New Scottish V&A director says museum will transform city of Dundee

V&A at Dundee will be sited at Craig Harbour on the banks of the River Tay, built to a striking design by the Japanese practice Kengo Kuma & Associates.

Mr Long will begin his job as the first full-time staff member of the building in July, and said that although the current economic conditions were not ideal for a major capital project, he had confidence in the new museum.

“It is an incredibly exciting project, but one where there are some real challenges: it is a major new building, and any major new capital project has risks to it,” he said.

“But I think despite the economic climate all of the parties involved are approaching it with real enthusiasm and that will be very important as we go forward.”

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, or V&A, is committed to the new museum for the next 20 years, although Mr Long said after a couple of years, the Dundee museum may seek to begin to work with other partners for its exhibitions.

There have been fears in some architectural quarters, albeit expressed anonymously, that the budget for the building may not be enough.

However, Mr Long said that the Kengo Kuma design had been thoroughly monitored and checked and the project organisers were confident it could be delivered on budget.

It is anticipated that work will start on site in 2012, and the V&A at Dundee will open in late 2014.

The fundraising model is in three £15m tranches: from the Scottish Government, other public funders and lastly through private donation.

Mr Long added: “I think this project could have a transformational effect on the city.

“The design for the new museum is superb, and the idea for the project is inspirational. V&A at Dundee will be international in ambition, and will rightly celebrate the vital part Scotland has played in design history, as well as being a focus for design-led innovation and opportunity in our country.”

Lesley Knox, chairwoman of Design Dundee Ltd, the company in charge of managing the V&A at Dundee project, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to appoint Philip Long as director.

“This is a very significant moment for the project. He has an outstanding background in culture and the arts, particularly in relation to museums and galleries, and he is the ideal person to take our project forward.”

Mr Long has been senior curator of Edinburgh’s Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art since 1998.

Since 2008 he has been responsible for leading the National Galleries of Scotland’s Artist Rooms project, which in collaboration with London’s Tate Gallery brings exhibitions from the collection of the noted collector and art dealer Anthony d’Offay north of the Border.

He has organised exhibitions and written publications on artists William Gillies, Anne Redpath, the Scottish Colourists, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and on the architect Basil Spence.

From 2003 to 2010 he served on the Scottish Arts Lottery Committee and in 2007 curated Scotland’s representation at the Venice Biennale.

Sir Mark Jones, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, said: “We are delighted that Philip Long has agreed to become director.

“His great knowledge of and enthusiasm for 20th-century and contemporary design, and his proven talent for communicating contemporary art to a wide public are just what is needed for this exciting project.”

John Leighton, director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “Philip Long has had an extremely successful career as a curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and he has done a huge amount to promote Scottish and international modern art in this country.

“We will miss his valuable contribution here but we wish him well with his new challenges at the V&A in Dundee.”

Design Dundee Ltd is a partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum, Dundee City Council, the Universities of Dundee and Abertay Dundee, and Scottish Enterprise.

It has already been promised £5m in funds from the Scottish Government.

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