Modern Art Oxford announces October reopening following a major redesign

Modern Art Oxford today announces it will be reopening on 5 October following a £2 million redesign of its ground and lower-ground floor spaces by RIBA award-winning David Kohn Architects and a new artist-designed café. The redesign is taking place over summer 2024 during which time the gallery is closed to the public.

● A New Welcome to the Building

A redesigned ground floor layout, including a new entrance to the main exhibition spaces, a welcome desk and shop, expanded learning spaces and an artist-designed café will vastly improve navigation, accessibility and environmental performance in the building.

● A New Café Designed by Artist Emma Hart

The Modern Art Oxford café returns to the lower-ground floor and will be based on a celebratory concept created by British artist, Emma Hart. Club Together will celebrate spaces where people come together for enjoyment and self-expression. Hart’s furniture in the café is inspired by dancing “hands in the air” which morph into seating, and tables that evoke disco lights throwing pools of coloured light onto the floor.

● New Ground Floor Gallery

Hosting temporary exhibitions celebrating Oxford’s creative community, future programming for the new Ground Floor Gallery includes the annual Platform Graduate Award from 5 October, showcasing the work of recent graduates from Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Reading. This will be followed in December with a display by the Date Palm Group, a local group of Muslim parents and children based at Bullingdon Community Centre who have been working with artist Farwa Moledina over the summer.

● New Spaces for Learning and Participation

A specially designed creative learning studio will offer greater capacity for workshops, host sensory play for infants, provide year-round creative inspiration to families, and help young people to come together, make, explore and flourish.

● Improved Environmental Performance

The redesign will significantly improve the environmental performance of the building, helping the gallery reach a reduction in energy consumption, aligning Modern Art Oxford with a city-wide ambition to be carbon neutral by 2040.

● Celebrating Oxford’s Heritage and Diverse Communities

Modern Art Oxford is housed in a former brewery. It is one of the few publicly accessible old industrial spaces in the city and an important feature of Oxford’s conservation area. This project aims to reclaim and celebrate the heritage of the building and its distinctive features. The refurbishment has been co-designed with local stakeholders and users and will place the city’s diverse communities at the heart of the building.

“We are delighted to be working with RIBA award winning practice, David Kohn Architects to realise our vision for a major redesign of our ground floor public areas, celebrating the industrial heritage of our building and placing local communities at the heart of our programming and welcome. This transformational project includes enlarging and refurbishing our education space to accommodate our rapidly growing participation work, a new ground-floor gallery to showcase our work with artists and community groups in the city, an incredibly exciting new destination café designed by acclaimed artist Emma Hart, and a fantastic new retail and hospitality offer.” – Paul Hobson, Director of Modern Art Oxford

“We are absolutely delighted to be working with Paul Hobson and his fantastic team at Modern Art Oxford on the next stage in their building’s journey. This will see greater accessibility, improved environmental performance and a focus on space for education. The project builds on our work with arts institutions that are looking to better provide for their communities and reach new audiences.” David Kohn

ENDS

Notes for Editors

For media enquiries contact Clare Stimpson, Head of Digital and Communications, media@modernartoxford.org.uk, +44 (0)1865 813 826 or Alison Wright PR, alison@alisonwrightpr.com,

+44 (0)7814 796 930

About David Kohn Architects

David Kohn Architects is a London-based practice established in 2007, working internationally on arts, education and residential projects. Recent projects include Stephen Friedman’s Cork Street Gallery, the V&A Photography Centre and exhibitions at Kettle’s Yard, Royal Academy and MIMA. The practice is also completing a new quad in Oxford for New College in 2024 and is currently working on a major €90M expansion of contemporary art museum SMAK in Ghent, Belgium.

About Modern Art Oxford

Located in one of the world’s great cities of learning, Modern Art Oxford is a leading contemporary art space with an international reputation for innovative and ambitious programming. We promote creativity in all its visual forms as an agent of social change. Our programmes, both in person and online, are shaped by a belief in dialogue between contemporary art and ideas and celebrate the relevance of contemporary visual culture to society today.

Modern Art Oxford is supported by Arts Council England, Oxford City Council and Lavazza.

This transformational redesign has been generously supported by many individuals, trusts and foundations. Modern Art Oxford would like to thank Arts Council England Capital Investment Funding, CHK Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation, Gresswell Environment Trust, The Lovington Foundation, Staples Trust, Wolfson Foundation, Jill Hackel and Andrzej Zarzycki, Béatrice and James Lupton, Anna Yang and Joseph Schull, Dasha Shenkman OBE, Heidi and Carlo Baravalle, Domingo and Jenny Garcia, Russell and Jill Platt, and all those who would like to remain anonymous.