Art and Architecture: Together Again in New Museum of Contemporary Art

Art and Architecture Together Again in New Museum of Contemporary Art
Those with long memories may recall the days when New York modern art institutions were not only in tune with contemporary culture but also determined to drive it forward.

At the New Museum of Contemporary Art, that spirit is back in force.

In late November, the museum broke ground on its new home on a decrepit strip of the Bowery on the Lower East Side.

And while some of the design details are still being tweaked, it is now razor-clear that the building will do more to freshen the bond between Manhattan's art and architecture communities than any building since Marcel Breuer's Whitney Museum of American Art opened on Madison Avenue four decades ago.

The aluminum-clad building, designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, founders of the Tokyo architectural firm Sanaa, evokes a stack of mismatched boxes on the verge of toppling over.

Firmly rooted in the present, it is a remarkably sensitive exploration of the relationship between art, architecture and the human beings who animate them.

The project, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2007, could not come at a better time.

In recent years, it has become dismally clear that the art institutions that redefined New York culture in the 20th century are no longer invested in propelling it forward in the 21st.