The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, MA. Photo Courtesy of Mass MoCA

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) announced on Monday (November 17, 2014) that it is expanding its campus by 130,000 sq ft to make room for more large-scale exhibitions, outdoor concert facilities, and visitor amenities. The Museum’s $55 million expansion will see the renovation of all but one building on the sixteen-acre former site of the Sprauge Electric Company in North Adams, Massachusetts, bringing Mass MoCA’s area up to more than 250,000 sq ft, nearly double its previous size. The renovation will make Mass MoCA the largest contemporary art museum in the country, overtaking the previous largest, the DIA: Beacon located in Hudson River Valley, NY. Installations announced for the new space will showcase works by Robert Rauschenberg, Laurie Anderson, Louise Bourgeois, James Turrell, Jenny Holzer, Gunnar Schonbeck, and music collective Bang On A Can.

Mass MoCA Director Joseph C. Thompson. Photo by Nancy Palmieri, courtesy of The Boston Globe

 Dubbed Phase III by Mass MoCA officials (Phases I and II were completed in 2001 and 2013 respectively), the plan is championed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who pledged $25.4 million in state grants towards the construction. Governor Patrick, an advocate for the museum, released a statement on Monday saying he has been proud “to fund the $25 million for the expansion of Mass MoCA, which will not only benefit North Adams, but the region as a whole.” The other $30 million will be raised through private donations, $13.5 million of which the museum has raised as of this writing.

In addition to borrowing works for temporary exhibitions, Mass MoCA is employing an extended leasing model in which select installations are on view for fifteen to twenty-five year periods, with the artists retaining ownership of their work. The museum tested this model out in 2008 with a large-scale Sol LeWitt installation, produced in partnership with the Yale University Art Gallery, consisting of 107 wall drawings across 3 stories and 27,000 sq ft, which will remain on display until 2033. Of the extended leasing model, the director of Mass MoCA, Joseph C. Thompson, said, “They provide the art, on loan, and together we show it, it’s rather unusual. Once you go to all that expense and hard work, you might as well leave them up for a long time.” Performance artist Laurie Anderson echoed this statement, saying, “It’s a really interesting place to do public work that lasts for more than a couple of weeks or a couple of months.”

The main thrust of the project will be a huge three-story building, with each floor measuring over an acre, designed for exhibition of works of art too enormous for most galleries. Of the museum’s ability to house large pieces, Thompson said, “Most museums are beautiful white boxes. Abstract, clean perfectly proportioned boxes, that’s not what Mass MoCA is. . . . They’re not the kind of place where a show of small framed paintings works perfectly.” Jock Reynolds, director of the Yale University Art Gallery lauded the museum and its ambitious expansion, saying, “They’ve proven themselves to be an incredibly viable institution, I don’t know of any other contemporary museum that’s got the chutzpah, the space, and the go-for-broke attitude they’ve shown.”

One of the planned renovation sites at Mass MoCA. Photo by Aoife Morris, courtesy of The New York Times

Anderson, whose planned installation will include a production studio, broadcasting space, and audiovisual galleries, says of the possibilities allowed by such a large space, “What it means is you can work to scale. You don’t have to wonder.” Christie MacLear, executive director of the Rauschenberg Foundation, praised the museum for enabling the exhibition of some of the artist’s largest works, saying, “It’s a gem and it’s a pilgrimage site. This is about how you can see some of [Rauschenberg’s] biggest works, how you can see some of the newest ideas about [Rauschenberg] and how you can see what other artists are coming out with.”

The Phase III expansion of the Mass MoCA is scheduled to begin in May 2015. Construction is expected to continue through 2017. Updates can be viewed at their website, www.massmoca.org.