In Rovereto the oeuvre of Mario Botta in his own museum
MúzeumCafé 22.
One of the most outstanding figures of contemporary architecture Mario Botta quotes one of his masters, Louis I. Khan on the occasion of a large-scale exhibition presenting his designs of half a century in Mart, Rovereto, later scheduled for the Dürrenmatt Centre in Neuchatel. Botta not only quotes the right person but also at the right place, since the museum where his retrospective exhibition was held belongs to his very personal past. He designed the Mart between 1988 and 1992, and it was built accordingly between 1999 and 2002. The museum still very much represents the present, partly because it was the first design by Botta for a large-scale museum building to be constructed and as a continuation he has made several successful designs, which puts him among the genre’s most successful architects. It’s also partly because, as the exhibition Museums of the 21st Century held in parallel with Botta’s shows, Mart is one of the best examples of how a museum building can incorporate tradition while being constructed of the most up-to-date building materials with the latest technology, and how an organic connection can be created between past and present, a building and its environs, a museum interior and the collection or temporary exhibitions on display there. Since the Guggenheim Museum was built in Bilbao or the Tate Modern in London was created in an old industrial building, these issues have been raised again and again but with a different emphasis than before. The great success and the power to promote cultural tourism of the building designed by Frank O. Gehry emphasises that a museum may become an urban centre of leisure time, thus generating a community besides presenting a collection. However, there is also the danger that a museum collection becomes secondary to the architecture.