A new nonprofit venue for durational art, Canyon, will open on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 2026. Founded by philanthropist Robert Rosenkranz through the Rosenkranz Foundation, the 40,000-square-foot adaptive reuse space is overseen by Joe Thompson, founding director of Mass MoCA. Designed by architecture firm New Affiliates, Canyon will feature 18,000 square feet of galleries for video and audio, a 60-foot-tall central plaza, a 300-seat performance hall, bars, a cafe, and a restaurant. Cass Fino-Radin joins as director of art and technology, with Sam Ozer as curator-at-large. Planned programming includes a retrospective of Ryoji Ikeda and a group exhibition curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist titled "Worldbuilding."
Canyon matters because it represents a significant institutional investment in time-based media—video, sound, performance—which has long lacked dedicated, technically sophisticated venues. By blending museum-quality presentation with hospitality and social spaces, it aims to reshape how audiences engage with durational art. The project also signals a growing trend of venture philanthropy in the arts, with the Rosenkranz Foundation making major gifts to both cultural and academic institutions. Canyon's partnerships with Electronic Arts Intermix, Rhizome, and the Archive of Contemporary Music further anchor it in the new media art ecosystem.