The New York Times’ just ran a story about the Modern Museum of Art getting set to tear down the former American Museum of Folk Art building that was finished in 2001, a seminal year in New York’s history for sure. As a bit of an art history buff (though admittedly not modern and contemporary art), I have a very hard time with this one. The demolition of a building that stood for such a short period of time and was not only structurally sound and symbolic but architecturally significant, seems perverse at best. And this is by a museum that ostensibly strives to preserve art!
A few years ago I wrote about how a rather new parking garage was torn down in my neighborhood to make room for a hospital reconstruction. While I lamented that for numerous reasons, I am abhorred now. I understand the premium on space in New York. It is exceedingly finite, but what happened to any sort of connection to our past, even one that is barely a decade behind us? Our collective willingness to tear down and rebuild is not sustainable or practical. Until organizations realize the inanity of these actions, I can’t help but be depressed.
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