The Museum

Two Part Series Premiering On: Thursday September 11 (part 1) & Thursday September 18, 2008 at 9 pm (part 2) on CBC-TV

It's tough running a museum in the 21stst century, competing with all the flashy distractions of the digital age.

So when William Thorsell assumes command of Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, he moves quickly to rejuvenate the beloved but dowdy old lady of Bloor Street.

It's an audacious plan. Yes, the museum needs a makeover, but Thorsell wants more.

As the former editor of the nation's leading newspaper, Thorsell envisions an iconic public building, a bold gesture that will transform the entire city, and inject a shot of architectural amphetamine into the staid - and - sensible veins of Canada's biggest burg. An audacious plan, all right, but who to trust with such a venture?

Famed architect Daniel Libeskind and ROM CEO, William Thorsell discuss the renovation.
Credit: Kevin Kelly

Enter Daniel Libeskind. More than a celebrity architect, he is a global brand, linked to some of the world's most prestigious building projects, including the most famous of them all, the rebuilding of Ground Zero.

Emanating supreme self-confidence and surrounded by high-powered courtiers, Libeskind alights in Toronto and marches his designer cowboy boots straight into Thorsell's well-structured Upper Canadian existence. Let the fun begin.

Smartly tuned to contemporary debates on public architecture, The Museum charts the eventful progress of Thorsell's grand scheme in an entertaining tale of art, ego and steel beams.

A construction worker walks a steel beam on the massive new ROM crystal.
Credit: Kevin Kelly

While billionaire benefactors, hardhats poised on elegant heads, break the sod in media photo-ops, the museum staff fret over their antique silks and stuffed bison. Meanwhile, workmen scratch their heads over blueprints that look like Escher drawings.

As the great asymmetrical shard rises into the Toronto sky, Thorsell and Libeskind are locked into a high-tension tango. Budgets have been blown. Timetables trashed. Citizens outraged.

The ROM under renovation.
Credit: Kevin Kelly

Will Thorsell win in his great gamble? At a time when world architecture seems to be operating without clear common standards, is Libeskind flying by the seat of his well-tailored pants? Does his giant crystal actually work as a museum?

With a sharp eye for great public characters and a finger on the pulse of contemporary culture, director Kenton Vaughan chronicles a vital chapter in the life of a museum, making a tonic contribution to current discourse on architecture's role in society.

The Museum was produced by 90th Parallel Productions in co-production with the National Film Board and CBC-TV.