What about one of our derelict malls? South and West Dallas offer myriad possibilities, as you suggest, with warehouses only being one possible option.Artsy, chic, and adorable-these are the words that aptly describe North Adams of Berkshire County. And there are plenty of intriguing spaces around the city. ML: I would love to see a major institutional presence for modern art spring up outside the Arts District. I think it would be a mistake to identify medium-sized, one-story, post-WWII warehouses as a "solution" because there is simply not enough space in them.Īnd you will agree that we have superb architects in Dallas who would be as adept at repurposing such a complex as Bruner/Cott. For some reason, my mind goes to the immense former Sears warehouse south of South Side on Lamar. We are, in many ways, at a point in Dallas in which we can surpass the donor-driven private museums of cities like Los Angeles and Miami and, using MassMOCA as a model, find truly significant space, currently unused or underused, in areas of the city that need attention. In order to house these in the Arts District, the DMA would need to double its exhibition space, and at a cost far in excess of adapting an older industrial building. As I think about the future of contemporary art in Dallas, it is obvious that, as a city, we need to think soon and seriously about creating a great deal of space for the three enormous collections that have been promised to the DMA - the Hoffman, Rachofsky, and Rose collections - along with several others now in formation. RB: There is certainly a gritty allure to repurposed industrial buildings. It's a wonderful move, but one that was subtractive more than additive. ![]() ![]() ![]() The architects just cleaned it out and added some stairwells so it could be a spine providing circulation and light. The most dramatic space of the new Phase II is a light well that had become stuffed up with storage rooms and offices. Given that, I think it's smart that back in North Adams, Mass., Bruner/Cott and Associates really let the old buildings speak for themselves. Those two went on to build the Guggenheim's outpost in Bilbao, which really launched the movement. The idea that a signature museum building could reinvigorate an industrial city actually began with the plans for MassMOCA in North Adams, and was the brainchild of the museum's founding director, and architect Frank Gehry. I'm glad that you mention Schaffhausen, because one of my contentions is that MassMOCA is responsible for the worldwide proliferation of art museums by name-brand architects beginning in the 1990s. There is simply no room for art in Dallas, save, perhaps, the DMA's barrel vault, that can match this space. I will never forget Tim Hawkinson's Überorgan in the immense gallery of MassMOCA, but Nick Cave's ecstatically over-the top installation now is designed to thrill. Like its model, the Halls for New Art in a former textile factory in Schaffhausen, outside of Zurich, which opened in 1965 and sadly closed in 2014, the high ceilings and large interior spaces of MassMOCA make it possible to show works of art of a scale and material variety not possible in a general art museum like the Dallas Museum of Art. And, as you suggest, these locations also challenge curators to identify groupings of art that "work" in the variable spaces. RB: The irregularities of repurposed space in old buildings can give contemporary art a "shock of the new" veneer of familiarity. It will be interesting to see how the museum uses these spaces over time. There are smaller spaces tailored to the long-term James Turrell installations (which I thought were terrific), but also galleries of different shapes and configurations, each one with its own idiosyncratic character. That's especially true of the newest galleries. As you note, MassMOCA's architecture is ideal in that it can accommodate so many different scales. So it's a pleasure here, though thanks to my friends at Over, Under, who did the wayfinding and map graphics, you can always find your way if you try. MARK LAMSTER: It's such a pleasure to be "lost" in a museum, to have a sense of discovery, that's why the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, will always be my favorite.
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