Guggenheim Las Vegas Planned

L A S &nbsp V E G A S, July 15 -- The Guggenheim Museum and slot machines aren’tusually mentioned together, but a potential deal to bring aGuggenheim branch to this gambling mecca might inject somerefinement into a city defined by neon signs and cheap buffets.

The Venetian hotel-casino is talking to the museum aboutcreating the new Guggenheim outpost on a parcel adjacent to theresort’s parking garage.

“I think Las Vegas could use a little culture,” MarvinRoffman, a gambling analyst for Roffman Miller Associates, saidFriday.

The 35,000-square-foot building on the Strip would serve as avenue for shows from the New York-based museum, and would bedesigned by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, the Los Angeles Times andThe Wall Street Journal reported Friday. It also would be the first significant collaboration betweensuch an institution and a hotel-casino in the United States.

Frank Gehry May Design

Venetian and museum officials offered few details on thetalks. A Guggenheim spokesman said the museum would not comment.

“We are in discussions with the Guggenheim and notablearchitects, but nothing is final at this stage,” Venetianspokesman Kurt Ouchida said. “The final design is still underdevelopment.”

As early as next year, the Guggenheim plans to lend its popular“The Art of the Motorcycle” show to the Venetian, the newspapersreported. Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry has been asked todesign the exhibit.

The Times also reported Gehry and Guggenheim director ThomasKrens have been in talks with Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson toexpand the Guggenheim’s presence at the $1.5 billion hotel-casinowhen the resort expands.

Gallery Hopping on the Strip The Guggenheim might have to compete with the PhillipsCollection of Washington, D.C., which is negotiating with MGMMirage to have an exhibit at the Bellagio hotel-casino.

But whether tourists really want to view a Picasso in betweenplaying slot machines and blackjack remains to be seen.