Charles Saumarez Smith and Tim Marlow. Photos Cat Garcia.
Tim Marlow talks with Charles Saumarez Smith to celebrate the publication of his new book The Art Museum in Modern Times.
How have museums changed architecturally? Where are they headed for the future? MOMA in New York opened in 1939 and was one of the first to focus on the art of the present. Then came architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies Van der Rohe, and in the 70s Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano brought movable walls and wide-open gallery spaces to the Centre Pompidou. The 90s saw the Getty in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim in Bilbao – followed by the reaction to these big projects in lighter weight and ethereal designs by Peter Zumthor, SANAA and David Chipperfield, such as The Hepworth Wakefield.
Sir Charles Saumarez Smith has a unique perspective as formerly director of the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts. He discusses with Tim Marlow, broadcaster and director of the Design Museum, the radical shift from a belief that the art museum should instruct and educate - how the idea that museums should be more about contemplation, spectacle and individual experience has come about, and what this really means for the public and the future of museums.
The Art Museum in Modern Times (thamesandhudson.com) by Charles Saumarez Smith (publication date 25 March, 2021). Ticket holders will receive a discount code to use online for 25% off the book’s retail price.
Proceeds from ARTscapades events go to help support UK museums and galleries.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live, or on-demand for three weeks. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends. Bookings close one hour before the event.