Carnegie Museum of Art to Reopen and Welcome Visitors on June 29

Contact
Taia Pandolfi
Carnegie Museum of Art
pandolfit@cmoa.org
412.688.8690

Pittsburgh, PA—Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) has announced it will reopen to the public on June 29, 2020, after a period of closure that began March 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum is reopening with CDC recommended safety protocols and timed ticketing in place, along with a new 2020 exhibition calendar, to warmly welcome visitors, staff, and volunteers. The museum invites Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh members a couple days early, starting on June 26.

“I am elated to reopen our doors and welcome the entire community into our museum,” says Eric Crosby, the Henry J. Heinz II Director. “Since we temporarily closed, our team has been working diligently to create an environment that is safe and welcoming for our visitors, staff, and volunteers. We want each person visiting the art museum to feel comfortable and confident that they will have a positive and meaningful experience as they connect with their favorite artworks and CMOA friends.”

Health & Safety
To protect visitors, staff, and volunteers, the museum has updated its health and safety procedures. It will be limiting admissions to 25% of building capacity through required timed ticketing for all visitors; clearly marking foot-traffic patterns in high-traffic areas; enhancing cleaning protocols; modifying interactive areas; providing additional hand sanitizer stations; and installing plexiglass shields at visitor services desks. Visitors, staff, and volunteers over the age of two will be required to wear masks and encouraged to practice safe social distancing by keeping six feet apart (visitors may stay close to their own group but should stay six feet away from other groups and individuals). The museum is also designating special hours for those visitors who are at a higher risk for severe illness due to age (65+) or a medical condition on Wednesday mornings from 10 a.m.–noon.

Discounts—including college student, Access card, and active military—will be available for visitors on a walk-up basis; eligible visitors are asked not to purchase a timed ticket but to request a discount from a Visitor Services staff member upon arrival at the museum.

At the Museum
While at CMOA, visitors can enjoy two on-site exhibitions that have been extended, in addition to the museum’s vast permanent collection and In Sharp Focus: Charles “Teenie” Harris. The first exhibition, Counterpressures, which will extend through January 3, 2021, features ten Pittsburgh-area artists who examine the fraught relationship between humans and the environment. The second exhibition, An-My Lê: On Contested Terrain, the largest career-spanning survey of Vietnamese American photographer An-My Lê, will extend through January 18, 2021; earlier this year, this exhibition was described by acclaimed art critic Nancy Princenthal as “revelatory” in The New York Times.

Online
While CMOA is opening its doors, it will continue providing robust, inspiring online content and interactive programming for everyone who enjoys experiencing CMOA from home. Every three months, CMOA will continue sharing artworks as part of its new online exhibition series, which kicked off May 20 with Rachel Rose: Lake Valley. Every week, the museum will offer virtual programs and events, and every day, art-related content will be shared via the museum’s website, email, and Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds.

Upcoming Exhibitions
Trevor Paglen: Opposite Geometries
Various Galleries
September 4, 2020–March 14, 2021

The third iteration of the Hillman Photography Initiative (HPI), a CMOA project committed to exploring new ideas about photography, launches this year. The initiative will present an exhibition of work by artist Trevor Paglen, a publication, and an interdisciplinary podcast.

With the development and advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), there has been a radical change in the way that surveillance systems capture, categorize, and synthesize photographs. Mirror with a Memory explores the many ways artists probe the intersections of photography, surveillance, and AI—their past, present, and future—to underscore concerns about implicit bias, right to privacy, and police monitoring embedded in corporate, military, and law enforcement applications.

The exhibition will include a new site-specific commission as well as a sculpture that doubles as a WiFi hotspot and photographs that reveal how AI analyzes and labels photographs of people and places. These works will be placed in three areas within the museum, inviting visitors to encounter Paglen’s insightful perspective in different contexts.

Trevor Paglen: Opposite Geometries is organized by Dan Leers, curator of photography, with Taylor Fisch, project curatorial assistant.

Locally Sourced
Charity Randall Gallery
November 20, 2020–March 27, 2022

Pittsburgh has a long tradition of artisans and industry. Today it is home to a growing cohort of independent designers and makers working in traditional media such as clay, glass, metal, fiber, wood, and paper, and with emergent materials and technologies. Locally Sourced: Contemporary Pittsburgh Products highlights new work by some of the region’s most talented artists and makers of functional goods and furnishings.

These are the producers who are creating opportunities—developing their craft into a business. These are the innovators who are reinventing traditional handwork processes and manufacturing technologies to transform raw and reclaimed materials into products that have utility, durability, and good design. These are the locally sourced.

Locally Sourced is organized by Alyssa Velazquez, curatorial assistant for Decorative Arts & Design.