The historic Church Missions House, just a few blocks away from Baruch College, has been home to the Fotografiska museum since 2019.
In May, the museum announced it would be cutting its 15-year lease short and will officially close its doors on Sept. 29. Its final two exhibits featuring the work of Vivian Maier and Bruce Gilden.
In its press release detailing the close, the museum wrote, “Fotografiska, the contemporary museum of photography, art and culture, will relocate its New York location to better meet the needs of its visitors and expand gallery space in response to the ambitious visions of the artists it
presents globally.”
The layout of the building, specifically the ceiling height on each floor, prevented some larger sized works from being show-cased at the New York location.
In Fotografiska’s unemployment filing, the museum cited economic reasons as the reason for its closure. The museum’s executive director, Sophie Wright, also touched on the museum’s
limited space.
“We’ve been having ongoing challenges with regard to the exhibition spaces,” Wright said, according to The New York Times. “The verticality of that building is not easy to manage. Our audience has been given a bumpy experience.”
In a press release, Wright expanded on the museum’s legacy. “I am immensely proud of
what we have accomplished with Fotografiska in just five years, cementing our role as part of the
New York arts landscape through unique exhibitions and dynamic programming,” Wright said.
No definite announcement has been made on where the museum will move to. However, Fotografiska announced it will hold an exhibition highlighting 100 years of nightlife at an unspecified temporary location.
The new location is expected to hold architectural significance like that of its parent building in Stockholm, Sweden. The building was formerly an old 1910s customs house built on a harbor.
RFR Holding LLC, the privately controlled real estate company that currently owns the NYC location, has put the building up for sale. The listing is almost triple the amount it was originally bought for in 2014.