Sadly, today is Phillippa's last day with us, and as a parting gift, she's written up a list of her top five contemporary art galleries in mainland Europe, complete with map.1. Kiasma
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Kiasma manages to be vibrant, relevant, exciting, desperately contemporary and a serious player on the world stage as well as genuinely local, even though Helsinki is only the size of a teapot. The cinnamon buns in the cafe are also fabulous.
What to do afterwards: It’s always sauna time in Finland. Have a sauna.
2. Guggenheim
Location: Bilbao, Spain
Just look at it! Who wouldn’t travel for hours across the Pyrenees to go here? The Guggenheim in Bilbao would be number one on this list if it wasn’t such a bummer to get to. I cried – and not only because I’d just spent the night on France’s least passenger-friendly train. It’s worth it just for the giant fox terrier made of flowers.
What to do beforehand: Learn some Basque. Totally unrelated to Spanish (and everything else), Basque is one of the world’s genuine language isolates. It’s worth being able to order a cup of coffee just to see how surprised people are.
What to do afterwards: Remind yourself of the permanent collection by going to visit Richard Serra’s epic sculpture near Liverpool Street Station.
3. National Gallery Collection of 19th, 20th & 21st Century Art
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Huge, incredibly varied (the gallery focuses on painting, but covers sculpture, architecture, furniture and clothes design too) and virtually devoid of people: go before it gets taken away.
4. Stedelijk
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Somehow manages to make somewhere equivalent in size and scope to London’s Tate Modern feel a bit like the living room of your rich but friendly uncle. Great fun.
5. Istanbul Modern
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
An absorbing and sometimes disorientating slice of Turkish art, from contemporary painting and sculpture upstairs to traditional shadow puppetry in the basement. Don’t let the seasickness-inducing website put you off.
* Photo by art crimes, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.
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