Sydney Modern Project Art Museum Building News, SANAA Architects, Contemporary Gallery Design Images

Sydney Modern Project Art Museum Building Opening

26 Apr 2022

Architects: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA

Sydney Modern Project To Transform The Art Gallery Of New South Wales Into A Global Leader Among Museums

Image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA – skyline view:
Sydney Modern Project: Art Museum
image © AGNSW

SYDNEY MODERN PROJECT TO OPEN IN DECEMBER

Sydney Modern Project Opening News

Tuesday 26 April 2022 – The expansion of the Art Gallery of New South Wales will be the city’s largest cultural development to open since the Sydney Opera House

Features spectacular new building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects SANAA

Exceptional displays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art showcased across the entire campus

The transformation of the Art Gallery of New South Wales – the Sydney Modern Project – will open to the public on Saturday 3 December 2022.

Located on a magnificent site overlooking Sydney Harbour, the Art Gallery is one of Australia’s pre-eminent cultural institutions.

The AU$344 million Sydney Modern Project is the most significant cultural development to open in the city since the Sydney Opera House nearly half a century ago. The transformation will create a new art museum campus with two buildings connected by a public art garden.

Image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA – view from Woolloomooloo:
Sydney Modern Project: Art Museum
image © AGNSW

A key aspect of the expansion will be exceptional displays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, which will be showcased both in a dedicated gallery, the first to be encountered by visitors on entrance level of the new building, as well as across the entire expanded campus.

The Sydney Modern Project almost doubles exhibition space and includes a spectacular new building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architects, SANAA, with Australian practice Architectus as executive architect; the revitalisation of its historic building by Australian architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, including a complete re-installation of the collection; extensive outdoor art experiences, and a series of major art commissions across the campus by leading international and Australian artists.

Image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA – Aerial view:
Sydney Modern Project: Art Museum
image © AGNSW

Light, transparent and open to its surroundings, SANAA’s building responds to the site’s topography with a series of art pavilions that cascade down towards the harbour. The new building expands the formal exhibition space from 9,000 to 16,000 sqm and will feature galleries specifically designed to accommodate art of the 21st century as well as special installations in circulation spaces. It incorporates a vast, columned underground art space, repurposed from a decommissioned World War II naval oil tank, creating a 2,200 sqm gallery with 7-metre-high ceilings for special commissions and performances.

Learning Studio, Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA:
Learning Studio, Sydney Modern Project
image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021
Featuring children’s program activities created with permission from artist Mikala Dwyer

Acclaimed landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson, with Seattle firm Gustafson Guthrie Nicol, and Australian landscape architects McGregor Coxall are leading the design of landscape and civic spaces of the expanded campus.

Marking the opening of the Sydney Modern Project, nine major commissions have been awarded to leading artists: Lorraine Connelly-Northey (Australia), Karla Dickens (Australia), Simryn Gill (Australia/Malaysia), Jonathan Jones (Australia), Yayoi Kusama (Japan), Lee Mingwei (France/USA), Richard Lewer (Australia), Lisa Reihana (Aotearoa New Zealand), and Francis Upritchard (UK/Italy/ Aotearoa New Zealand).

The Art Gallery’s collection of Australian art is among the finest and broadest anywhere. From the time of its founding, the Art Gallery has collected and worked with the artists of its time from Australia and around the world.

Image of the Sydney Modern Project Gallery 2 as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA:
Sydney Modern Project by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021
Featuring artworks left to right: Imants Tillers Counting: one, two, three 1988 © Imants Tillers; Kimsooja Archive of mind 2017 © Kimsooja; Rodel Tapaya Do you have a rooster, Pedro? (Adda manok mo, Pedro?) 2015 © Rodel Tapaya

The Art Gallery maintains the New South Wales state art collection of more than 36,000 objects, including more than 2,000 historic and contemporary works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, acquired over the past 74 years. It has been at the forefront of collecting, displaying and interpreting historic and contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island art, and in engaging directly with artists and their communities. The Art Gallery also holds significant collections of Asian and European art and presents major national and international exhibitions.

Image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA – dusk view:
Contemporary gallery design NSW by SANAA Architects
image © AGNSW

Dr Michael Brand, Director, Art Gallery of New South Wales, said: “All eyes will be on Sydney when our new building opens on our magnificent site on Gadigal Country overlooking Sydney Harbour. Our new art museum campus brings together art, architecture and landscape in spectacular new ways, providing visitors with art and cultural experiences only possible here. This is truly the world seen from Sydney.”

Maud Page, Deputy Director and Director of Collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, said: “The Sydney Modern Project allows us to engage our audiences and work with our artists in thrilling new ways. When we open in December visitors will experience art right across our campus – indoor and outdoor – from the inaugural installations in our new building to the completely re-installed galleries in our existing building. Our collection will be accentuated by bold and compelling new art commissions that contribute to important global conversations of our time from our place here in the Asia Pacific.”

Image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA – Lower Level 1 interior design:
Contemporary New South Wales gallery design by SANAA Architects
image © AGNSW

Together with the NSW State Government’s AU$244 million in funding, the Art Gallery has raised more than AU$100 million from private donors to support this once-in-a-generation cultural investment.

Delivery of the Sydney Modern Project remains on track, with construction of the new building by Richard Crookes Constructions close to completion.

www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au | #ArtGalleryNSW

Film on YouTube

On Gadigal land

The Art Gallery of New South Wales acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which it is located, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.

Art Gallery of New South Wales | Sydney, Australia

From its magnificent site in Sydney, the Art Gallery of NSW is one of Australia’s flagship art museums and the state’s leading visual arts institution. The mission of the 150-year-old public institution is to serve the widest possible audience as a centre of excellence for the collection, preservation, documentation, interpretation and display of Australian and international art, and a forum of scholarship, art education and the exchange of ideas.

Art Museum

Sydney Modern Project: Art Museum images / information received 260422

Previously on e-architect:

15 October 2020

Sydney Modern Project: Art Gallery

Architects: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA

Sydney Modern Project to transform the Art Gallery Of New South Wales building.

Sydney Modern Project Art Museum

SANAA

Image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA – Oil tank gallery:
Sydney Modern Project: Art Museum
image © AGNSW

Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
#ArtGalleryofNSW

SANAA Architects

Location: Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Comments / photos for the Sydney Modern Project Art Museum Building design by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA page welcome