Mapping the MoMA Controversy

The Museum of Modern Art, New York City Joey Wong Portfolio 2015/2016 M(Arch) Year One Workshop 4.1b: Mapping Controversies Manchester School of Architecture

contents

-iProject Aim and Context -iiTimeline -iiiKey Non-Human Actors Key Human Actors All Actors -ivMain Argument Politics -vAppendix and Bibliography

project aim This project aims to deconstruct the controversy surrounding the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and its decision to demolish the American Folk Art Museum by exploring the different actors and politics involved. This mapping of actors and political relationships aims to understand the complex network of data that is inherently embedded in architecture and our society, and in doing so dispel the notion that architecture and society are separate pillars of study. The study of this particular controversy highlights architecture’s capacity to embody complex cultural significance and the responsibilities the different actors have in influencing them. “Architecture will appear neither as infrastructure nor as a frame in which we situate moving subjects and project subjectivities, identities, roles and meanings.

Architecture will become a moving target.” (Yaneva, A. 2012)

context In 2013, in order to address MoMA’s congestion issue, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) decided that they had to demolish the former American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) building to make way for the museum’s expansion. This triggered an architectural controversy in New York City and beyond. There are varied and complex reasons for this controversy: some of it arises from an attachment to Williams and Tsien’s building; others from an aversion toward the continued growth and corporatisation of MoMA; and others protested from a fear of the homogenisation of New York. Given the nature of these museum corporations, some regard it as a David and Goliath fight and/or an elite versus the street argument, while others see the values of a more universal, globalised culture destroying the local and handmade. (Brake, A. 2014)

Scaffolding surrounds the façade of the former American Folk Art Museum building, in New York

“We admire the building and, especially the architects, but as so often happens in preservation battles, the folk art museum has become a stand-in for much larger issues: the future of New York City, MoMA’s turn away from cultural preservation, the colonisation of Manhattan by the ultra rich, the widening gap between them and everyone else.

That’s a lot of baggage for an obdurate building to carry.”

(Pedersen, M. 2014)

the american folk art museum interior images

the museum of modern art interior images

“Only by enlisting the movements of a building and accounting carefully for its “tribulations” would one be able to state its existence: it would be equal to the building’s extensive list of controversies and performances over time, i.e. it would be equal to what it does, to the way it resists attempts at transformation, allows certain visitors’ actions and impedes others, bugs observers, challenges city authorities, and mobilizes different communities of actors.”

20 NOVEMBER

2004

2001

1997

(Latour, B and Yaneva, A. 2008)

timeline Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi commissioned to design MoMA’s first expansion at the current site. This commission was his first work outside of Japan, and aimed to synthesize the disparate elements from before.

The American Folk Art Museum opened.

It was well received partly for its striking bronze facade and partly because it signaled the city’s recovery from the September 11 attacks. However the museum was also criticised as a cramped place in which to view art, because of its narrow galleries.

The MoMA reopened following its expansion. The museum is nearly twice the size of the former facility, offering dramatically expanded and redesigned spaces for exhibitions, public programming, educational outreach, and scholarly research. The architectural experience has been critiqued as not particularly pleasant, given the crowds, confusing ciruclation, and placeless quality of the spaces. MoMA’s current incarnation has been called soulless by many, and Taniguchi’s blank gigantism only serves to reinforce this view.

MoMA sold the adjacent empty lot to the developer Hines, in exchange for three floors of gallery space in a new residential tower, the 1,050-foot 53 West 53rd Street designed by Jean Nouvel.

MoMA purchased the American Folk Art Museum for $31.2 million, after the AFAM defaulted on the bonds that had bankrolled the construction of this building.

9 MAY

2013

22 APRIL

2013

2013

2011

2007

$31.2 m

MoMA announced plans to raze the The decision ignites protest and MoMA announced that they would reconsider American Folk Art Museum building as part debate from the architectural its previous decision and that DS+R would of an expansion. This would involve the community. The Architectural evaluate the possibility of integrating the integration of the current building with three League of New York also issued American Folk Art Museum building into its floors of the residential tower designed by the first open letter pleading plans.

