MoMA’s Latest Controversy: Free Sculpture Garden Access

As part of an already controversial expansion plan, MoMA will allow free access to the cloistered sanctuary of its sculpture garden. Not everyone is a fan of the idea, saying crowds will spoil the effect.

1 minute read

February 5, 2014, 11:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


The Museum of Modern Art created a stir in January when it decided on plans to demolish the neighboring American Folk Art Museum as part of an expansion plan by architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

And now there is more controversy, writes Robin Pogrebin, due to the museum's plans to allow free access (which formerly required the $25 price of admission) to its sculpture garden. “Now, though, as part of an expansion plan, the museum is talking about opening the gates to the sanctum for no charge, a prospect that some find positively horrifying.”

Pogrebin explains that the proposal is, at least in part, a response to the controversy over the Folk Art Museum: “MoMA announced the plan last month, partly to help mitigate its widely unpopular decision to demolish a neighbor, the former American Folk Art Museum, as part of its expansion.”

Public response has been decidedly mixed: “But the garden proposal has generated its own controversy. Some applaud opening up what is officially known as the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden as a step in a more populist direction for an institution often accused of being cold and imperious. Others envision spring break invading the space of Matisse, Giacometti and Miró.”

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 in New York Times

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