ARoS visiters attracted by the rainbow

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum soon will have a record attendance. A current record is 373 ths.visiters, but it`s most likely to be broken. Most of its guests have been attracted by an enormous rainbow (Your Rainbow Panorama), built on a museum roof by Olafur Eliasson, a Danish-Icelandic artist.

 

In spite of that fact, that Olafur Eliasson is a worldwide known person, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum chief executive Jens Erik Sørensen wonders anyway how could the rainbow attract so many visiters: “Of course, we spent four and a half years to build and fix the building so that it could hold the rainbow and it would be a little bit pitty if people didn`t get interested in it at all. That`s why I`m glad that it is admitted well now, I couldn`t expect a reaction like that. In fact, it`s another masterpiece”, - he told in his interview to DR Østjylland.

He cannot make up his mind that the number of visiters will have got over half a million people by New Year, but he looks toward the future with optimism: “In any case we will break a record of 400 000 visiters, and it`s already very great, because 250-300 ths. guests visit the museum on the average and now we are almost on a level of Copenhagen major museums”.

ARoS chief executive isn`t afraid of that this interest is temporary and that the attendance will have decreased by the following year, “because most guests have already seen a giraffe”.

“I heard that every time when guests come, they always go to an excursion along the rainbow, people want to boast of it, because they`re proud of it. I think, now when people visit Arhus, they will always go up to the rainbow”.

Last year ARoS became profitable for the first time, having brought 2,7 m. DKK. Such a great number of visiters means that this year the museum will also get profit, but Jens Erik Sørensen has difficulty in forecasting the profit margin.

 

 

Original text, photo: DR.dk