A new contemporary art museum, the New Museum of Santiago (NuMu), is set to break ground in Chile's capital in August 2025. Led by businessman and philanthropist Claudio Engel and his four children through the Engel Foundation, the museum will be built around the family's collection of over 1,000 works by more than 200 artists, including Alfredo Jaar, Paz Errázuriz, and Pilar Quinteros. Designed by architect Cristián Fernández, the 2,000 sq. m facility will feature exhibition spaces, a sound-art room, an auditorium, a library, a restaurant, and a museum shop. It will be the first large-scale contemporary art museum in Chile housed in a new structure, located in Vitacura's Bicentennial Park.
The NuMu matters because it fills a significant gap in Chile's cultural infrastructure, offering a dedicated, purpose-built venue for contemporary art in a country where the leading public museum, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, operates out of adapted neoclassical buildings. However, the project has sparked controversy over its placement in a public park, with scientists and urban planners raising concerns about reduced green space, biodiversity loss, and traffic congestion in a city of nearly seven million. The museum's opening, expected in late 2027 or early 2028, will test whether a private collection can serve as a public cultural anchor while balancing environmental and urban planning concerns.