Guy Beres

Probably a couple of decades ago, Bilbao was just another declining port town in the Basque-dominated North of Spain, with not a great deal going for it. Frank Gehry’s shimmering Guggenheim Museum has now changed all that forever, transforming the town into an arts hub, and fuelling its ongoing development with tourist euros. This quaint little town now boasts one of the world’s most modern and attractive mass transit systems, convenient buses, trams, and added to that, a very walkable city centre. Further dynamic and creative infrastructure projects are afoot. Meanwhile, to the south and east of the city, near Casco Viejo (the “old town”), life still seems to carry on as it always has for decades and decades. Locals flock to the flower markets on a Sunday, with every second person you see clutching an attractive bouquet of exotic flowers, young and old. Comparatively, in the northern half of the city, it is almost as if aliens have landed.   

Yes, before you ask, that is a giant West Highland Terrier (courtesy Jeff Koons) made from sculpted foliage and flowers. It is amazing and inspiring to think that the construction of one building can lead to such an atmosphere of creativity and growth. Walking around Bilbao, change and rejuvenation was evident everywhere you looked. For example, one cannot imagine that a hotel looking like this one (the Hesperia Bilbao) would have appeared if the Guggenheim had not preceded it. The colourful ideas of the good and great have been unshackled and allowed to roam free, and the city is all the more richer for it.   

And all this happened, let’s not forget, because someone out there in local government had faith that Gehry’s twisted, child-like doodle of a structure could be turned into a reality, and that somehow, it would work. Well work it did - probably beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Small-minded bureaucrats, the world over, please take careful note.

ELSEWHERE: JG Ballard’s thoughts in the Guardian are well worth a read.