New Museum As A Centre Of Modern Culture - Research Paper Example

New Museum As A Centre Of Modern Culture The New Museum New York was founded in 1977. The new building of the museum was opened for the general public in 2002. The New Museum is one of the most premium museums of the New York City and its importance in being recognized at international level as well. The new museum building is a master piece of modern architecture. The building is situated at the 235 Bowery between Stanton and Rivington Streets, at the origin of Prince Street in New York City. This modern and innovative art place is full of new ideas. The museum was opened with the initial investment of $64 million. It was designed by male-female architect team Kazuyo and Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa with executive architect Gensler of the Tokyo based firm SANAA. These architects received the commission in 2002. The construction of the museum was a great challenging job for them. They were asked to design a unique art building at such a determined place. The accomplished the task successfully and completed the construction of the museum that is an attractive combination of stylish and municipal culture. (Davidson, p2) The museum was open on the 1st of December, 2007 at the 30th anniversary of the institution. The museum is basically meant for the display of contemporary arts and there are different exhibitions also held at the museum very frequently. The building of the museum has an amazing narration which is very opinionated, gallant and very strong. It is a first museum built in the downtown Manhattan. The building of the New Museum of contemporary art consists of seven stories and eight levels’ structure that is located on the bowery. It is a masterpiece of pile boxes rising 175 ft above the street and has a moved off axis in different directions from the building foundation. It is one of the extraordinary and illustrative works of the experienced architectures who have earlier designed many modern buildings of the same type with such distinct and outlandish look. (Davidson, p2) .The building of the museum is interspersed by windows that recommend city view. The design of the building is as outstanding as its location. It has a glossy modernity of the design which emphasized by another cover of pricked metal which changes it’s exterior under different lighting conditions. It has a warehouse like industrial design which reflects the nature of the neighbourhood. The first floor of the building features a bookstore and a coffee shop. The museum has done its best to make use of restricted space. Floor two through five is elevated display rooms. The SANAA has done its best to utilize the limited available space. The interior of the building has a vaguely hampered feel (Davidson, p2) There are different galleries for special projects in different floors of the building. Moreover, there are also theatres, restrooms, backstage support, storage, and green room areas for the general storage and mechanical support. With the galleries of the building the SANAA try to play with measurements and the way the daylight falls in the sitting areas and galleries, which help visitor to understand the art in different situations. There are video editing rooms, resource centres with computer stations and the Bowery artist tribute. There are also some meeting rooms and space for the institution’s revolutionary Museum as Hub global inter institutional initiative (Davidson, p2) The New Museum is the only museum in New York City that has the mission to encourage new art and ideas. It is extremely committed to express different forms of the Contemporary art with the help of its videos, audios online presentations, its apprehensive sculptures which are made from old clothes, trash baskets, light bulbs, posters, and any other nonconformist items that any visitor can imagine. (Official Website of New Museum) There is high appreciation for new artists at the museum due to which it is also regarded as home for the contemporary arts where new ideas are generated and get support to take the shape of a finished art piece. The members of the museum have the opportunity to arrange different exhibitions, events and programs to show and discuss the artworks. The museum also acts as a forum that allows the students, members, educators and the general public to come and discuss different issues of contemporary arts through different talks, workshops, audio-video screenings and projects, in this way, the museum not only displays the art works but also put efforts for the encouragement of art culture (Official Website of New Museum). There are different types of exhibitions arranges at the museum like the dynamic solo displays and the landmark group art shows. The arrangement of these exhibitions and art shows reflect the intention of the museum management to promote and support the development of contemporary arts by putting professional refined efforts. The art work displayed at the museum shows the philosophy of the museum to position the global nature of the art work. The museum also promotes different cultural activities and call media to provide enough exposure to these arts promoting activities held at the museum. All of the activities of the museum are guided by the motive that contemporary art has the capability to act as a vital social force that can work for the promotion of cultural values across the borders. This conviction compels the museum to remain involve in different arts and culture promoting activities. There are so many different options available to the visitors who came to the New Museum New York. There is one entire floor available free of charge to all the general public where they can read, view and discuss different interactive projects of the artists. The museum also contains some valuable art work that the visitors cannot see at any other museum and there are three galleries and mezzanine level dedicated to these art pieces in showcases of innovative arts. The museum management strives to promote the global nature of arts and for this purpose the museum held different valuable and masterpieces paintings, sculptures, installations and other art forms that are collected from different parts of the world. In sum, it can be said that the New Museum New York is a worth visiting place as one can experience the art work of different cultures at a single place. Different exhibitions and art shows not only encourages and promote talent and art passion of the artists but also invites the general public to satisfy their intellectual desires by sharing the artistic ideas and expressions of different artists. (Official Website of New Museum) Work Cited Justin Davidson. The Gray Ghost of the Bowery - An unsentimental valentine from the New Museum, New York Media LLC, 2007 Official Website of New Museum New York. Retrieved from: http://www.newmuseum.org/ Read More