Art Room

Frame job: Kahan, Snyder and Rub are charged with leading their museums through growth, change and challenging transitions.

The expanding role of the northeast Ohio art museum takes shape in the form of striking silhouettes, new facilities and a push for collaboration

By Ellen Rudolph

Museum expansions have been unfolding throughout the United States and internationally over the last decade in surprisingly large numbers. Launching massive capital campaigns, seeking out prestigious architects and setting skyhigh expectations, museums have created more exhibition space and enhanced their facilities with the hope of increasing attendance, attracting national and international attention, and broadening their local reach. Name an American city, large or small, and an art museum expansion project is sure to accompany it: New York City’s MoMA, Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Seattle Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and the list goes on. In Ohio alone, the Toledo Museum of Art opened the new Glass Pavilion in 2006, the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati inaugurated a new building in 2003, and the Columbus Museum of Art announced plans to expand last year. Northeast Ohio is no exception to this trend, with three major art institutions currently in various stages of expansion.

What is the impetus for all this growth? Economics, of course, makes it possible, but the role of the art museum is changing in the 21st century. Whether museums serve a regional or international community, they must fulfill an increasingly broad array of functions for the visitor and the community. No longer simply a repository for art objects or mere exhibition space, the art museum is evolving into a multi-attraction destination for visitors – a civic hub of cultural activity.

Beginning in the fall of 2007, I sat down with Mitchell Kahan, director of the Akron Art Museum; Jill Snyder, director of MOCA Cleveland; and Timothy Rub, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, to discuss the goals for their respective expansions or move, the inherent challenges and how they envision the changing roles of their museums. Their responses, along with thoughts from other members of the art community, help to illuminate what these expansions might mean for museumgoers, and what kind of ripple effects they could have on the overall health of the northeast Ohio art community.

The Akron Art Museum’s “roof cloud” reaches out into the city.

Architecture
Architectural sex appeal is a key component of the museum expansion game. Securing the perfect architect for the project is a complicated puzzle, in which each institution hopes that the chosen architect will embody all of the qualities that the museum wants to project, be it prestige, innovation, internationalism or the integration of old and new. The term “starchitect” has been coined to refer to the high-profile, hot architect who museums attempt to snag with the hope of drawing international attention by virtue of the architect’s reputation (and, hopefully, the masterpiece they create).

This strategy has worked to put otherwise lesser-considered cities on the map. The Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion for the Milwaukee Art Museum, completed in 2001, has become a destination for architecture and art tourists. Likewise, Iraqi-born, London-based female architect Zaha Hadid captured the attention of the international art world with the new Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center in Cincinnati, an 85,000-square-foot building that opened in 2003. As with Akron’s Coop Himmelb(l)au and MOCA’s Foreign Office Architects (FOA), the Milwaukee building and the Cincinnati project were the architects’ first public American designs, rendering them – temporarily, at least – exclusive in the United States.

Each expansion culminates a unique mix of practical needs and intangible factors, and is the result of a dialogue between the architectural firm, the museum’s leadership and the physical and cultural environment surrounding the museum. While all three directors describe rigorous selection processes, which involved traveling the globe, for MOCA’s Snyder and Akron’s Kahan in particular, it is clear that chemistry and personal interaction figured importantly in their decisions. Snyder is thrilled to have the rare opportunity to work so closely with such an innovative architectural firm. “We feel incredibly lucky to be working with FOA,” she says. “Our lead designer, Farshid Moussavi, is, by many people’s accounts, one of the most brilliant design minds of our generation, and our collaboration is likely to create new opportunities that we didn’t even know existed.”

While the CMA already resides on its own campus, the Akron Art Museum and MOCA are (or will be) incorporated into their urban environment, relating directly to the street and other buildings surrounding them. These factors are crucial to the architectural disposition of the museum. In the case of Akron, urban revitalization was a primary factor in the expansion project; Coop Himmelb(l)au designed the 327-foot-long cantilevered steel “roof cloud” literally to reach out into the space of the city, over the street. A sculpture garden is slated to supplant the parking lot next to the museum, and the museum enjoys close ties with neighboring Summit Artspace. Likewise, MOCA’s new building will be designed to interact with the buildings immediately surrounding it, while standing out architecturally within the newly revitalized Triangle district on Cleveland’s east side.

