A Clean, Well-Lighted Place: The Baltimore Museum of Art’s new contemporary wing is warm and inviting. by Cara Ober for the Urbanite
When the Baltimore Museum of Art shuttered its Contemporary Wing for sweeping renovations in January 2011, art lovers suffered serious withdrawal. Where else in town can you see the works by masters of contemporary art like Frankenthaler, Eliasson, or Guston in person?
Although there was no better spot in Baltimore to experience the most significant art of our time, the Contemporary Wing was not without its problems. Compared to the cozy Cone Collection next door, where visitors of all ages buzz around colorful Matisses and interactive displays, this section of the museum seemed separate and aloof. Like many of its monumental works, the 34,000-foot space was intimidating—both physically and intellectually. Blocked off by heavy doors of dark glass, one of the biggest challenges was getting people to even enter the gallery.
After a nearly two-year renovation, the newly designed Contemporary Wing opens on November 17 as a warm and dynamic space, with a number of new opportunities and options for engagement, including classes, lectures, and interactive works of art. Although the proportion and sizes of the rooms in the modern wing will remain the same, the walls, floors, and lighting have been transformed. “It’s a massive attempt to humanize the galleries, to make them more intimate and exciting to explore,” explains BMA Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman. “One of the biggest transformations is in lighting. Before, we had a uniform system of cold, fluorescent lights, which were too harsh for exhibiting works on paper. We now have a full track system, so we can alter the lighting to make it appropriate to the artwork. It is now far more comfortable to be in galleries, much warmer—people will feel the difference even if they can’t put their finger on exactly what is changed.”
In order to create a more enticing path from modernism into the contemporary wing, those heavy doors have been removed, and internationally known artist Sarah Oppenheimer was commissioned to create an architectural installation that physically connects the two areas by cutting through walls and using mirrors to extend the view back and forth.
Additional changes to the space include the removal of two columns to create a clear line of sight through the whole gallery; a commitment to rotate exhibits, including works on paper, every four to six months; and a black box theater space, soundproofed for moving-image art or work that requires sensitive lighting. Besides the Oppenheimer piece, the museum has made a dozen new acquisitions by top-notch contemporary artists from across the globe, including a sound installation by recent Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz, a mixed media sculpture by Sarah Sze, and Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Untitled (bicycle shower), an interactive work that was originally part of The Land, an experimental exhibition space and working farm in Thailand. Baltimore-based street artist Gaia is contributing a site-specific intervention to the museum’s series of inaugural rotating exhibits in an interior gallery, a series of portraits equally informed by the Remington community surrounding the museum and the Cone Collection’s Woman with Mango by Gauguin.
The project is only the initial part of a $24.5 million renovation, including improvements to the American and African collections, which should be finished during the museum’s 100th birthday in 2014.
