Overview[]
Founded in 1977, the New Museum is a leading destination for new art and new ideas. It is Manhattan's only dedicated contemporary art museum and is respected internationally for the adventurousness and global scope of its curatorial program.
The New Museum has been amassing a wealth of materials now available through the New Museum Digital Archive. The Digital Archive currently contains over 6,000 exhibition images, exhibition descriptions, publications, public program chronology, and a searchable database of over 3,700 artists, curators, and institutions associated with the New Museum's programming.
The New Museum is located at 235 Bowery in New York, NY (at Prince Street between Stanton and Rivington Streets, one and a half blocks south of Houston). Visitor Information available here.
New Museum
Exhibitions[]
Museum as Hub: Carlos Motta: We Who Feel Differently[]
“Museum as Hub: Carlos Motta: We Who Feel Differently” is a multipart project that explores the idea of sexual and gender “difference” after four decades of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer, and Questioning politics. Through an exhibition, series of events, and an opening symposium, the project seeks to invigorate discussion around a queer “We” that looks beyond tolerance or assimilation toward a concept of equality that provides for greater personal freedom. The project draws from Motta’s evolving database documentary wewhofeeldifferently.info, which proposes “difference” as a profound mode of possibility for both solidarity and self-determination. On view through September 9.
Ellen Altfest: Head and Plant[]
On display May 6 through June 24, 2012, in the Lobby Gallery, the New Museum featured the first solo museum presentation of the work of New York-based artist Ellen Altfest. Altfest is a figurative painter whose intimately scaled works convey a distinct approach to realism and a sustained commitment to looking. Her painstaking depictions result in paintings that expand perception while exposing overlooked or under-appreciated aspects of her subject matter. Painting from life, over a long period of time, she chooses subjects ranging from plants, rocks, logs, and gourds to a more recent fascination with the male figure. The exhibition at the New Museum presented a group of works from this latest series.
Tacita Dean: Five Americans[]
This May, the New Museum will present an exhibition of works by British artist Tacita Dean—the most substantial presentation of the artist’s work in New York to date. The presentation focuses on a group of recent pieces that capture five important American artists and thinkers of the last fifty years and features Merce Cunningham, Leo Steinberg, Julie Mehretu, Claes Oldenburg, and Cy Twombly. These works are beautifully crafted portraits of each individual, opening a lens onto their artistic processes and personal memories. This installation, organized in close collaboration with Dean, provides insight into the way in which her filmmaking intersects with painting, sculpture, writing, and dance. This exhibition is part of a series of focus shows concentrating on a single project or body of work within an artist’s larger practice which began last May with presentations by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Gustav Metzger.
Klara Liden: Bodies of Society[]
Through July 1, the New Museum will present the first large-scale, American museum exhibition of the artist Klara Lidén, featuring a selection of works in the Museum’s second floor gallery. Lidén’s exhibition at the New Museum is part of a series of focus shows that began last May with presentations by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Gustav Metzger.
Stanya Kahn[]
Also through July 1, Stanya Kahn’s videos offer glimpses into alternate worlds populated by bizarre characters, mummified animals, natural forces, and primal impulses. Happy Song for You (2011), made with legendary artist Llyn Foulkes, demonstrates Kahn’s unique approach to storytelling in which humor and absurdity function as central forces. Featuring an original song written and performed by Foulkes, the video is set to a carefully crafted soundtrack, a signature element of Kahn’s work. Happy Song for You will be exhibited alongside a selection of ink-on-paper drawings that extend Kahn's comedic writing into the graphic practice of cartooning.
Phyllida Barlow: siege[]
“Phyllida Barlow: siege” is the first New York solo exhibition of the work of British sculptor. For her New Museum presentation, Barlow will create a new, site-specific sculptural installation in the Museum’s fourth floor gallery. This exhibition is part of a series focusing on a single project or body of work within an artist’s larger practice. On view through June 24, 2012.
The Parade: Nathalie Djurberg with Music by Hans Berg[]
“The Parade: Nathalie Djurberg with Music by Hans Berg” is Djurberg’s most ambitious multimedia installation to date. Originally organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Djurberg will adapt this spectacular installation for the New Museum’s ‘Studio 231’ space. In the hands of Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg, animation becomes a medium for transgressive and nightmarish allegories of desire and malcontent.
Wikipedia Entry[]
Two of the three references within the Wikipedia entry were dead, so I located the Carnegie Corporation's press release from July 2005 announcing a grant to New York cultural institutions and updated the corresponding reference. The other dead link referenced a Conde Nast Traveler article from 2008 (date listed as March, but the article was in the April issue). I corrected the date and the reference for this article, too.
I reorganized the page to include History and Exhibitions: Past and Present, and then I added a reference from the book, The Museums of Contemporary Art: Notion and Development, by J. Pedro Lorente. I also located a New York Times article about the museum's 1983 move to another space and the 1999 director change and added those details. I corrected details on the location and cost of the 2007 building.
Association Memberships[]
The New Museum is not a member or accredited by the American Association of Museums. The museum is listed on the website for the Association of Art Museum Curators, although the level of membership is unclear. The AAMC aims "to support and promote the work of museum curators" through networking and collaboration. Director Lisa Phillips is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors .
Forum Participation[]
There was a job posting on March 2, 2006 on the Museum-l listserv from the New Museum. A museum employee inquired about trends in museum admittance pricing and attendance on June 23, 2006, and then on January 17, 2007, the same employee asked about the use of cell phones for audio tours. On MCN-l, the listserv for the Museum Computer Network, the New Museum posted job opportunities in April and May 2011. On September 30, 2009, the IT manager at New Museum responded to a query on open source CMS platforms, and then in April 2011, he also responded to a post about storage in the cloud. In April 2008, he posted about ticketing systems and POS. Both these forums feature limited participation from the New Museum.
Online Information[]
The majority of incoming links are related to reviews of exhibits, including some from Huffington Post and the Village Voice. Google Scholar produced 2,650 article/book results, although the New Museum is listed as publisher for some of them, which may mean the references are not directly to the museum. Google Books provided a link to The Museums of Contemporary Art , which I will use to update the museum's Wikipedia page. The Google Groups had only brief mentions of the museum.
Presentation[]
Please visit SlideShare to view my presentation. Link also available in project report.