Jean Nouvel, as well as the site of the former for reconsideration, endorsed American Folk Art Museum. This is MoMA’s by several prominent architects. second major rebuilding in less than ten years. (see Appendix)

Both MoMA and DS+R faced and outpouring of public criticism from the community, and the Architectural League issued a second statement.

18 APRIL

2014

28 JANUARY

2014

14 JANUARY

2014

8 JANUARY

2014

MoMA and DS+R again announced plans for expansion and renovation which finalised the decision to demolish the American Folk Art Museum. They cited reasons of spatial and structural incompatibility, and that keeping the building meant making too many changes that would compromise the architectural integrity of the AFAM.

In partnership with the Municipal Art Society and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter, The Architectural League organized an event at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on January 28, 2014, which included an opportunity for MoMA and its architects to present its plans and reasoning to a large audience of League, MAS, and AIANY members and press.

The plan was then discussed by a panel of architects and critics that represented a spectrum of responses to the plan.

Demolition of the American Folk Art Museum building commences

key non-human actors significance to public obduracy of the AFAM

The American Folk Art Museum building, with its distinctive bronze facade and architecturally rich interiors, was the first major piece of architecture to be built in New York after September 11. It was a small but powerful signal of regeneration.

AFAM’s bankruptcy

In 2010, the museum corporation was near bankruptcy due to fraud by its previously preeminent donor and former chairman, Ralph Esmeria, and selling the building seemed the only path to fiscal solvency.

obduracy of the MoMA

The American Folk Art Museum building is considered both relationally and materially obdurate. (Beauregard, R. 2014) The spatial quality of the American Folk Art Museum was considered idiosyncratic for its response to the art displayed within as well as its site constraints. It was not intentionally designed to be averse to change, but its qualities became obdurate once it was situated in a new relationship with MoMA, when its materials and aesthetic were deemed incompatible for integration.

The materiality of the American Folk Art Museum also limits how they can be used, adapted and demolished. Changing them posess technical challenges and imposes financial costs.

These material things are also part of a designed ensemble whose architectural integrity is resistant by nature.

MoMA purchased the American MoMA’s legal property Folk Art Museum in July 2011 for rights to the US$31.2 million after the museum corporation went bankrupt.

AFAM

The MoMA’s existing buildings and board are also considered obdurate. (Beauregard, R. 2014)

MoMA American Folk Art Museum

Completed in 2001, this building was designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. The architecture received mixed reviews, some claiming it was a poor environment in which to view art, and others raving about its sensitivity to the site and its context, as well as its rich and distinctive spatial experience.

The current building preserves the original 1936–1939 façade by Edward Durell Stone and Philip L. Goodwin as well as the 1964 addition by Philip Johnson, along with Yoshio Taniguchi’s expansion of 1997–2003. Despite the expansion, the MoMA still faces congestion and circulation issues.

The American Folk Art Museum’s facade was considered a distinctive icon in midtown Manhattan. “Each panel was produced individually by pouring the molten metal onto AFAM’s bronze facade two kinds of surface: bare concrete or stainless steel. Gases escaping from the materials formed irregularities in the color panels and texture of the panels, which are themselves individually sized.” (Muschamp, H. 2001)

“The much larger size of the MoMA extension, the financial cost of adapting it and the commitment of the MoMA board of directors to the materials and aesthetic that Taniguchi had established, and which had their roots in the original (but now much transformed) 1939 building, turned the Folk Art building into an impediment.”

cultural tourism “MoMA’s changing spatial requirements and aesthetic are not its own but part of the way museum holdings are presented globally. MoMA competes with museums around the world (and within NYC) to attract visitors and increase revenues through ticket sales and donations. The technology of museum display is embedded in cultural frames and narratives of which the dominant one is epitomised by the MoMA and its buildings: large, brightly-lit spaces, escalators to move from floor to floor and numerous amenities.”

