The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has recently unveiled its massive new $720 million Geffen Galleries. This new building, with its lack of a main entrance and undefined routes, has become a hot topic of discussion within the art museum community. For the American and Western art museum system, this venue represents not only an architectural renewal but also a comprehensive transformational experiment in institutional, curatorial, and even cultural philosophy.
Is this art museum a gatekeeper of art history or a dialogue partner with cultural memory? Undoubtedly, this venue will provide a challenging and inspiring reference point for the museum community.
Construction on the Geffen Galleries, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)'s major exhibition space, was completed at the end of 2024, with renovations and relocations now underway. This summer, the public will be able to explore some of the museum's amenities, including its outdoor sculpture plaza, dining, and retail spaces, in preparation for its full opening in April 2026.
Designed by Swiss Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor and American firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the museum encompasses approximately 32,280 square meters of floor space and 10,220 square meters of exhibition space. Upon its opening, LACMA's total exhibition space will have expanded from 12,080 square meters in 2007 to 20,440 square meters. The undulating concrete structure cost $720 million to build, thanks to a $150 million donation from local music, film, and television mogul David Geffen, a $125 million match from the Los Angeles County government, and contributions from numerous other supporters. This ambitious project was completed within five years.
Aerial view of the Geffen Pavilion. Photo: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill©
This new museum, with its lack of a main entrance and fixed routes, has become a hot topic of discussion within the art museum community. It not only responds to the current trend of decentralization in Western contemporary culture, but also fundamentally questions the art museum tradition, which has been centered on Eurocentrism, linear historical narratives, and media hierarchies.
This transformation is not an isolated case. In recent years, several major art institutions in the United States have embarked on a process of profound transformation and repositioning. In its 2019 expansion, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York radically broke with the logic of gallery divisions based on medium, bringing female artists, people of color, and marginalized practices into the center. It also disrupted traditional art historical frameworks through intersecting timelines and juxtaposed narratives. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, through the renovation of its Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, juxtaposed African, ancient American, and Oceanic art, rejecting the label of "primitive" that categorizes non-Western cultures. Against this historical backdrop, LACMA has pursued its reforms in a more radical way—not only through renovations but also through restructuring; not only through reconstruction but also through rewriting.
LACMA Director Michael Govan inspects the new Geffen Wing. Photo by Ye Rin Mok ©
LACMA isn't building a new museum so much as it's attempting to redefine the very concept of an "art museum." From its architectural form to its curatorial philosophy, from its collection layout to its visitor experience, this transformation reflects a rejection of tradition and an exploration of future forms. LACMA's new building features a single-story structure, eliminating the hierarchical logic inherent in traditional multi-story art museums. Spatially, there's no "upstairs" or "downstairs" division, nor is there a curatorial "center-periphery" hierarchy. All cultures and media are integrated onto a single floor, suggesting a cultural relationship of equality and juxtaposition. This stands in stark contrast to the clustered and compartmentalized architecture of its predecessor. The former building, comprised of several functional yet relatively conservative Modernist buildings, housed a rich collection, yet was fragmented, with clear divisions of region, time, and culture: European art, Chinese art, photography, classical sculpture, and more were each presented in their own separate spaces, making cross-cultural dialogue virtually impossible.
Today, new curatorial concepts completely depart from this "island-style" display logic. Curators are no longer independent department heads, but rather collaborate on curatorial work around grand themes such as "Migration and Exchange," "Oceans and Connectivity," and "The Body and Belief." Exhibitions will draw on works from LACMA's vast and diverse collection, constructing narratives across media, time, and geography. For example, photographs will no longer be confined to the photography gallery but may be presented alongside textiles, paintings, or sculptures to construct a picture of a particular cultural phenomenon. This curatorial practice clearly carries a tendency towards "de-disciplinarity," its ultimate goal not to retell the main lines of art history but to reveal its cracks, gaps, and the fluidity of its boundaries.
