The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has opened its new David Geffen Galleries, a radical reinvention of the museum experience. The installation, conceived by director Michael Govan and architect Peter Zumthor, abandons traditional chronological and departmental silos, instead creating a continuous, curving flow of art from across time, place, and medium. Visitors are encouraged to wander and get lost, forging their own connections between works.
This represents a significant philosophical shift for a major encyclopedic museum. By dismantling the authoritative, linear narrative of art history, LACMA challenges visitors to engage more actively with the collection, questioning their own perceptions and biases. The review positions this as a bold, if occasionally frustrating, attempt to use the institution's own resources to deconstruct traditional hierarchies and present art as a global, ongoing conversation.