Kiasma – A Contemporary Art Museum

Kiasma museum of contemporary art. Photo by M00ster, CC BY 3.0. Click image for larger view.

Kiasma, which was built during 1996–1998, is a contemporary art museum. Its name kiasma, means chiasma in the language where this building resides and alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl. The museum exhibits the contemporary art collection of the National Gallery of its country, founded in 1990. Its central goal is to make contemporary art better known and strengthen its status.

An architectural design competition to design a contemporary arts museum in in the city where it is located was held in 1992. The competition was meant for architects from countries in a specific area. Five internationally renowned architects participated, among whom there was only one US citizen (who was not from the specified area). In 1993 the work Chiasma by the American architect Steven Holl was selected from the 516 competitors. The construction of the disputed and controversial Kiasma was started in 1996. It was opened in 1998.

View the picture and read the above text BEFORE you take the quiz.

Let’s see how good you are at figuring out where this interesting contemporary art museum is. Be sure to watch the video after the quiz.

Quiz #64 Contemporary Art Museum

Reykjavik Iceland Viking sculpture

This Travel Quiz is about a Contemporary Art Museum. There are clues to help guess the answer. The level of this test is medium.

Answer the questions. Each answer is worth about 10 points. If you don’t know the answer, then take a guess (unless you want a guaranteed zero for the answer).

This test is timed (2 min) so be aware of that.

If you are in the area where this museum is located it will be well worthwhile to visit it.