If you’re keen to geek out on science:
Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation
Where: New York City
Anticipated opening: February 2023
Museums in New York are a ubiquitous experience, but if you’ve already checked them all off your list, there’s a new arrival to add: Later this month, the American Museum of Natural History will open another wing, the Gilder Center, complete with a photogenic facade that evokes a monumental rock formation, a soaring canyon-like atrium and 230,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The entire centre is dedicated to science, with more than 4 million species on display, plus an insectarium (home to one of the largest leafcutter ant colonies in the world), and a vivarium for guests to walk among free-flying butterflies.
The attention-getting architecture alone is worth the visit. Designs by Studio Gang nod to that science lean, with flowing shapes, sculptural walls, and undulating natural bridges connecting the centre to the rest of the museum.
If you’re into multidisciplinary art and culture:
Factory International
Where: Manchester, England
Anticipated opening: June 2023
Tipping a cap to Manchester music history (Factory Records is the label that launched Joy Division/New Order and Happy Mondays), this new art/cultural centre is set to be the beating heart of Manchester. With 144,000 square feet of multidisciplinary exhibition and performance space, it will welcome everything from art and theatre to opera, raves and concerts.
First up is Yayoi Kusama. From June to August, the revered Japanese contemporary artist will stage her largest installation to date, including dozens of inflatable sculptures, from polka dots and psychedelic pumpkins to 30-foot-tall dolls. In October, “Free Your Mind,” a dance-y adaptation of “The Matrix” films directed by Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “Trainspotting”), will mount in the space. For any exhibition, Factory International will offer affordable tickets starting at £10.
If you’re into immersive exhibitions: Arte Museum
Where: Busan, Korea
Anticipated opening: February 2023
In recent years, D’strict (the international design firm behind the Times Square waterfall and waves installations) has been carefully overhauling a former warehouse into a new kind of gallery, one dedicated to digital art. Located in South Korea’s second-largest city, the museum will explore all kinds of immersive art, through video projections, sound design, 3-D light shows and other digital-driven artscapes.
Expect exhibitions packed with wildly immersive and enveloping (and highly Instagrammable) video-audio pieces and rotating projections. One highlight of the museum is Arte Meta, a crypto-art exhibition hall where visitors can purchase their favourite pieces as NFTs. Arte Museum already has a location in Jeju City, South Korea, and recently announced plans for a U.S. flagship, slated to open in Santa Monica, Calif., in late 2023.
If you’re fascinated by ancient history:
Grand Egyptian Museum
Where: Giza, Egypt
Anticipated opening: 2023
Two decades after breaking ground, the Grand Egyptian Museum is finally expected to open its doors this year (though the exact date has yet to be officially announced). The world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization, it will welcome visitors to almost a million square feet of exhibition space.
Complementing the Pyramids of Giza (they’re a mile or so away), the museum is home to a collection of more than 100,000 antiquities and Tutankhamun treasures, including pieces returned from storage in Alexandria, and artifacts brought back to Egypt more than a century after they were taken from their original resting place.
In addition to six main galleries, the landmark will include a hanging obelisk square (a first-of-its-kind design in the world), plus a children’s museum, a library, a cinema, retail shops and restaurants, and outdoor spaces inspired by the Nile River valley.
If you want to learn untold stories:
International African American Museum
Where: Charleston, S.C.
Anticipated opening: First half of 2023
Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston has been described as the “ground zero” of American slavery: between 1783 and 1808, more than 45% of enslaved Africans entered America via this port after surviving the Middle Passage (the forced voyage across the Atlantic Ocean). This year, the site will open as a multidisciplinary museum memorializing this journey and cataloguing the impact of slavery.
The permanent collection of art and artifacts includes an original copy of “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, pottery by David Drake, and a tennis racket once belonging to Althea Gibson (the first African American tennis player to compete at national championships). Museum goers will also find space for quiet contemplation and a centre of family history (where visitors can trace their genealogy), plus exhibitions documenting movements for justice and equality, and galleries dedicated to the Gullah Geechee people.
This article was written by Kate Dingwall from The Toronto Star and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
