The Met Announces Fall 2023 Contemporary Commissions for the Museum’s Facade and Great Hall

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced two new artist commissions for fall 2023 following the spring opening of The Roof Garden Commission: Lauren Halsey (April 18–October 22, 2023), which will present a compelling and monumental architectural project by Lauren Halsey. For The Met Fifth Avenue’s facade niches, Nairy Baghramian will create four new sculptures—on view September 7, 2023 through May 19, 2024—marking the artist’s first public installation in New York City. From October 2 through November 26, 2023, the Museum’s Great Hall will be transformed by Jacolby Satterwhite with a site-specific video installation, a soundscape, and performances. 

These projects are the latest in The Met’s series of contemporary commissions in which the Museum invites artists to create new works of art, establishing a dialogue between the artist's practice, The Met collection, the physical Museum, and The Met's audiences.

Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met, said, “We are thrilled to present three very exciting and different artist commissions this year. On April 18, Lauren Halsey’s highly anticipated project on The Met’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden will be unveiled and enjoyed by visitors throughout the summer. And in the fall, we are excited to present major new works by Nairy Baghramian as well as Jacolby Satterwhite, two outstanding, innovative artists whose installations at The Met will challenge and expand our dialogue with the museum as a site of artistic discourse and community experience. We are proud to support these visionary artists and provide a platform for their work in such prominent and accessible spaces at The Met.”

For the facade, Baghramian will create four abstract polychrome sculptures with components that seem to have washed up like flotsam and jetsam in the voids of their respective niches. The Facade Commission: Nairy Baghramian, Scratching the Back is the fourth in a series of contemporary commissions for The Met’s facade that previously featured work by Wangechu Mutu (2019) and Carol Bove (2021); the current installation by Hew Locke, is on view through May 30, 2023.

Satterwhite’s project is the second in the series of commissions for The Met’s Great Hall, that began in 2019 with works by Kent Monkman. Satterwhite will create a large-scale work, comprised of video, sound, music, and performative interventions. Using more than one hundred objects from The Met collection, combined with images of New York City and its diverse communities, Satterwhite’s commission will celebrate the vital role of the Museum within the city and beyond. The installation will include a series of performances and a new soundtrack, which, along with the visual installation, will generate a densely layered environment within the Great Hall.

Image : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Exterior) Photo courtesy of The Met