Warsaw. Museum of Modern Art, when does it open?

During the Thursday press conference at the Museum of Modern Art, the Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, noted that the museum will be a unique place open to everyone and one of the most important elements of the so-called New Center of Warsaw. – We really wanted it – on the one hand, of course, a great collection, but also a place where we can meet, where we can take a break, where we can buy books, talk about art, talk about everything that worries us, also a place that will become more and more green – he said.

The Mayor of Warsaw emphasized that the museum will attract attention and act like a magnet thanks to its spectacular architecture. He pointed out that it will attract both Warsaw residents and tourists from Poland and abroad.

The official opening of the museum will take place on October 25.

– We often visit certain cities just to go to a spectacular museum or to visit an exhibition that attracts crowds from all over the world at that moment. There is a huge chance that exactly the same will happen in Warsaw, because we really have something to be proud of, he noted.

According to Trzaskowski, the museum's collections are “unique and at the highest world level”, and their exhibition takes place in “magnificent interiors, which are also unique, open and attract viewers with their openness”.

– There is a chance that the Museum of Modern Art will become a permanent part of the landscape of Warsaw as one of its most important symbols, as a place thanks to which people come to Warsaw to enjoy art and break away from today's reality – he emphasized .

The director of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Joanna Mytkowska, pointed out that the museum building is dedicated to the city of Warsaw. There are spaces intended for public programs, performances and meetings. There will also be a bookstore, a cafe and a cinema. In addition to exhibition halls, the so-called rooms with a view, i.e. rooms with panoramic windows with specially framed views of the city.

Read more about the building's architecture: The light will “lift” the large shape, the views of the city will delight >>>

– In a month, we will all be able to see that through these windows beautifully designed by the architect, Warsaw looks completely different, it is a very modern, extremely lively metropolis, full of greenery and energy – she noted. The ground floor of the building is to be ticket-free. – There will always be something going on here. “We have a plan to keep the museum's programming open to the public,” she said.

During the opening of the museum in October, the exhibition “Difficult love. Museum between the square and the palace” will be presented. as part of the 16th edition of the WARSAW UNDER CONSTRUCTION festival. It will raise the issue of the role that contemporary cultural institutions can play today and refer to the history of the museum's construction.

Especially for the opening, a hundred artists selected by the museum team are preparing performances, activities, tours and concerts. – A kind of opening festival will be held here for several weeks, so that everyone can get acquainted with the possibilities of this building, get acquainted with the architecture and the potential that this building brings – emphasized the director.

The museum's collection will be opened in February next year. – It will be an interesting confrontation with how contemporary culture has changed and how much art from Poland is part of world art – she said.

The director emphasized that it is important for the museum team to “open a new type of museum, for which the audience is at the center, and for which the canon is movable, it is not a truth given once and for all to be believed, but rather a discussion, a dispute about what we consider to be relevant and contemporary.

– This mobility of the canon is extremely important because it leads to what we, as contemporary Warsaw residents, are probably talking about, which is building a new community that is responsible for itself, and for this we need this discussion more than dead symbols or an immobile canon – she pointed out.

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President Trzaskowski emphasized that the facility will cooperate with the best museums in the world, which will be interested in exchanges and organizing joint exhibitions. – This is a huge opportunity (…) to show art at the highest possible level, world art that has not been able to come to Warsaw until now – he said.

Trzaskowski referred to the war in Ukraine, emphasizing that in the museum building “we will be able to show Ukrainian art.” – We will be able to show art from the region that is not so well-known in Europe, and this will also be our contribution to the heritage of European culture in general – he added. He emphasized that he was convinced that the museum would be known both on the map of European and world museums of modern art.

When asked about the durability of the building's facade materials, the director of MSN said that “the facade is covered with a special layer that makes it easy to wash” and “it is made of a natural material that works like stone, so it is very durable, it is colored “concrete in its mass, all ingredients are natural and mineral, so they have a very long durability.”

She added that the museum “employed” an experimental falcon to chase away pigeons.

Designed by the New York studio Thomas Phifer and Partners, the Museum of Modern Art covers nearly 20,000 square meters of space, of which 4,500 square meters are exhibition spaces, located on the first and second floors. The whole thing is centered around a monumental central staircase.