Ms. Mutu, a Kenyan-American artist known for her sculpture, film and performance work, will create a collection of sculptures for the niches in the museum’s facade. This will be the first time that art has been displayed on Richard Morris Hunt’s 1902 facade. The sculptures will be on view from Sept. 9 to Jan 12, 2020.

Mr. Hollein said the plan is for Ms. Mutu’s installation to be just the first iteration of an annual facade project by a notable contemporary artist.

The second commission, multiple large paintings by Kent Monkman made for the Met’s Great Hall, will be unveiled on December 19. Sheena Wagstaff, chairman for modern and contemporary art at the Met, said that Mr. Monkman’s works will “deal with that sense of arrival that any visitor has when they step over the threshold and into the Great Hall.”

Mr. Hollein said the commissions and Mr. Kjartansson’s piece could be seen as a “counter argument” to the notion that the closing of the Met Breuer is a sign that the Met is decreasing its engagement with contemporary art. But he said that the exhibitions were part of the museum’s longstanding commitment to the field, not something created to address this perception.

Ms. Wagstaff echoed Mr. Hollein, saying: “This is just the beginning. There will be more to come, different types of responses and possibly different spaces too.”