New York’s New Museum will open its 60,000-square-foot building expansion on March 21st, following two years of closure. The museum will feature new artist commissions by Tschabalala Self, Klára Hosnedlová, and Sarah Lucas.
The New Museum closed in March 2024 to undertake an expansion of its SANAA-designed flagship building in New York’s Lower East Side. The new building was designed by New York design firm OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas in partnership with executive architect Cooper Robertson. The museum was slated to reopen last fall, but delays to the renovation forced a postponement. The museum now totals approximately 120,000 square feet.
The inaugural exhibition will be “New Humans: Memories of the Future,” featuring works by more than 200 artists, writers, scientists, architects, and filmmakers. In a statement, the museum said the show will explore “what it means to be ‘human.’” Some artists featured include Francis Bacon, H.R. Giger, Sophia Al-Maria, and Hito Steyerl. For the opening weekend—March 21st and 22nd—admission will be free to the public.
“Since our founding nearly 50 years ago, the New Museum has been a home for the most groundbreaking art of today and a haven for the artists who make it,” Lisa Phillips, director of the New Museum, said in a statement. “Our new 120,000-square-foot building on the Bowery signals our redoubled commitment to new art and new ideas, and to the museum as an ever-evolving site for risk-taking, collaboration, and experimentation.”
Alongside its reopening exhibition, the New Museum will debut a trio of permanent, site-responsive commissions. Self will create a new work integrated into the museum’s Bowery façade, while Czech artist Hosnedlová is installing a large-scale sculpture that rises through the new Atrium Stair, making the building’s vertical circulation part of the artwork itself. Outside, a new piece by Lucas will activate the museum’s public plaza, extending the institution’s program into the street.
The expansion includes 9,600 square feet of additional exhibition space and 3,210 square feet dedicated to artist studios and education spaces. The project also included an enlarged seventh-floor Sky Room and a 74-seat Forum space. The museum will also inaugurate a new restaurant run by Henry Rich of the Oberon Group and led by executive chef Julia Sherman, as well as a new bookstore.