In the case of both Akron and the CMA, the marriage of old and new buildings has been key to the expansion plans. These fusions must embrace the museums’ histories, yet adapt them to project and fulfill their forward-looking goals. CMA charged Rafael Viñoly with the challenge of wedding different styles of architecture while clarifying the museum’s overall layout. Viñoly’s solution has been to restore the prominence of the 1916 building while reconnecting its parts, and establishing a clear circulation pattern for visitors.

The Museum as Civic Hub
The Akron Art Museum’s structure was conceived as an urban meeting place – both a destination point and connecting point. This new notion of the art museum echoes Snyder’s definition of the new MOCA Cleveland as an “urban living room.” While Kahan projects that the Akron Art Museum will spark revitalization of its downtown neighborhood, MOCA seeks to be a key attraction within the Triangle project, which promises to bustle with University Circle activity. Both museums want to function as hybrid urban spaces where people feel invited to come in and linger, have coffee, socialize, think and, of course, look at art.

To that end, another architectural element that all three institutions emphasize is transparency. “When we’re done, the museum will be physically but also intellectually and socially far more accessible than it ever was before,” says Rub of the CMA’s new structure. “It will look different physically, there will be more glass, there will be more views in and out, it will be more open and engaging.” Visitors can anticipate what kind of experiences and interactions they might have before entering. Ultimately, these museums want to convey that a visit to the art museum can consist of a brief cultural, social, or even private, meditative moment; it doesn’t have to involve a commitment of time or energy.

Aurora resident and CMA member Elissa Katz says that she visits the museum for all of the above reasons, and would even like to use it as a place to conduct business meetings. Veteran CMA security guards Dexter Davis and Cliff Hicks both agree that the museum offers something for everyone, and that people seek it out for a variety of reasons. They observe that some people come to have a cup of coffee, others to attend concerts, and of course many to see art. They also stress that the museum functions as a sanctuary for many people. “People want a place to go that’s safe, comfortable and peaceful,” says Hicks.

So is the art museum-as-civic-hub really a new concept? Many of us already attend musical concerts, dance performances, lectures, films, meetings, classes and social events at the museums. We go for fulfillment. MOCA, Akron Art Museum and CMA each have well-established lecture series, classes, concerts and other educational opportunities, but museums are expected to perform educational and collaborative functions to an even greater degree than before – not as a side effect of exhibiting art, but as a primary function. With technology having transformed art production, the way information is presented, and the way buildings are run and maintained, the needs for facilities to accommodate new exhibitions and programs have changed dramatically. Visitors seek a new level of interactivity and stimulation from their museum experiences.

More collaboration means more outreach for the community.

Fostering a Wider Reach
Interdisciplinary collaboration with other arts and educational institutions results in greater exposure and cross marketing for artists and organizations alike, and it presents opportunities for smaller organizations to benefit from the enhanced facilities and resources and broader reach of museums. “While the Akron Art Museum has a history of leadership in collaboration, many of our new collaborative opportunities are the result of our new facilities,” says Kahan.

Such a multidisciplinary, multi-institution endeavor is the Akron Art Museum’s Peter Pan-themed community collaboration with Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet and This City Reads!, Ticking Crocs and Fairy Dust: Youthful Visions and the Art of Peter Pan, which involves the collaboration of Akron school children and Akron artist and designer Inda Blatch-Geib. This program promotes literacy while incorporating appreciation of the visual and performing arts. These programs, says Kahan, are taking off. “The public response so far has been amazingly positive.”

