A+D Museum Goes Digital — Permanently

John Hill

22. 六月 2020

A+D Museum's home at 900 E. 4th St. (Photo: Google Maps)

The 19-year-old A+D Museum is closing its physical space in Los Angeles's Arts District and moving to an exclusively virtual, internet-based platform for its exhibitions of avant-garde architecture and design.

We saw the news over the weekend at the Architect's Newspaper, which linked to an announcement posted July 17 on A+D's website:

The A+D Museum is thrilled to announce an organizational restructure that reprioritizes our audience and impact through exploratory programming through digital platforms and short-term community-driven physical exhibitions and events to reach a more comprehensive, increasingly inclusive audience. As a means of reaching a wider, increasingly inclusive audience and engaging new communities, we are excited to move on from our singular physical presence and advance into our next chapter of the A+D Museum. We thank you, our audience and our supporters, for your ongoing participation and look forward to going on this new venture with you. Visit our redesigned digital home with our news, updates, and projects going live on July 1, 2020.
aplusd.org

In addition to online-only shows, such as the current The Future of Space exhibition, A+D will mount the occasional pop-up exhibition in Los Angeles and "other cities important to us that are powerful within architecture and design," per A+D director Anthony Morey speaking with the Los Angeles Times.

The A+D Museum has been closed, like most institutions, for a few months during the coronavirus pandemic. Morey and deputy director Leila Wahba, per the Times, used the opportunity to speed up the process of expanding the museum online.

Although the shift online means A+D will continue presenting forward-thinking architecture and design exhibitions (not to mention that the shift online did not lead to any loss of staff for the small institution), it's still sad to see one of the few cultural venues devoted to architecture close its physical doors.