Following a two-decade run as the one American museum devoted completely to Himalayan artwork, the Rubin Museum, as we all know it, will shutter for good tomorrow, October 6. The establishment introduced the choice to shut in January, at which period it additionally detailed plans to shift to a decentralized “museum with out partitions” mannequin. The Rubin will retain a few of its assortment—an assemblage of almost 4,000 objects spanning fifteen centuries—and can concentrate on organizing touring exhibitions, enriching its grant program, and creating academic assets. What stays will, in idea, carry ahead the museum’s mission in a lighter, extra nimble format. Its remaining exhibition, “Reimagine: Himalayan Artwork Now,” is on view now. If you may make it earlier than the museum closes tomorrow, you’ll discover work, sculptures, sound installations, movies and efficiency artwork by over thirty modern artists from the Himalayan area.
Husband-and-wife philanthropists Donald and Shelley Rubin bought the Rubin Museum constructing at 150 West seventeenth Avenue, a former Barneys division retailer, in 1998 for $22 million. The constructing’s tranquil, domed skylight and sweeping areas would provide a seamless backdrop for the Rubins’ world-class assortment. Reworking the 70,000-square-foot area right into a haven for Tibetan artwork was bold, if unbelievable, even for a pair of deep-pocketed collectors. Although the Rubins oversaw intensive renovations, the couple retained as many unique particulars as attainable—together with the constructing’s iconic spiral staircase, which grew to become a centerpiece of the museum’s 25,000 sq. toes of exhibition area. Six years later, in 2004, the Rubin opened and swiftly grew to become a mannequin for culturally immersive museum design. It additionally finally grew to become a spotlight within the ongoing controversy round repatriating stolen artifacts.
Provenance disputes are nothing new in artwork, however they’ve been notably acute for the Rubin, which repatriated two items to Nepal in 2022. The museum confronted elevated scrutiny earlier this yr when, in March, activists renewed requires the museum to take accountability “for many years of violent exploitation of our sacred ancestral objects.” The Tibetan-led marketing campaign Our Ancestors Say No (OASN) has demanded the repatriation of allegedly stolen sacred artifacts, many displayed within the establishment’s standard Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room. Following the Rubin Museum’s closure, over 100 works from the Shrine Room will discover a new dwelling on the Brooklyn Museum, by way of a mortgage dubbed “one other thrilling instance of New York Metropolis museum collaboration,” by Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak in a press release. Pasternak additionally identified that the Shrine Room has been “a famend and beloved cultural expertise for folks all over the world” since its opening in 2015. The artwork and ritual objects might be on mortgage to the Brooklyn Museum for a minimum of six years, starting in June of 2025.
For twenty years, the Rubin was praised for thought-provoking exhibitions and its distinctive approaches to Himalayan artwork. The museum’s Mandala Lab was celebrated for its interactive, multi-sensory area designed to create immersive, emotionally resonant experiences for guests. The “Gateway to Himalayan Artwork” exhibition, on view since 2021, likewise acquired accolades for its capacity to introduce audiences to the complexities and depth of Himalayan creative traditions. By means of these exhibitions and extra, the Rubin Museum of Artwork grew to become greater than only a repository for artifacts. If it’s attainable to look previous the museum’s controversies, the Rubin’s legacy is as a cultural hub for participating deeply with the non secular and philosophical underpinnings of Himalayan artwork, making its closure all of the extra poignant. Whereas The Rubin is framing its closure as a reimagining of what a museum will be—“extra artwork, accessible to extra folks, in additional locations,” as its government director Jorrit Britschgi put it—the closure of its Chelsea location looks like a loss.
The Rubin Museum of Artwork’s Ultimate Days: In Images
