Though it’s been closed for construction since 2018, The Studio Museum in Harlem recently announced that it’ll officially reopen in its new home next year in the fall of 2025!
The new building will provide extensive exhibition, education, and program spaces and public amenities never before enjoyed by the museum and will be the first facility conceived and designed specifically for the institution since its founding 56 years ago.
Founded by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, the Studio Museum in Harlem was born out of an urgent need to address the near-complete exclusion of artists of African descent from mainstream museums, commercial art galleries, academic institutions, and scholarly publications. First opened in a rented loft on Fifth Avenue the new building will enable the Studio Museum to expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions.
And, as a testament to the museum’s longstanding commitment to its surrounding community, the design of its rooftop terrace will be carried out by Harlem-based landscape design firm Studio Zewde.
Upon opening, the museum’s first show will be a comprehensive presentation of the work of artist, educator, and activist Tom Lloyd (1929–1996), a perfect selection considering Lloyd’s work was also the subject of the institution’s opening exhibition back in 1968. The exhibition will present approximately twenty works by Lloyd, including electronic sculptures, wall-mounted sculptures, and works on paper created in the 1970s and 1980s.
This exhibition will be joined by a breadth of remarkable works from the museum’s expansive permanent collection, ranging from works made as early as the 1800s to those by a host of today’s most renowned artists.
Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, stated:
The Studio Museum in Harlem will move forward decisively while honoring our past with these revelatory exhibitions…Taken in its entirety, our collection traces, as few institutions can, a history of creativity by artists of African descent that we will continue to nurture far into the future.”
Learn more about the museum on their website.
📍 144 W 125th St.