A core element of LACMA's reforms is to completely break down the division between "canon" and "periphery." This is not only reflected in the curatorial themes, but also in the selection and layout of specific collections. For a long time, European classical paintings and sculptures have been regarded as the core of art museum displays, while works from non-Western cultures, female artists, or local folk art have been placed in marginal exhibition halls or presented as auxiliary content. Today, LACMA has clearly brought these neglected traditions to the forefront. For example, the Textile and Fashion Hall not only displays 19th-century Western haute couture, but also displays Kashmiri shawls, Turkish robes, and Central Asian silk crafts, thereby constructing a cultural trade network across Europe and Asia. Artworks are no longer isolated aesthetic objects, but witnesses to the complex intersection of global historical processes.
Of particular note is the reassessment of media. In LACMA's new building, long-marginalized genres like photography, textiles, fashion, and decorative arts are receiving unprecedented prominence. In the art museum system of the past, these media were often considered "craft" rather than "art," limited to brief appearances in temporary exhibition halls or functional spaces. Now, they will enter the main exhibition hall, sharing equal footing with painting and sculpture. This approach is not merely a reorientation of exhibition strategy but also a critique of intellectual history—it explicitly points out that the very definition of "art" is a product of specific power structures.
Even more groundbreaking is LACMA's self-subversion of the relationship between knowledge production and exhibitions. Curators are no longer the sole interpreters, but instead collaborate with communities, ethnic groups, scholars, and even Indigenous peoples to co-construct exhibitions. LACMA has been working in this direction for recent years. The 2022 exhibition "Portable Universe" is a prime example of this collaboration: LACMA co-created the exhibition with the Arhuaco people of Colombia, with the Indigenous community participating in everything from the selection of exhibits, the presentation of the exhibition, the writing of the text, and educational activities. This way, the works are no longer interpreted solely within a Western context but are reinterpreted within their own knowledge systems. This curatorial logic represents one of the most cutting-edge trends in the museum world: treating cultural others not as mere subjects of presentation, but as equal co-constructors of knowledge. The National Museum of the Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C., has also been making progress in this direction in recent years, for example through its "Community Curators Program," which encourages tribes to tell their own histories in their own ways. This concept of decolonial curating is becoming one of the most cutting-edge museum practices in the United States. It not only challenges the power structure of art museums but also restores cultural subjectivities erased by mainstream narratives. LACMA's new building further strengthens the interactive logic between "artifacts, knowledge, and community."
A glimpse into the Portable Universe exhibition. Photo: Museum Associates/LACMA ©
The transformation in architectural space is equally profound. The design of LACMA's new building reflects a deep consideration of visitor behavior and psychology. Zumthor's "Geffen Pavilion" emphasizes walkability and a decentralized nature, replacing a closed grid of exhibition halls with a sinuous, flowing plan. The space makes abundant use of natural light and curved walls, creating an intimate, rather than monumental, atmosphere, encouraging visitors to spontaneously form their own paths and encounter exhibits. In other words, the new building aims to blur the lines between "exhibition" and "wandering," making visiting less a matter of "accepting" a predetermined route and more a matter of "generating" an active exploration. Visitors can relax in the plaza, linger briefly in the café, and stumble upon a work of art in the bookstore or by the window. LACMA Director Michael Govan has stated that he hopes the museum will become a place where people "want to linger." This spatial strategy reflects the museum's shift from a "temple of knowledge" to an "urban living room," attempting to transform the art museum from a mere "viewing place" into an "integrated part of urban life." Cafes, bookstores, rest plazas, interactive installations, etc. constitute this "daily" cultural ecology.
