CityCenter's Public Art

CityCenter, is a joint venture of MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World, and it will be a vertical city that opens in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts in late 2009. The more than $8 billion development combines approximately 2,650 private residences; two 400-room non-gaming boutique hotels; a dramatic 61-story, 4,000-room resort casino; and a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district into a single urban core.

And today, MGM MIRAGE unveiled a $40 million Public Art Program for CityCenter.

Opening in late 2009, CityCenter will feature works by acclaimed artists including Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Rubins, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Frank Stella, Henry Moore and Richard Long, among others. Validating CityCenter’s status as a cultural destination of worldwide significance, the CityCenter Fine Art Program will feature numerous sculptures and fine art installations in both interior and exterior locations to create a dynamic and enriching fine art collection. The program is designed to become a benchmark for enlightened corporate involvement with the arts on a global level and will be one of the world’s largest and most ambitious corporate art programs. Additional pieces will be announced at a later date.

“CityCenter will be an international architectural achievement that integrates the talents of world-renowned artists, architects and designers in one development; it will be a landmark of global taste and style,” said Terry Lanni, Chairman and CEO of MGM MIRAGE. “The CityCenter Fine Art Program will be the first initiative of its kind to merge public and corporate interests on this grand scale, and we’re proud to deliver this prominent force in contemporary art and culture to Las Vegas.”

Read the NYT story here.

Update: I asked CityCenter if they had any local Las Vegas artists in the group of artists selected for public art; the answer was no.