This book enters the museum of the twenty-first century as the most important site of experimentation for architecture. Museums’ new forms go beyond that of traditional constructions and can be thought of as entire fragments of cities and urban environments, and installations.

Only through the museum can we understand what art is and what its growing role in our urban environment might be. This book tackles the fundamentally important task of defining what the museum is today, why we need it more than ever and how to understand the role of architecture in shaping the museum of the future, and its undeniable power in articulating our relationship to art.

Author Beatrice Grenier, while working on a new museum in Paris, researched museums architecture around the world to consider such questions as: How museums and their architects shape our understanding of art and its role in society? How to reformulate the experience of the museum, one that integrates the post-colonial and post imperial histories? Can museum architecture avoid eurocentrism and decenter the gaze to offer new points of view from which to look at a work of art?

In nine chapters, this book presents different types and forms of museums: the Louvre Abu Dhabi as a replica of a museum-city, inspired by Paris; the Guggenheim Museum and the Centre Pompidou as drive-through museums, shaped in an age when the car is protagonist; the new wing of the American Museum of Natural History is studied through the prism of nature… Through this analysis, the museum emerges as the most important site of experimentation for architecture and art. Only through the museum we can understand what art is and what its growing role in our urban environment might be.

About The Author

Béatrice Grenier is the Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art, Paris.