Culture, Capital and Creativity The Guggenheim Legacy

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here. It's my uh honor and privilege to introduce today Dylan Laosen Johnson, a distinguished member of the Guggenheim family and a visionary leader in the creative industries. Dylan represent the new generation of the Guggenheim legacy that started with Mayor Guggenheim. Dylan, thank you and welcome in Abu Dhabi.

Thank you.

Now, Dylan, the Guggenheim story began with your greatgrandfather, Mayor Guggenheim, mining empire. Later, it transformed by Solomon Guggenheim into a global cultural legacy. How did your family origin shape the identity and mission of the Guggenheim Museums today?

So, I'd say everything that my family has ever done has really been rooted in a very simple formula, which is identify people who are the very very best at what they do. Challenge those people to be as innovative as possible and then encourage them and support them to persevere in order to achieve remarkable results. Um, and that was certainly the case when my great great-grandfather Solomon Guggenheim founded the museum in New York and hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design the building and has carried true across our entire constellation of global museums and the teams and the partners that we have behind those.

How did you enter into the museum yourself uh as part of your family legacy? Yeah. So, I've always been very um involved in sort of engaging our next generation of of of viewers and people who could come visit the museum. So, I'm I run and chair a group called the Young Collectors Council, which is how do you get kids aged 25 to 40 to show up and spend time in in sort of our various locations and and really, you know, pick their head up from their phones and and really be present and spend time in the museum. So uh it's a great program and I'm I've been very fortunate to sort of pilot it and looking forward to bringing a very similar program here to Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

There is currently Guggenheim museums in several countries around in New York, Bilbao, Spain, Venice, Italy. Each one represent a new way of art and that affected and shaped the cultural landscape in each city. Which one you felt that made the most impact culturally? socially in each one of those cities.

The answer to that is, I think, undoubtedly Guggenheim, Bill Bao. I mean, prior to the Guggenheim opening its doors there, Bill Bao was really a run-down industrial city that lacked any sort of real identity. Uh, and then once we opened the museum there, I mean, it fundamentally transformed the city into a global cult cultural destination. Um, you know, it's funny. There's even a urban planning term that refers to how a cultural institution like the Guggenheim can change the the trajectory of a city called the Guggenheim effect, which is a term I'm very fond of.

Now, your family relationship in Abu Dhabi started two decades ago with your grandfather and your father. uh wanted to understand a little bit what inspired that early partnership between your family and Abu Dhabi. What at that time your family saw in Abu Dhabi to facilitate this partnership?

Yeah, so you know the partnership was really inspired by Abu Dhabi's vision for what Saudi Island could be. Um you know they saw the success of what happened in Bil Bao. They understood the model. Um, and like everything that Abu Dhabi does, they envisioned it on a much grander scale. Um, and it's been an amazing partnership, really founded in in mutual ambition and mutual sort of long-term partnership.

Would you like to share with the public where do we stand today in the museum in Abu Dhabi?

Oh man, don't quote me. Um, I you know, I think things are things are going really well. Construction is going really well. Um hopefully construction will be wrapping up in the next couple months. Um and then hopefully by sometime uh middle to late next year we'll open our doors.

But please don't quote me on that one.

How do you see this project impacting the culture in the region, the art, uh everything related to Guggenheim museums? How do you see that contributing to the region? Yeah, I mean I think it is a monumental opportunity for Abu Dhabi to really further establish itself as a global cultural destination. You know, for us, it's an amazing opportunity to show our collection to the region and and and you know, bring bring a phenomenal collection of both Middle Eastern artists and um our family collection to here. But for them, I think it really is going to anchor what is being built in on the in the cultural district and I think be at the forefront of innovation for a very long time.

Are you uh working with any specific art artist from the region or anyone that will add to the depth of your family collection here? We are working with many many artists from the region and I can't announce that yet but it's um it's a really phenomenal group and our curation team has done an amazing job working with a local team as well in partnership with the department of culture and tourism who have been unbelievable partners on the project. Um so all I can say is that it'll be very exciting and it'll be distinctly different than the other museums that exist here. You know it'll be very different than the Louve. it'll be totally different experience and things will rotate in and out uh as they do.

So it's it's something to be very excited about.