(Beauregard, R. 2014)

key human actors Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects is a New York based firm that designed the American Folk Art Museum, tod williams that was completed in 2001. The building, well-received and billie tsien by critics and the public, was a major step in Williams and Tsien’s assent to the highest ranks of American architects.

Glenn D. Lowry became the sixth director of The Museum of Modern Art in 1995. Lowry is a key actor in guiding the Museum’s 2004 expansion and accompanying capital campaign—raising $450 million for the new building and over $450 million for the endowment and other related expenses—and is currently leading the renovation and expansion project. glenn d. lowry

the architectural league nyc The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization established in 1881 that is an independent forum for architecture and its allied disciplines. It aims to “nurture excellence in architecture, design, and urbanism, and stimulates thinking and debate about the critical design and building issues of our time.” The organisation penned several open statements to MoMA, endorsed by prominent architects, to justify the demolition of the AFAM. art and architecture critics

diller scofido + renfro MoMA

elizabeth diller Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a New York based firm that has been commissioned by MoMA to design the museum’s expansion. The firm has been a key actor in exploring ways in which the American Folk Art Museum building could be integrated with the expansion, and in deciding that the only way forward is to demolish the building.

AFAM

This controversy ignited a white hot debate from the public in the cultural sector, namely critics in both art and architectural communities. The concerns of these critics were varied and complex, exposing a network of macro and micro politics embedded in this controversy.

yoshio taniguchi

Yoshio Taniguchi won the MoMA expansion commission in 1997, which was his first work outside Japan. He was well known in Japan for his elegant, minimalist structures, and was chosen to provide a building that exhibits the art to best effect and does not compete with it. Taniguchi’s expansion established a sleek, transparent aesthetic for the MoMA building.

The local government is a representative of ‘the public’ and is hence responsible for the health, safety and well-being of the city and its people. This includes the design of the built environment, where preservation organisations limit the demolition of significant architecture.

It is hence interesting to note that the absence of governmental organisations also makes them an actor responsible for the demolition of the AFAM.

richard meier yoshio taniguchi

MoMA’s legal property rights to the AFAM

cultural tourism

atelier jean nouvel

diller scofido + renfro

museum of modern art

obduracy of the MoMA

absence of governmental organisations

the cultural landscape foundation

tod williams & billie tsien architects

AFAM’s bankruptcy

the architectural league new york

thom mayne

hines

all actors human actors non-human actors

american folk art museum

organisations architects art and architecture critics

the municipal art society

guy horton

paul goldberger #FolkMoMA Tumblr

michael wolff

b. deland pollak

robert stern

nina libeskind

alexandra lange

jorge otero-pailos

stephen rustow

nicolai oroussoff

frank gehry

cathleen mcguigan

obduracy of the AFAM

significance to public

AFAM’s bronze facade panels

herbert muschamp

robin pegrebin karrie jacobs

karen stein

paul gunther

martin c. pedersen

randy kennedy jerry saltz

justin davidson

barry schwabsky

michael wolff

david w. dunlap

the american institute of architects new york chapter

andrew s. dolkart

michael kimmelman

alan g. brake martin filler

PROGRESS

growing demands and changes to exhibition space over time

EXPANSION

SECOND OF the Museum of Modern Art

main argument The following pages aim to study the network of concerns that sprung out during the short but intense outburst of protest and debate against the AFAM’s demolition. The analysis of both the actor and political relationship highlights the multitude of social concerns and perspectives that are embedded in our built environment, which enables us to understand how the responsibilities are shared among different actors in any design decision.

