New York’s iconic Museum of Modern Art has announced its plan to close for four months in the summer in a bid to redesign its experience.

The MoMA, an institution which has played a major role in developing and collecting modernist art, is arguably one of the biggest and most influential museums in the world.

However, in a bold and pioneering move, the MoMa will close its doors for a significant period in order to reopen as a “more inclusive museum” which will result in a $400 million expansion of the space.

According to the MoMA’s director Glenn Lowry, the museum is putting extra incentive on hanging art which has been created by people of colour, women and the most underrepresented in general.

“A new generation of curators is discovering the richness of what is in our collection, and there is great work being made around the world that we need to pay attention to,” Lowry told the press. “It means that the usual gets supplanted now by the unexpected,” he added.

“The real value of this expansion is not just more space, but space that allows us to rethink the experience of art in the museum.”

Ann Temkin, the MoMa’s chief curator of painting and sculpture, added: “The chronology will be expansive because chronology isn’t as neat as you think. Figures that once seemed secondary will now seem primary.”

MoMA will be officially closed from 15 June to 21 October.



