Albany’s New York State Museum (NYSM) is beginning the first phase of a multi-year modernisation project. This will include new exhibitions, the formation of a “visioning task force” and infrastructure upgrades funded by $150m in state funding. The plans were announced in January by the state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, and the commissioner of education, Betty A. Rosa.
In a statement, Hochul called the museum’s transformation the beginning of a “new era”. Rosa said it was a commitment to preserving history “while inspiring the next generation of learners and leaders”.
A task force comprised of state partners, museum professionals, educators and business leaders is being formed to chart the road ahead. The first step is to set the vision for the institution and its systems, then get to the detailed work of designing exhibitions, Jennifer Saunders, NYSM’s new director, tells The Art Newspaper. “The task force will be imagining visitor experience, the primary stories in the museum and how we will engage with our visitors.”
Plans are already underway to double the number of major exhibitions from two to at least four annually and to create a more interactive experience for the more than 500,000 visitors to the institution each year, Saunders adds. “It’s time. Every exhibition has a lifespan. The way we approach certain subjects has changed—new understandings, new discoveries that we want to be reflected in the exhibitions.”
The first of these new exhibitions, Barbie™: A Cultural Icon, opened in December and runs through April. The exhibition celebrates Barbie as a reflection of cultural evolution, featuring designer interviews and more than 300 artefacts from the brand’s 64-year history.
Debuting later this year, the exhibition Revolutionary New York will focus on the 250th anniversary of the US—with a gunboat discovered at the World Trade Center site in New York City as its centrepiece. The show’s narrative stretches throughout history to the present-day, documenting ongoing revolutions spanning movements related to women’s rights, labour movements, LGBTQ+ and civil rights in which the state of New York has led the way. Two more exhibitions—The History of Vice in New York and a one commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks—are scheduled for autumn.
“Exhibition methods have changed,” Saunders says. “When this museum opened, the state of the art was large-scale theatrical vignettes, projected images and sound.” She adds that visitors today “expect a higher degree of technical interaction, a deeper dive into content with an interface; to touch, experience”.
A new dedicated area for children, café and gift shop reopenings are included in the first phase. “When we surveyed our visitors, they were at the top of the list of things they wanted,” Saunders says.
NYSM is the oldest and largest state museum in the US. Its broad range of collections spans science, history, archaeology and anthropology—with more than 20 million artefacts, from a billion years ago to today.