& DEMOLITION OF

the American Folk Art Museum Building

PRESERVATION

demolition of architecturally excellent building is a cultural and environmental waste

actor and political relationships human actors

corporatisation of MoMA

non-human actors organisations

progress

changes in exhibition space

aesthetics

Recent MoMA tower

by Jean Nouvel

architects art and architecture critics

flexibility MoMA’s first expansion by Yoshio Taniguchi

demand

expansion homogenisation of NYC

trigger

macro politics idiosyncrasy of AFAM

demolition

public trust in MoMA

micro politics dignity of architects causal factors

“taxidermy” of facade panels

identity & architectural excellence

preservation

short lifespan of AFAM

cultural and environmental waste

The main motivations for MoMA’s second expansion in less than a decade are the growing number of museum patrons as well as changes in the exhibition space. This map aims to show the different types of actors concerned with the politics of this expansion, and their stand in relationship to it. The numbers next to their names refer to the row in the actors excel sheet (see Appendix).

Studying the motivations for change in the exhibition space, behind the innocent claim of progress and exploration by MoMA’s director, reveals a complex network of actors. A nonhuman actor is cultural tourism, in which MoMA is situated in the global network of museum corporations, competing for visitors. This need to stay relevant may be a justification for its continued growth and corporatisation.

However, such a position means that the architecture is embedded in a global cultural frame, of which the dominant aesthetic is the one that MoMA has established, bringing up the issue of homogenisation. The idiosyncratic nature of the AFAM, when positioned relationally with the MoMA makes it seem obdurate and resistant to change in light of MoMA’s expansion.

(16) Karen Stein, architectural consultant and writer

(2, 3) Glenn D. Lowry, director of MoMA changes in exhibition space

(48) Barry Schwabsky, The Nation

(9) Hines, developer

(6) Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio + Renfro

(45) Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times

(4) Barry Bergdoll, chief curator of architecture and design at MoMA

demand cultural tourism (17) Edward Dimendberg, The Architectural Review (8) Jean Nouvel, Ateliers Jean Nouvel (10) Yoshio Taniguchi, architect commisioned for first expansion

(27) Thom Mayne, Morphosis Architects obduracy of the AFAM

(55) Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times

MoMA’s legal property rights to the AFAM

(36) The Cultural Landscape Foundation (5) Ann Temkin, the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis chief curator of painting and sculpture

(22, 23) Jerry Saltz, senior art critic at New York Magazine

(41) Michael Wolff, The Guardian

full statement from glenn lowry on the MoMA’s expansion

Message from Glenn D. Lowry Director, The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art’s Board of Trustees today approved initial details of a major building project that will expand the Museum’s public spaces and galleries to provide greater public accessibility and allow the Museum to reconceive the presentation of its collection and exhibitions.

Working with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the renowned interdisciplinary studio based in New York City, the Museum has developed a plan to integrate its current building with two sites to the west of the Museum’s midtown Manhattan campus into which it will expand: three floors of a residential tower being developed by Hines, at 53 West 53rd Street; and the site of the former American Folk Art Museum, at 45 West 53rd Street.

After a lengthy and rigorous analysis to determine if the former museum could be incorporated into the expansion, we have concluded that MoMA’s programmatic objectives could not be met without severely impacting the original American Folk Art Museum building. The degree to which the building would lose its identity, and the level of compromise to the MoMA program, made saving it infeasible. Therefore, a new building will be constructed on the site of the former museum.

http://press.moma.org/wp-content/files_mf/moma_building_project_director_statement.pdf

As a major component of the Museum’s desire for greater public access and a more welcoming street presence, the preliminary concepts approved today will transform the current lobby and ground-floor areas into an expansive public gathering space, open to the public and spanning the entire street level of the Museum, including The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. In advance of these plans, the Museum will increase free public access to the Sculpture Garden later this year.

The extension of MoMA’s galleries to the west on its second, fourth, and fifth floors will add a variety of spaces and allow the Museum to present an integrated display of its collection across all disciplines—photography, architecture, design, film, media, prints, drawings, performance, painting, and sculpture. These carefully choreographed sequences will highlight the creative frictions and influences that spring from seeing these mediums together.

The expansion will add approximately 40,000 square feet of new galleries and public areas, providing 30% more space for visitors to view the collection and special exhibitions. The additional space will allow the Museum to show transformative acquisitions that have added new dimensions and voices to its holdings, drawing from entire collections of contemporary drawings, Fluxus, and Conceptual art; the archives of Frank Lloyd Wright; and major recent acquisitions by such artists as Marcel Broodthaers, Lygia Clark, Steve McQueen, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Mira Schendel, Richard Serra, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and Cy Twombly, among many others.

