Imagining the Future Museum: 21 Dialogues with Architects

by András Szántó

The author of The Future of the Museum talks with architects from David Adjaye to Sou Fujimoto about the future of museum architecture Following on the widely read volume The Future of the 28 Dialogues , New York–based author and cultural strategy advisor András Szántó turns his attention to architects. The conclusion of The Future of the Museum was that the conceptual structure of art museums has evolved; it follows that the physical structure of the art museum must also change. Szántó’s conversations with architects survey the thinking in the field, engaging architects who have built some of the world’s most iconic institutions and an emerging global generation that is destined to leave its mark on the museum of the future.
Architects include : Kunlé Adeyemi (NLÉ), David Adjaye (Adjaye Associates), Paula Zasnicoff Cardoso & Carlos Alberto Maciel (Arquitetos Associados), David Chipperfield (David Chipperfield Architects), Minsuk Cho (Mass Studies), Elizabeth Diller (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Frida Escobedo, Sou Fujimoto (Sou Fujimoto Architects), Lina Ghotmeh (Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture), Bjarke Ingels (BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group), Kabage Karanja & Stella Mutegi (Cave_bureau), Li Hu & Huang Wenjing (OPEN), Jing Liu & Florian Idenburg (SO – IL), Yansong Ma (MAD Architects), Winy Maas (MVRDV), Roth – Eduardo Neira (Roth Architecture), Stephan Schütz (gmp Architekten), Kerstin Thompson (_KTA), Xu Tiantian (DnA Design and Architecture), Kulapat Yantrasast (WHY) and Liam Young (SCI-Arc).
András Szántó (born 1964) advises museums, cultural institutions and leading brands on cultural strategy. An author and editor, his writings have appeared in the New York Times, Artforum, Art Newspaper and many other publications. He has overseen the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University and the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Szántó lives in Brooklyn, New York.

287 pages, Paperback

Published January 31, 2023

Reviews

[hunterath · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When rethinking the idea of museums specifically, it is exactly an attempt to reduce the restrictions or the coercive aspect of that architecture. It is a cry for public spaces instead of private spaces. It is an attempt to improve congregation instead of segregation." - Carlos Alberto Maciel

[Hannah Madden]

Loved getting to go to the author’s talk at the Nelson last summer! He previewed a few of the conversations in this book.

I was feeling very 🥲 about this quote:

“I grew up in Beijing. Old Beijing is a beautiful city built hundreds of years ago with many features, such as hills and lakes of different scales. For the modern mindset these elements are just simply beautiful. I think they are, in fact, the very soul of the city. And that is exactly what's missing from our modern cities, where everything has to be ‘useful’ and has to have practical value. If everything is useful, then people will have nowhere to escape. They cannot find spiritual freedom. It is the task of a cultural space to provide that freedom. In the short term, museums should be spaces where people can escape from reality. In the long term, museums should help people build their own spiritual worlds, their own individual worlds, where they are free to imagine.”

[Lauren Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A departure from what I normally research on the museum, looking on-depth about the role of architecture (internally and externally) has been extremely eye opening. I enjoyed taking perspectives from my time doing my masters, as well as museum visits I have made during and since then, and applied my perspectives to the architects' perspectives.
In particular, I loved reading about the work and perspectives of Frieda Escobedo and Lina Ghotmeh. Really talented women in the field, with really interesting insights on the role and position of the museum.
I also found Liam Young's commentary on digital spaces and architecture really interesting to read about and take into consideration regarding the parameters of what a museum can be.

[Tele_well · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reading for those who want to broadem their perspectives on what museums can look and (more importantly) function in the present and future. I was amazed to find out how museums thrive in other parts of the world, other than the historically most visible like Europe and US. China, Latin America…