Likewise, MOCA anticipates increased collaborative opportunities with its soon-to-be neighbors – the Cleveland Institute of Art, CMA and others – to augment its established schedule of avant-garde music, film and performing arts events. Snyder anticipates a more structured program of collaboration in the new building, and hopes to continue to draw on the local wealth of cultural resources as in the 2006 symposium Understanding the New Dynamic: Art, Technology and the Mind, which fostered dialogues on the impact of technology on contemporary life.

Collaboration speaks to the omnipresent challenge for museums of drawing wider audiences, and there are different schools of thought on how to achieve this. The consensus is that whatever it takes to get more people in the door is worth doing, but there is no fixed formula. CMA guard Davis notes that the museum already draws a diverse array of people. “Keep offering creative experiences for people – high-quality exhibitions and programs,” he says. “Offer a full range of activities and programs, and the people will come.” Akron resident and longtime member of the museum Edna Williams would like to see more diverse audiences when she visits the Akron Art Museum, and feels that it should truly be a resource for the region. “I hope they continue to collaborate with other groups to bring in other people within the community,” she says.

The Akron Art Museum galleries.

Growth for the Northeast Ohio Arts Community?
If these expansions provide museumgoers with enhanced amenities and greater accessibility to art and related activities, how can they contribute to solid growth for the regional art community as a whole? A key factor is dedicating space and resources to exhibiting the work of regional artists. Support of regional artists by museums is important because of the credibility and broad exposure it brings. “There are few rewards for sticking it out in Cleveland as an artist,” says artist, journalist and art instructor Dan Tranberg, “which is why it is crucial for curators at MOCA, CMA and Akron to stay connected to the art scene here and promote the work of regional artists.” Such exposure leads to more interest from regional collectors and could even spur the emergence of new galleries. Once artists are supported with solid exhibition outlets that result in sales or public support of their art, they will be more apt to stay and continue making art here. This means a larger number of sustainable arts venues, both public and private, and ultimately richer arts experiences for the community.

Could the force of Akron Art Museum, MOCA Cleveland, and the CMA’s growth together foster such a thriving cultural system? Seeking to answer this question, MOCA’s Snyder embarked on her own benchmarking survey of peer institutions and came up with five indicators of healthy art communities: a local university that has a strong humanities curriculum; a major art museum with a history of supporting contemporary art; a strong base of art collectors in the community; a dynamic gallery scene; and art schools that have graduate degree programs with high-profile visiting artists and critics.

Will these factors coalesce to bring the reality of a truly thriving arts community to fruition in northeast Ohio in the near future? Snyder points out that it takes years to grow and develop. Certainly we have the makings of all of these indicators, with a number of strong educational and arts institutions.

Other forward steps are brewing. Saul Ostrow, chair of visual arts and technologies at the Cleveland Institute of Art, is attempting to launch a plan for a revolutionary, multi-institution, multidisciplinary doctoral program in visual arts program that could attract – and retain – artists, while optimizing the talent of regional faculty members and also bringing in a host of visiting faculty.

In January 2008, the CMA welcomed Paola Morsiani as curator of contemporary art after a more than two-year vacancy in the position. Morsiani will undoubtedly bring more attention to contemporary art in the community, with her mandate to create exhibitions and expand the museum’s collection of contemporary art. Finally, the region’s gallery scene unquestionably needs to grow, which would increase our regional collector base, but this depends strongly on the other factors being in place.

The Bottom Line
The ongoing challenges for the CMA, Akron and MOCA will be to sustain the public’s attention and support, and to grow into their new spaces and understand how to maximize their facilities. Financial health is a major concern as well, given that each institution is taking on larger space and more programming, which require more staff resources.

There is no doubt that these expansions will increase the visibility of our arts institutions both locally and nationally, which will ultimately elevate Cleveland’s reputation as a cultural center. The consensus is that exploiting synergies and capitalizing on our existing resources – both people and institutions – will yield the greatest mileage for our community. People also take pride in having worldclass museums in their backyard. “It feels special to be there,” says Elissa Katz of CMA. “And I’m proud that it’s in Cleveland; we have the opportunity to look at amazing masterpieces of art history in person.”

