FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PR- 435-07 November 30, 2007 MAYOR BLOOMBERG UNVEILS THE NEW NEW MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART IN LOWER MANHATTAN New facility is the first art museum to be built in Lower Manhattan Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today unveiled a new facility
for the New Museum of Contemporary Art on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan. The new
building is the centerpiece of the museum’s $64 million capital campaign, which
covers construction project costs and includes a significant expansion of the
institution’s endowment. The Mayor was joined by First Deputy Mayor
Patricia Harris; Cultural Affairs (DCA) Commissioner
Kate D. Levin; Councilman Dominick M. Recchia Jr.; Councilmember Alan J. Gerson;
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Chair Avi Schick; New Museum Director
Lisa Phillips, and President of the Board of Trustees Saul Dennison.
The City, through the Department of Cultural Affairs, in conjunction with the City Council, invested $6.5 million in the seven-story, 60,000 square foot facility, a striking metal mesh-clad stack of boxes shifted off axis in a dynamic composition designed by Tokyo-based architects Sejima + Nishizawa/SANAA. The building features column-free exhibition spaces, a 182-seat theater, a lobby bookstore, expanded classrooms, an education center, a café and rooftop terraces facing south and east over the cityscape. The unveiling marks the institution’s 30th anniversary, and represents the first time in the organization’s history that it has occupied its own freestanding space. This milestone will also be celebrated with 30 hours of continuous free admission to the public sponsored by Target. Beginning tomorrow, the public will be able to view the inaugural exhibition, “Unmonumental,” an international survey of one hundred objects by thirty artists, exploring techniques of collage and assemblage in sculpture, collage, sound and new media. “This is a singular moment in the history of the New Museum,” said Lisa Phillips. “The institution is transformed. We have both a breathtaking new building that is now completely paid for and a solid endowment to help us continue to pursue our mission to bring new art and new ideas to an ever widening audience. The City of New York has been an ideal partner in this project, and has been instrumental in helping us realize our vision for a new home that contributes to New York’s cultural and economic vitality, and architectural landscape.” “The new New Museum is a testament to the passion
that exists in New York City and around the world for new art and new ideas,
shared with the public,” said Saul Dennison, “and the result of terrific
collaboration with the City of New York and an array of partners and supporters
in New York and internationally. With our new building, which has more than
twice the exhibition space of our old facility and features that will allow us
to be as daring and bold as we have always been, the New Museum looks forward to
greeting a greatly expanded public audience and continuing the dynamic,
meaningful, and ultimately essential dialogue that contemporary art
invites.” MEDIA CONTACT: Stu Loeser/John Gallagher (212) 788-2958 GENERAL CONTACT: Kate de Rosset/Teresa Gonzalez (DCA) (Department of Cultural Affairs) (212) 513-9323 |
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