In a surprise announcement this morning, the Deutsche Guggenheim said that it will close at the end of the year. Opened in 1997 with an impressive exhibition of Robert Delaunay, the museum attracted over 1.8 million visitors in its 57-exhibition lifespan. 

What the future holds for the partnership between the Deutsche Bank and the Guggenheim Foundation after the end of the Deutsche Guggenheim seems unclear, and was presented in deliberately vague terms. “Plans are underway to reformulate the relationship between the two organizations,” Josef Ackermann, chairman of Deutsche Bank’s management board said. He added that the space the museum currently inhabits on Berlin’s Unter den Linden will be used for a new collaborative project focusing on the dialogue between business, politics, and culture.

Richard Armstrong, director of the Guggenheim Foundation added, “This has been a unique collaboration that has not only provided a vital and dynamic exhibition space in one of the most vibrant cities in the world, but has also resulted in the creation of many outstanding new works of art by some of the most important artists of our time… We are looking forward to the next phase of our relationship and collaboration.”

Despite the major names and high-quality exhibitions which made the Deutsche Guggenheim one of Berlin’s most important museums from a purely technical perspective, the museum never seemed to grab the hearts and minds of Berlin’s creative community. Where institutions such as the Hamburger Bahnhof or KW manage consistently to bring in throngs of cool kids for their openings, the Deutsche Guggenheim’s audience was decidedly older. Whether it was the museum’s explicit corporate backing or its location on what amounts to Berlin’s tourist super-highway, there was always a strange sense that it didn’t quite understand its native audience.

For its final three exhibitions, the museum will present Roman Ondák (Deutsche Bank’s “Artist of the Year” for 2012), followed by Gabriel Orozco in the summer, and Cindy Sherman to close out the year.