Metropolitan Museum Breaks Ground On Tang Wing

(MENAFN- USA Art News) The Metropolitan Museum of Art officially began construction on its new Tang Wing for modern and contemporary art on September 15. Designed by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo, the wing will replace the existing Lila Acheson Wallace Wing.

Escobedo participated in a morning ceremony held in the museum's European Sculpture Court, joining Met Director Max Hollein and various elected officials. Escobedo is the first woman to design a wing for The Met. She also participated in the museum's first public event conducted entirely in Spanish earlier this year.

During her remarks, Escobedo referenced the Spanish term for groundbreaking,“la primera piedra” or“the first stone.” This phrase brought to mind the four piles of uncarved stone blocks atop the columns on The Met's Fifth Avenue facade. These pyramidal slabs are remnants of architect Richard Morris Hunt's 1894 expansion plan, which originally called for sculpted statues that were never realized.“It suggested the idea of becoming, that architecture, and perhaps institutions too, are never entirely finished,” Escobedo stated.“They continue changing, accumulating, and adding meaning.”

The 126,000-square-foot Tang Wing will be located at the southwest corner of The Met's building complex. It will expand the museum's galleries for 20th and 21st-century art by nearly 50 percent, adding 69,500 square feet of exhibition space. The project also aims to improve accessibility and decrease energy consumption. The wing is scheduled to open in 2030.

Source: Hyperallergic

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