Enjoy this article?
Most Museums Journal content is only available to members. Join the MA to get full access to the latest thinking and trends from across the sector, case studies and best practice advice.
Modern Art Oxford pushes back reopening to 2 November
Postponement down to unforeseen building delays for £2m project
Modern Art Oxford has pushed its reopening back a month to Saturday 2 November as a result of unforeseen building work.
The gallery closed to visitors earlier this year to complete a £2m project with David Kohn Architects to refurbish its ground and lower-ground public areas.
Developed in consultation with the gallery and local community members, the public areas have undergone a complete overhaul to enrich the visitor experience and attract new audiences. The welcome area will be transfigured and will include a shop as well as a “destination” cafe in the basement designed by the British artist Emma Hart.
A new ground-floor gallery will host temporary exhibitions including an annual display of work by recent graduates from the Ruskin School of Art, the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Reading. Also to be unveiled is a creative space where the gallery can host workshops, educational programmes and sensory play for under fives.
Modern Art Oxford is housed in a former brewery built in 1878, and its redevelopment aims to improve its environmental performance, reduce energy consumption and support the organisation to become carbon neutral by 2040. David Kohn Architects says its design makes use of the existing fabric wherever possible in an environmentally responsible approach that “celebrates the building’s history as a repurposed industrial building”.
Paul Hobson, the director of Modern Art Oxford, said the transformational project will enable it to accommodate its “rapidly growing” participation work.
The project has included public consultation process involving more than 350 people and features elements of co-creation and co-design led by artists in collaboration with local groups. It has been funded by a number of trusts and foundations, including CHK Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund and the Garfield Weston Foundation.
The gallery will reopen with the first institutional exhibition in the UK of work by Cuban artist Belkis Ayón (until 9 February 2025) in its upper galleries.