In the vacant 42,000-square-foot space of an office building in the Lower East Side of New York, a new type of hybrid museum will open in 2026. This nonprofit institution, Canyon, will be a cultural venue centered around video, performance, sound, and immersive art. Over half of the establishment is already reserved for galleries equipped with high-end technology that will elevate visitors’ engagement with the audio and visuals of every piece.
The idea behind all of this was sculpted by philanthropist, financier, and art collector Robert Rosenkranz with the intention of “inviting visitors to slow down, to pause, to really experience what the artists have created.”
The name of the institution was crafted by Ian Cheng, a New York City digital artist and advisor on the project. Cheng was inspired by the building’s 60-foot-tall ceilings and the canyon-like sensation of walking the streets of New York, in between the towering walls of skyscrapers.
Joseph C. Thompson, former Director of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, will helm the museum, with its experiential nature being one of its central draws. The institution offers a melding of sociability and creativity, by way of art and food. This is made possible by the designs of New Affiliates Architecture, as the building will not only house its multimedia galleries, but also a 300 seat concert hall, a café, cocktail bar, and restaurant.
Part of the social aspect of the space is the “quality of life” adjustments Thompson will be initiating, making the museum more accessible and attractive to a wider audience. These adjustments include catering their operating hours– open 2pm to 10pm– towards those in school or with day jobs; allowing guests to take food and drinks into the galleries; and providing free admission for school groups and with use of public library passes.
Both Thompson and Rosenkranz acknowledge the risk that comes with opening a space with a focus on video and time-sensitive mediums. Thompson shared with Artnet in an email that “video infuses our daily lives, and yet video and other forms of art that take time, are often less visited in conventional museum spaces.” Though, on the other hand, they also recognize that “people—often younger audiences—are intrigued with immersive, all-encompassing experiential art.”
Canyon plans to host three major exhibitions per year. The first will feature Ryoji Ikeda, a Japanese visual and sound artist living in Paris, and Hans Ulrich Obrist’s show “Worldbuilding,” which speaks to the connection between video games and art. The Canyon team hopes both of these engaging exhibitors will bring in a new type of audience.
