort. They had sent many letters to the Guggenheim Foundation asking them to backoff their proposal, including whether they would have proposed an expansion of their museum in Yellowstone Park or Grand Canyon, equivalent fragile, park environments in the United States. It was shocking to learn that the Guggenheim Foundation was playing this almost like a Trump branding project, where they would be putting up none of their own money, but lending their name and perhaps some art to what would be a publicly funded operation.
Henderson was a key organizer. We had met him earlier at a Basque cultural center and radio station. Born Irish, he had been in the Bilbao area for decades, living, working, and birding. He showed us PowerPoint slides of the fight, including the huge celebration when the Foundation caved in and withdrew its proposal. In December 2025, the Guardian reported,
…the foundation announced that the project had been abandoned “in light of the territorial, urban planning and environmental constraints and limitations”. It added: “New alternatives will be explored in order to face the challenge of elaborating a proposal that responds to the museum’s objective of growing in order to remain a leading cultural institution internationally and a driving force in the Basque Country’s cultural, economic and social scene.”
It turned out that the celebration was perhaps premature. The Guggenheim Foundation may have buckled from the heat, but the Basque and Spanish government had not cried “uncle.” After three years, the campaign continues now on a new level. It will be worth following on this side of the water, whether Guggenheim is really the zombie in this affair, hoping to come back to life heedless of the impact.