CMA guards Hicks and Davis are moved by the number of visitors they observe who enter the museum looking downtrodden or sad and leave visibly inspired or renewed by their experience at the museum. People often approach the guards to tell them as much. If our newly expanded and enhanced museums provide greater opportunities for moments like this, we must be moving in the right direction. Most people are optimistic, proud and excited about the prospect of visiting their new museums, and everyone – directors, artists, guards, curators, visitors and educators – agrees that ultimately, the museums are about two things: people and art. “Art is a tool to help people learn, think, communicate, philosophize, relax and debate,” says Akron’s Kahan. “Without the people, our collection is meaningless.”

On March 24, tune in to Around Noon with host Dee Perry on 90.3 FM WCPN to hear a live discussion with Mitchell Kahan, Timothy Rub and Jill Snyder. For more information, visit www.wcpn.org.

Akron Art Museum

• Mission: To enrich lives through modern art.
• Collection: More than 3,700 objects; areas of strength include American painting and sculpture since 1960, 20th-century American and international photography, and American impressionist and tonalist paintings.
• Architectural firm: Coop Himmelb(l)au, founded in Vienna in 1968.
• Scope of project: Design integrates a new 63,300-square-foot facility with the museum’s existing 21,000-square-foot, 19th-century Renaissance revival building.
• Completion date: New building opened to public: July 17, 2007.
• Primary expansion goals: Get the art out of the basement and onto the walls; foster downtown revitalization; provide enhanced visitor amenities.
• Funding: Private.

MOCA Cleveland

• Mission: As Cleveland’s forum for interpreting culture through contemporary visual art, the museum connects visitors to the dynamic art and ideas of our time.
• Period of art exhibited: Contemporary; no collection.
• Scope of project: Relocating to the Triangle at University Circle (an urban revitalization project involving retail and residential spaces) with a newly designed 37,000-square-foot, three- or four-level building.
• Architectural firm: London-based Foreign Office Architects, established in London in 1995.
• Projected completion date: 2011.
• Primary move/expansion goals: Situate museum in cultural district where it is accessible to pedestrian traffic, with increased accessibility and exposure to the public; create facilities to accommodate programming and achieve concept of “urban living room.”
• Funding: Public and private.

Cleveland Museum of Art

• Mission: To fulfill its dual roles as one of the world’s most distinguished comprehensive art museums and as one of northeast Ohio’s principal civic and cultural institutions. Established in 1913 “for the benefit of all the people forever,” the museum seeks to bring the pleasure and meaning of art to the broadest possible audience.
• Scope of collection: All of art history, more than 43,000 objects.
• Scope of expansion: The new museum will feature CMA’s two architectural landmarks, the 1916 Beaux Arts south building and the 1971 Marcel Breuer building, both of which are being completely renovated. Two additions, an east wing and a west wing, will flank the new facility, and a large courtyard with a glass canopy will crown the center of the structure. The museum’s overall size will increase to about 585,000 square feet, including approximately 35,000 square feet in additional gallery space.
• Architectural firm: Rafael Viñoly Architects, founded in New York City in 1983.
• Projected completion date: 2011.
• Primary renovation/expansion goals: Renovate existing buildings by bringing utility systems up to date and refurbishing historic galleries; unite existing buildings in a cohesive, clarified plan; create facilities better suited for programming.
• Funding: Public and private.

To be among the first to glimpse the reopened 1916 Beaux Arts wing of the Cleveland Museum of Art, plan to attend Return to 1916: Picture Yourself Inside at the museum on June 21, 2008. This gala celebration provides guests a glimpse of the renovated and reinstalled second-floor galleries, featuring European art from the 16th to early 19th centuries; 18th- and 19th-century American art; and the Armor Court.

The gala evening begins at 7 p.m. with cocktails and gallery tours and includes dinner, music, dancing and dessert. Ticket pricing starts at $300; for an invitation, call 216-421-7350.

Pick up a copy of Northern Ohio Live at your favorite newsstand or subscribe online now. No credit card required. We’ll bill you later.