Interior rendering of the Geffen Pavilion, SOM©
Of course, LACMA's reforms are not without their critics. The main areas of contention focus on two key areas: first, the potential loss of spatial efficiency—the contradiction between spatial efficiency and visitor experience. Peter Zumthor's architectural language is elegant and sensual, but its practical application in exhibition remains to be determined. While the new building boasts the same exhibition area as the old building (approximately 10,000 square meters), its design emphasizes visual fluidity and formal expression, resulting in complex hall divisions and structures. Some industry insiders worry that the actual space available for exhibitions will be reduced, reducing the area available for hanging and displaying works. Some artists and critics worry that large-scale installations, long paintings, and fragile materials will be limited in their display and find it difficult to find suitable locations within this structure. While curved walls offer visual dynamism, they may present challenges in terms of hanging works, light control, and temperature and humidity management. In other words, striking a balance between formal beauty and practical effectiveness is a crucial question for this new generation of "architecture-art museum" projects. Furthermore, since the new museum will not host formal art exhibitions during its initial opening, visitors may feel disappointed and leave empty-handed, thus diminishing their visitor experience. Balancing the openness of an art museum with the visibility of its exhibits is a crucial challenge facing any renovation project.
Interior rendering of the Geffen Pavilion, SOM©
Secondly, the lack of detailed information about the permanent exhibition galleries has also caused public unease. To date, LACMA has not yet released a definitive plan for its permanent galleries, making it difficult to assess the effectiveness of its new curatorial logic. For a museum boasting masterpieces such as Georges de La Tour's Magdalene with the Smoking Flame, the Safavid Ardabil Carpet, and Catherine Opie's photographic series, the public has high expectations for the visibility of these classic works. However, overly abstract curatorial concepts, without concrete demonstrations to support them, can easily be misinterpreted as conceptually driven and idle. LACMA's lack of a detailed exhibition layout has also caused anxiety among many long-time supporters. Furthermore, balancing the needs of architects and the curatorial team to prevent spatial aesthetics from overriding display practicality presents a systemic challenge.
Georges de Latour (French, 1593–1652), Mary Magdalene with Fireworks, circa 1635–1637
Despite this, LACMA's initiative remains a landmark achievement. The construction of LACMA's new building represents not only a reconstruction of physical space but also a profound exercise in institutional self-reflection and cultural repositioning. It seeks to answer a contemporary question: In an era characterized by multicultural coexistence, awakening identity politics, decolonization, and the parallel ecological crises, what role should art museums play? Are they gatekeepers of art history or interlocutors of cultural memory? Are they validators of value or disruptors of narrative? LACMA may not have provided perfect answers, but its concrete actions have opened this discussion, providing a challenging and inspiring reference point for the global museum community. It not only reframes the possibilities of visitor experience through architecture but also, at the institutional and ideological levels, proposes a manifesto for "rewriting art history." In this process, we witness the American museum community gradually transforming from "canon maintainers" to "cultural interlocutors," a role reflected not only in exhibition programming but also in engagement mechanisms, public education, and community partnerships.
If Western museums of the late 19th century served as showcases of imperial knowledge, and art museums of the 20th century served as the cultural icons of nations, then art museums of the 21st century are more like open cultural platforms—places where different times, spaces, and subjects engage in dialogue; places where audiences not only "see" art but are also encouraged to "understand" differences and participate in the construction of meaning. In the future, art museums will not only be custodians and exhibitors of collections, but also platforms for cross-cultural and interdisciplinary encounters. They will be both frontiers for knowledge construction and sites for the negotiation of public identity. LACMA's new building undoubtedly embodies this ambitious shift. While its effectiveness remains to be seen, it offers an exciting experimental model. In the context of globalization, diversity, postcolonialism, and the post-pandemic era, the reflection and debate this model inspires may be more valuable than its ultimate presentation. In the future, the value of an art museum will no longer be determined by the number of "masterpieces" it houses, but by how it organizes these works, what stories it tells, and for whom.
(The original title of this article is "Dialogue with Cultural Memory: The Enlightenment of the New Los Angeles County Museum of Art." The author is the Director of the Asian Department of the Minneapolis Museum of Art.)