Now moving to a different dimension which is the business aspect. Uh Dylan, you and your business partner Chris recently launched Guggenheim Brothers Media which inmire we're very excited about and we're happily going to be part of your investors. This is focused on uh emerging businesses across media, entertainment and the digital creators economy. How do you uh envisage this fund and this investment to be? Why you're focusing on it?

Is it driven by your personal uh uh personal vision or it's a family legacy? just if you can tell us a little bit about the media business that you're gonna uh champion.

Yeah, absolutely. And we're and we're very excited to be partnering as well. Um so, you know, I think I've touched on it. You know, my family has certainly believes in the power of creativity to drive culture forward. Uh and professionally, I've spent my entire career really ingrained in the media and entertainment industry.

And I, you know, we're wi we're witnessing a real fundamental shift in the industry right now. So, you know, the creator economy is really maturing there. There's new IP emerging in different formats and technology is really democratizing how content is created, consumed, distributed. And we felt that there was this huge opportunity to create a very specialized in investment vehicle focused on supporting these creative founders. and the the firm that we're founding it it's we are able to really first understand the creative process but also balance that with the headaches and the sort of hurdles of scaling an early stage business and we feel if we can be that partner that is going to set up these founders for the best long-term success.

Um, and it's it's proven out already and we've been able to really prove out that thesis and really make a name for oursel and supporting early stage creative founders and then having something like the Guggenheim Museum as sort of a a creative hub for us to you know spend time in is is certainly helps.

Now you are moving with your wife and the two daughters to Abu Dhabi January to start this business. H why did you pick Abu Dhabi to lead your media uh investments and business? What have you seen in Abu Dhabi to help you to build this next chapter of your professional life?

It's honestly pretty simple. I think um you know I I believe that Abu Dhabi is one of the most forwardthinking creative and digital hubs and that's an area that we spend time in from an investment standpoint. Obviously, the museum being here in my role there uh plays a big role in that, but I I I couldn't think of anywhere else I'd rather be to set up sort of the next generation of Guggenheim family businesses and part of that is making sure we align with the best partners possible. Um, and we have starting to find those here. What is the main drivers to the entertainment business in the region and how do you see our region evolving into the entertainment industry as you're aware uh so far uh in the region this business or this type of businesses has just started.

Do you see opportunities potential in the region or you going to be championing it from here but investing abroad?

It's a great question. you know, we've we've witnessed Abu Dhabi build a lot of, you know, large studio space and sort of these big items around building the infrastructure for sort of more traditional film and television. I think there is a huge opportunity to sort of bring the picks and shovels for those larger plays um here and whether that's investing globally but bringing those companies and tying them back into the region or looking for opportunities here that can play a key component in making the bigger thing successful. Also, we're really really keen on continuing to develop what's happening in the creator economy. And there's a there's just many great stories to tell here and and great people doing it already.

And if we can help provide those digital creators with the tools and resources they need to do their job better and reach better audience and help monetize that audience, um we really want to own that space.

Thank you for that. In closing remarks, how would you like ultimately to be seen in the next future years as somebody who's holding this legacy, starting something new, moving to a new country, all of these things? How do you want that to be remembered? And how do you think you're going to shape the next future years for the Guggenheim legacy? It is my is my hope that you know the Guggenheim name will always stand for a champion of people, a champion of creativity, a champion of innovation and a champion of perseverance.

And I think that is really important to me. you know, as a as a steward of a legacy, you know, your reputation matters, your word matters, what you say matters, and it's important that I carry on this this family legacy in a way that uh that will last. Um, and and doing that with again with the right partners, surrounding yourself with the right people, um, and you know, building together and being collaborative. And that's that's how I want to run business. And that I think the next generation of Guggenheim family businesses is going to look different than the the previous ones, but it'll be rooted in those principles of championing people, championing perseverance, championing creativity.

Good luck, Dylan, for you, your wife, your family in Abu Dhabi. We're excited to see the museum soon and hopefully all the luck in the new business that you're building here. Thank you all for attending this session and thanks for our guest, Dylan. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I hope that all of you will come and spend time in the museum when it opens. Um, and please reach out to me. Um, happy to have any more conversations and and talk about the museum or anything.

Thank you. Thank you.