After seven years of renovations, the Studio Museum in Harlem will finally reopen to the public on Saturday, November 15, as announced this week.
The institution will mark the occasion with a major show centering on the late sculptor, arts worker, activist, and community organizer Tom Lloyd, whose solo exhibition Electronic Refractions II inaugurated the Studio Museum in September 1968. Tom Lloyd will span 20 years of the artist’s career, delving into his pioneering use of electric light and contributions to the intersecting landscapes of technology and art.
The Studio Museum’s reopening will also feature a rotating, thematic installation of artworks from its permanent collection; an exhibition of works on paper by more than 100 alumni of its Artist-in-Residence program; and a show of archival photographs and ephemera exploring the museum’s nearly six-decade history. New commissions by Camille Norment and Christopher Myers will be displayed throughout the museum’s public spaces alongside reinstallations of iconic works, such as David Hammons’s “Untitled (African American Flag)” (2004), first raised outside the institution in 2004.
Established in 1968 by a group of artists, activists, and philanthropists seeking to confront the near-total exclusion of Black artists from mainstream art institutions and cultural establishments, the Studio Museum serves as a site dedicated to platforming artists of African descent on local, national, and international scales.
Beset by construction interruptions and financed by an intermittently raised $300 million capital fundraising campaign, the long-awaited opening of its seven-floor, 82,000-square-foot building comes seven years after the New York museum first closed its doors to the public.
The Studio Museum’s new home, located at its longtime West 125th Street address, features a significant expansion of its programming venues, artist studios, and indoor and outdoor spaces. The renovation was led by the New York-based firm Adjaye Associates, with Cooper Robertson serving as executive architect. (British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye left the project after the museum cut ties in 2023 following multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him, which he denied. His firm continued to work on the building.)
Throughout its opening day, the Studio Museum plans to host a series of community-centered programming, including art-making workshops and performances. While all tickets are priced at a “pay-what-you-wish” rate, the suggested fee for adults is $16. Admission is free for children under 16 and care partners, and the museum will also waive entry fees on Sundays as part of its weekly Studio Sunday programming.
The Studio Museum will be open Wednesdays through Sundays with extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays, when it will welcome visitors until 9pm.
