The New Museum is getting a makeover, and not just any makeover—a full-blown architectural power move. In fall 2025, the museum will unveil its 60,000-square-foot expansion, a bold, glass-wrapped intervention by OMA’s Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas. The structure, which stands as OMA’s first public building in New York City, is poised to double the museum’s gallery space and introduce new artist residency studios, a cultural incubator, and—thank the art gods—better visitor flow. The expansion isn’t just about more space; it’s about redefining what the New Museum is and what it wants to be: a home for the next, the now, and the never-before-seen.
This isn’t the first time the New Museum has played architectural hopscotch. Founded in 1977, it has always been an institution in flux, never a grand temple to history but a site for artistic experimentation. Its 2007 SANAA-designed flagship on the Bowery, all stacked boxes and clean edges, put the museum on the architectural map. Now, OMA’s addition will push it further—literally and figuratively—by expanding laterally, integrating an atrium stair for panoramic views, and offering open, interconnected spaces designed to dissolve the barriers between art, audience, and city. The goal? An institution that breathes, adapts, and dares.
And then, there’s the art. The inaugural exhibition, New Humans: Memories of the Future, is a sprawling, high-concept survey featuring more than 150 artists, from Salvador Dalí to Anicka Yi, tackling humanity’s evolving relationship with technology. This show is a statement, a flex, a way of saying: we are here, we are looking ahead, and we are not afraid to ask the big questions. The exhibition will map the anxieties and exhilarations of our digital age, drawing a jagged, time-hopping line from Surrealism to AI-driven nightmares. Expect drama. Expect scale. Expect something that reminds you why the New Museum has always been a necessary, sometimes maddening, but always essential presence in New York’s cultural landscape.
Beyond New Humans, the expanded museum promises a roster of site-specific commissions, including Sarah Lucas’s VENUS VICTORIA, an inaugural sculpture for the new entrance plaza. And, of course, there’s more to come: a 2026 lineup featuring a much-anticipated Arthur Jafa solo show and the latest edition of the New Museum Triennial. The New Museum is, as ever, in motion—building, changing, taking risks. Love it or roll your eyes at it; one thing is clear: the conversation is about to get a whole lot bigger.
