Keystone-SDA
The feasibility studies of the Museum of Contemporary Art Museum (Mac) on an old missile base in Middes (FR) are completed and were deposited with the authorities. The “relevance” of the site is confirmed, according to the project leaders. The latter, which is the subject of a controversy, was resized in April.
(Keystone-ATS) “The feasibility studies relating to the Middes Art Center project confirm the relevance of the project on the Middes site and its consistency with the requirements of the regional planning law,” the Mac said on MOS MODA.
The Mac project, whose investment is estimated at nearly 16 million francs, is expected to generate more than 12 million direct benefits for regional and cantonal companies. The indirect fallout for the regional economy will be greater than 1 million per year, can be read in the press release.
Unique in Switzerland, the project proposes to transform an old missile base into a cultural center. “The works of artists witnessing the east/west division acquired by the Leschot Foundation will rekindle collective memory on the Cold War,” said the Mac.
14,000 visitors expected per year
Concretely, the project provides that former bunkers formerly housing missiles are converted into an exhibition space of works of contemporary art. The old databases of missiles on the hill will accommodate contemporary art sculptures. An exhibition space will be built on a floor surface of 6,000 m2 maximum. The site, currently poor in biodiversity, will be renatured on 80,000 m2.
According to the project leaders, “investing a military base, a decentralized site or an old industrial site to make it a cultural and contemporary art center corresponds to a current trend in Europe, of which the Museum inli Hombroich is part, located on an old NATO missile base near Düsseldorf”. The Mac could eventually count on an attendance of 14,000 visitors per year, or 300 weekly visits.
Mandate to the Grand Council
The Leschot Foundation announced in April that it had resized the project, which had aroused opposition from residents and the political world. In February, ten interparts deputies as well as 48 co -signers filed a mandate asking to withdraw the museum project of the cantonal master plan.
Their argument underlines the “inconsistencies” of the project which “will disperse tourists outside the tourist poles where such infrastructure must be concentrated”. In addition, the military buildings supposed to welcome the museum are outside the building area.
Finally, the museum will disperse the “public resources”, in a “tense” budgetary context, underlined the elected officials, by evoking a “high risk” of deficit, whose coverage would fall to the taxpayer.