The New Museum on Manhattan's Lower East Side will reopen to the public on March 21, 2025, after a two-year closure for an $82 million expansion designed by OMA's Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas with executive architect Cooper Robertson. The expansion adds 61,930 square feet—including 9,600 square feet of gallery space, education facilities, artists' studios, and event spaces—bringing the total footprint to 119,600 square feet. The new building will be named after the late philanthropist and curator Toby Devan Lewis. The reopening will feature site-specific commissions by Tschabalala Self, Sarah Lucas, and Klára Hosnedlová, and a building-wide thematic exhibition, 'New Humans: Memories of the Future,' with works by over 200 modern and contemporary artists.
The reopening matters because it marks a major milestone for a leading contemporary art institution, doubling its exhibition capacity and improving visitor flow with new elevators, an atrium stairwell, and an entry plaza. The expansion signals the museum's renewed commitment to risk-taking and experimentation, even as longtime director Lisa Phillips prepares to retire in April after 26 years. The debut exhibition's focus on how artists imagine the future—featuring both emerging and canonical figures—underscores the museum's role in bridging historical and contemporary art discourse.