text/Robin Pogrebin compiled/Daisy
Recently, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced that it will design a new modern and contemporary art district by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo. Escobedo, 42, designed the 2018 London Serpentine Gallery summer pavilion, and was the youngest architect in the history of the project at that time. The project will cost $500 million, including 80,000 square feet of exhibition halls and public spaces, giving the museum the opportunity to tell more rich stories of modern and contemporary art than in the past.
As early as 2014, New York Metropolitan Museum had launched plans to establish a modern and contemporary art district, which has since been shelved due to financial issues. In November last year, the museum announced that Tang Liuqian, a Chinese-American financier and long-time director of the Metropolitan Museum of , and his wife, archaeologist and art historian, Xu Xinmei, donated a huge amount of US$125 million to the museum. Thanks to this largest capital donation in history, the Modern and Contemporary Art District plans to be reopened, and the Art District will also be named after them for at least 50 years.
Tang Liuqian and Xu Xinmei
New projects will cost US$500 million. "This is a very important project," replied Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of China. "The collection of (modern and contemporary art) will continue to develop and be more significant than other partitions." Regarding the museum's commission of Escobedo, Hollein added, "She is acclaimed in the architectural narrative and has created many contemporary buildings rooted in modern standards."
Frida Escobedo
For such a large project, it surprised many people that the 42-year-old Escobedo was designed. Previously, she designed mainly temporary structures and was not a household name. But she admitted that she was not afraid of the task and was excited.
"I like challenges," Escorbedo said in a telephone interview with the New York Times in his hometown of Mexico. "Designing an exhibition hall for an important museum like the Metropolitan Museum is one of the dreams of every architect."
Escorbedo said it was too early to talk about her design philosophy, but "it is important to connect it with the rest of the museum, with Central Park and the entire city, and to show the cultural diversity of New York ."
Metropolitan's appointment for Escorbedo was not as clear from the beginning. Previously, they considered four other architectural firms: Ensamble Studios, 2021 Pritzker Prize winner Lacaton Vassal, SO-IL Architects and David Chipperfield Architects, among which Chipperfield's initial design price reached $800 million. In a tweet that was later deleted, Chipfield wrote that he "are sorry to end his seven-year relationship with the Metropolitan" and congratulated Escorbedo on "all going well" in the project.
Escobedo was born in Mexico, with his parents being a doctor and a demographic family. She studied at the University of Iberia and America in Mexico, and later went to , Harvard University, and further studies. At present, the cultural community is becoming increasingly sensitive to the issue of equality, and choosing Escorbedo seems to represent the importance of female people of color . But Daniel H. Weiss, chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of China, pointed out that this has nothing to do with the museum's decisions. “It is good that Escobedo can bring diversity,” he said, “but that’s not within the criteria of choice.” Wes added that Escobedo is the right person to design “a landmark that illustrates our contemporary art” and he expects the entire project to be completed in about seven years.
In 2006, Escobedo established her own architecture firm in Mexico City . The Metropolitan Modern and Contemporary Art District will become her largest cultural project to date, at a completely different magnitude from previous projects. Previously, Escobedo's works included temporary pavilions and structures designed for the Lisbon Architecture Triennial, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
2018 London Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion
In London, the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion designed by Escobedo is a semi-enclosed courtyard with a triangular pool, lattice walls made of gray concrete roof tiles, and a curved mirrored canopy.
Escobedo's other major works include the expansion project for the Mexico Cuernavacassi Keiros Gallery in 2012, where she transformed the home and studio of the late fresco artist David Alfaro Siqueiros into a public museum. In 2008, she repaired and designed the Hotel Boca Chica in Mexico; in 2010, she designed a local installation for the Museo Experimental El Eco. In addition to construction time, Escobedo is also a teacher. He has taught at Columbia University , Harvard University and Rice University , and is now teaching at Yale University .
Share Kerros Gallery
Currently, Escordeau is working with New York-based Handel Architects on the Ray Harlem project, a joint venture with the National Black Theater that will include residential, retail and performance spaces in the future.
Metropolitan Modern and Contemporary Art District will create 80,000 square feet of exhibition halls and public spaces, giving the museum the opportunity to tell more modern and contemporary art stories than in the past. In addition, the area named after Tang Liuqian will also include photography, sketching and prints and .
Metropolitan Museum of Art Interior
Holein said that the new area will not provide "a linear road", but "a more open architectural structure", and the exhibition hall will have different heights, scales and lighting. Now, when pavilions such as New York Museum of Modern Art begin to rethink the presentation of art and tolerate multiple perspectives and different styles, this new area of the metropolis will also seek to expand its narrative. “Our artistic presentation will be cross-cultural,” Holein said.
(This article is compiled from the New York Times)
Editor in charge: Qian Xueer
Proofreading: Xu Yijia
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