Our vision for MoMA’s next phase will be completed over the coming years, and I look forward to updating you on our progress.

Contacts:

Kim Mitchell, kim_mitchell@moma.org, 212-333-6594 or 917-846-7015 Margaret Doyle, margaret_doyle@moma.org, 212-408-6400 or 646-402-1250

first statement from the architectural league

http://archleague.org/2013/04/an-open-letter-to-the-museum-of-modern-art/

second statement from the architectural league

http://archleague.org/2014/01/a-statement-from-the-architectural-league/

link to conversation video

http://archleague.org/2014/02/a-conversation-on-the-museum-of-modern-arts-plan-for-expansion-2/ (click on link to open)

methodology: hyphe I used Hyphe, a web-crawling tool that enabled me to discover more articles, and organise them according to key concerns.

appendix: methodology

appendix: list of actors, concerns, and sources

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appendix: list of actors, concerns, and sources

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bibliography Cover Image of the MoMA. Retrieved from http:// archleague.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/r_021MoMA-08_Tim-Hursley-copy.jpeg

Beauregard, R. (2014) We Blame the Building! The Architecture of Distributed Responsibility. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

Contents Page Image of the AFAM. Retrieved from http://joja.info/sites/default/files/article_galleries/choo_ american_folk_art_museum_outside_day_shot_01.jpg

Brake, A. (2014) Demolition of the American Folk Art Museum, Texas Society of Architects.

Context Page Image of AFAM Surrounded by Scaffolding. http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/ uploads/2014/11/Lange-Destructoporn-1200.jpg AFAM Images. Retrieved from http://twbta.com/work/ american-folk-art-museum MoMA Images. Retrieved from http://www.archdaily. com/430903/ad-classics-the-museum-of-modern-art Timeline Image of Taniguchi’s Proposal Sketch for MoMA. Retrieved from http://www.archdaily.com/430903/ ad-classics-the-museum-of-modern-art Timeline Image of AFAM’s interior. Retrieved from http://assets.bwbx.io/images/iUt9vHvHTMpg/v1/-1x-1.jpg Timeline Image of MoMA’s interior. Retrieved from http://www.archdaily.com/430903/ad-classics-the-museumof-modern-art Timeline Image of Torre Verre Drawing. Retrieved from http://inhabitat.com/nyc/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/ files/2011/08/Jean-Nouvel-Torre-Verre.jpg Timeline Image of AFAM. Retrieved from http:// davecloughphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/folk-artmuseum-and-moma/mg_5163.jpg Timeline Image of MoMA with Wrecking Ball. Retrieved from http://folkmoma.tumblr.com Timeline Image of AFAM exterior. Retrieved from http://twbta.com/work/american-folk-art-museum Timeline Image of MoMA DS+R Proposal. Retrieved from http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/54a0e40df92ea17 831031c91/09MOMAjp1-superJumbo.jpg

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Goldberger, P. (2014) Friendly Fire on the Culture Front?

Why the Museum of Modern Art is Making a Fatal Mistake.

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Hawthorne, C. (2014) Elizabeth Diller Defends MoMA Plan to Demolish Folk Art Building. Los Angeles Times.

Latour, B. and Yaneva, A. (2008) Give Me a Gun and I Will Make Buildings Move: An ANT’s View of Architecture, in Explorations in Architecture: Teaching, Design, Research Pedersen, M. (2014) Damage Control. Metropolis Mag. Pogrebin, R. (2013) 12-Year Old Building at MoMA Is Doomed. The New York Times.

Pogrebin, R. (2014) Ambitious Redesign of MoMA Doesn’t Spare a Notable Neighbor. The New York Times.

Schwabsky, B. (2013) MoMA’s Demolition Derby. The Nation.

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