New Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw opens in October

The building designed by Thomas Phifer accessible to the public for the first time, along with spacious galleries with selected works from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, concerts by Polish and foreign talent, performances, a film marathon in the new cinema, a parade, lectures and architectural excursions, tours of the building, a busy agenda of public and educational events, and finally the 16th edition of the Warsaw Under Construction festival.

The opening weekend and first few weeks of operation of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in its new building will include first a presentation of large-scale sculptures and installations by artists including Alina Szapocznikow, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Monika Sosnowska, Cecilia Vicuña and Sandra Mujinga. The exhibition of works in the spaces of the specific galleries will showcase the architectural strengths of the new buildings, which will be described at the opening by the designer himself, Thomas Phifer. But first and foremost it will offer a foretaste of the exhibition planned for February 2025 of the MSN Warsaw collection built over the past 20 years.

The new building will be a forum open and accessible to all, a site for encounters integrating various initiatives, cultural institutions, NGOs and creative communities. Located in the new centre, at the heart of the city, at the intersection of numerous urban paths, it will also offer visitors countless ways of spending free time, from viewing exhibitions to participation in workshops for children and adults, and examining the archives of contemporary artists.

The social potential of the MSN Warsaw headquarters will be evident from the very first weeks following the opening. It is no accident that the green forum and the immediately adjacent glassed-in ground floor of the museum, including the auditorium, educational rooms, book store, café and other spaces, will be the site for the 16th edition of Warsaw Under Construction. Every year the festival addresses issues of architecture and shared urban space. The upcoming edition, titled Unbeautiful Museums, focuses on the roles that can be filled today by contemporary cultural institutions, as well as the history of Plac Defilad and ul. Marszałkowska—spaces for everyday life which the museum will share with Warsaw residents from 25 October onward.

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw occupies nearly 20,000 m2 of space, including over 4,000 m2 of exhibition area on the first and second upper floors, where areas have also been designed with panoramic windows opening onto ul. Marszałkowska and the southern portion of Plac Defilad. Another distinctive feature of the building designed by Thomas Phifer is the spacious and spectacular stairway, which Varsovians have already had a chance to admire thanks to the work of photographers on the construction site.