On the weekend of Oct. 5, The Brooklyn Museum marked the beginning of its celebration of 200 years of culture and curation. The birthday bash was characterized by new exhibitions, a weekend of events and programming that paid homage to the institution’s history and laid the groundwork for the future.
The bicentennial celebration, sponsored by Bank of America, hosts two exhibitions featuring generations of artists of the past and future. “Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art” is a reinstallation of the American Art galleries that seeks to transform how the museum presents and how audiences view the collection by presenting diverse perspectives. Displaying the creativity of the present, “The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” features new works from over 200 artists local to the borough.
“As we celebrate this important milestone, we’re redefining what it means to be a museum in the 21st century and building new foundations,” stated Anne Pasternak, the museum’s director since 2015, in an interview with Brunswick Review, “More than looking back, this moment is about transformation and launching us into a new future.”
The weekend celebration offered free tickets to attendees who RSVPed through the museum’s website. Among the many activities provided were live music by the Brooklyn United Marching Band, poetry marathons, art-making and tote bag printmaking hosted by Shoestring Press.
The event gave attendees an opportunity to reflect on the museum’s history in their lives. “I remember the first time I came [to the museum] with my family,” shared attendee Anthony Termini, 31, from Bay Ridge. He continued, “And now it’s amazing to see how it’s stayed true to itself over time.”
In continuation with the anniversary celebration, the museum will launch another exhibition titled “Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200” in 2025. This will feature new and old donated works created in the borough in a three-part series. “As we make transformational investments in our physical spaces, we’re bringing our 120-year-old building into the future,” stated Pasternak.
The museum also plans to fully relaunch Museum on Wheels next year–an Airstream trailer designed by artist Christopher Myers. The trailer, first organized in the 1960s, will bring art outside the institution’s walls and onto the road, allowing presenters to interact with community members and local artists across Brooklyn. Museum on Wheels offers auricular therapy, clay modeling, a touch tour and more engaging activities.
The museum was founded in 1823 originally as a public library and merged with the Brooklyn Institute in 1843 to offer exhibitions of paintings and sculptures. Being host to the second largest art museum in the city, The Brooklyn Museum was among the first in the United States to present African art as art rather than as ethnology, cementing its progressive legacy. The museum is open from Wednesday through Sunday and the first Saturday of each month.
