Next Thursday, January 22, 2009, Brad Cloepfil, the architect and principal of Allied Works Architecture, will be holding a lecture and discussion about the design of the Museum’s new building at 2 Columbus Circle. The discussion will include MAD’s building in relation to Cloepfil’s other works as well as his adaptive reuse of spaces especially industrial settings turned cultural buildings. In all of his designs, the emphasis is on the art as it creates a reconnection with the building and with the surrounding environment, the play of opening up the space to allow for natural light and the play of light on the exterior of the building. Join Brad Cloepfil for this interesting discussion about his creative process and the issues that influence his designs and the trajectory of his future projects. If you have ever been to the Open Artists Studios and seen the view of Columbus Circle you can appreciate what opening up the space really means to the whole aesthetic affect of the Museum and how it affects the art and makes this Museum such a unique and remarkable place.
By any measure, yesterday’s Grand Opening was a great success. Around 4000 people came through the door; we had a capacity crowd with a line around the block for most of the (rainy) day. Can we repeat yesterday’s accomplishment? Will even more people decide to come check out the new museum? Will the entire museum staff collapse from a combination of exhaustion and over-excitement? (My guesses: yes, yes and probably around 6:15 tonight.)
Photos of second day goodness to come throughout the day.
Studio Cam, 4:37 PM Sunday
Crowds in the Second Lives galleries, 4:25 PM Sunday
At the beginning of last year, our chief curator David McFadden put up a calendar. He began to count down from 500-something. Over the past 20 months, the days have been ticked off as exhibitions were organized, plans were made, and our building was put together. I’d like to think that the first thing David did this morning was to mark off the last day. It’s here – the Museum of Arts and Design is officially open to the public.
We’ve worked some long hours in the past couple of months, but I have to say, as objectively as I can, that it looks great. The galleries are incredible, artists have been working diligently in our fully outfitted studios, our theater is gorgeous, our interactive displays are all functioning (mostly), the toilets all work – it is all as fantastic as we could have imagined 500 days ago.
Ok, so we’ve been a little remiss in posting to the blog. We have a good excuse: the Museum of Arts and Design opens to the public on Saturday, September 27th, and there were one or two last minute things that we’ve been working on over the past few weeks. Here’s a sneak peak at our 6th floor studios, where artists will be working in a variety of mediums and interacting with the public throughout each day.
Better late than never, here’s a nice video to complement Elayne’s post on deinstallation of the 40 West 53rd Street galleries. In this clip, our art handlers are removing Annet Couwenberg’s “Embroidery Penetrates” from the wall of the gallery.
Thanks to Skip La Plante for allowing us to use his music – for those who don’t know Skip’s music, he composes and performs his music on homemade music built from trash (the particular instrument here is a kind of homemade zither called the Kanon). And kudos to Elayne for some excellent narration.
Last week was the deinstallation of our final exhibition at our 53rd Street address. As with installations, the close of exhibitions requires much time spent organizing schedules, wrangling packing materials, talking with artists and lenders, scheduling shipments, and very careful art handling.
Josh will soon post a video clip that will show the deinstallation of one of the “Pricked” artworks, Annet Couwenberg’s Embroidery Penetrates. As you will see, the art handlers take great precaution in protecting this artwork during take down and movement.
The A level gallery with some deinstallation debris.
There’s a great interactive feature in the Times this morning about our new museum at 2 Columbus Circle. It covers a brief history of the site, as well as some of the challenges associated with our renovation with interviews with our Director, Holly Hotchner, and architect Brad Cloepfil.
Spring has arrived in New York! It’s evident throughout the City- but most of all, at its heart in Central Park, where hues of green, white, and violet are filling out the expanse.
At Central Park’s Southwest corner, 2 Columbus Circle (2CC) too is emerging- from 3 years of active construction behind a shroud- to house MAD’s multi-disciplinary arts & design programming in incredibly expanded facilities.
As manager of the New Building Project, I’ve had the unique experience of working with the building’s many team members- from the architects, engineers, construction managers, interior designers, and graphic designers, to city supporters and community partners. We have all waited with baited breath to see the unveiling of 2CC and the realization of a unique material concept for the building façade- which is taking place right now.
The Museum will be closing its galleries at the end of the day – Sunday, April 27th after 22 years at 40 West 53rd. I can’t say it’s with mixed feelings for most of the staff – we are eager to move the extraordinary new facility at Columbus Circle where we will welcome the museum going public in late September. With an entire floor for education, a proper auditorium, seminar rooms, permanent collection galleries for the first time – artist studios – plus plus – it will be amazing. not to mention windows in our work spaces. HURRAY so if you want to visit our old home – you have just a few days left to do it.
The A level gallery with some deinstallation debris.
