New Museum doubles space
New York’s New Museum reopens this weekend with double the gallery space and a major exhibition in its second building — a substantive expansion that reshapes what the museum can show. (timeout.com) (theartnewspaper.com)
The expanded New Museum opens to the public on March 21, 2026, with free admission on March 21–22 thanks to advance ticket registration funded by trustee Charlotte Feng Ford. (newmuseum.org) The project adds roughly 60,000 sq ft to the Bowery campus, bringing the institution’s total footprint to about 120,000 sq ft. (newmuseum.org) Construction and outfitting have been reported to cost about $82 million, a figure cited across coverage of the expansion. (theartnewspaper.com) The new seven‑story addition was designed by OMA under Shohei Shigematsu with Rem Koolhaas, in collaboration with executive architect Cooper Robertson, and is physically integrated with the original SANAA building on the Bowery. (newmuseum.org) New venue infrastructure includes a 74‑seat Forum, an enlarged seventh‑floor “Sky Room,” a dedicated artists‑in‑residence studio, a permanent home for the NEW INC incubator, an expanded bookstore, and a full‑service restaurant operated by the Oberon Group (front‑of‑house led by Henry Rich; executive chef Julia Sherman is named in press coverage). (newmuseum.org) (artcentron.com) The inaugural exhibition, New Humans: Memories of the Future, is mounted across both buildings and—per the museum—features work by more than 150 international artists, writers, scientists, architects, and filmmakers; several outlets describe the project as encompassing upwards of 200 contributors and over a dozen new commissions. (newmuseum.org) (theartnewspaper.com) The addition is named for the late philanthropist Toby Devan Lewis, and the reopening coincides with the announced retirement of director Lisa Phillips in April 2026 after 26 years at the museum’s helm. (newmuseum.org) (archdaily.com)
