Alicia Robinson
With an eye to generating more traffic and encouraging repeat
visitors, Orange County Museum of Art officials are modernizing their
main facility near Fashion Island and their South Coast Plaza art
space.
The museum recently began a five-month, $1 million renovation
project to update the building by reconfiguring the main entry area
and redesigning the sculpture courtyard to make it suitable for
concerts and other live events.
At South Coast Plaza, the museum will move to a $300,000 art space
-- devoted to "new media" such as digital, video and web-based art --
in a different wing of the shopping center.
The renovation is the culmination of more than a year's worth of
work, museum Director Dennis Szakacs said. Museum officials wanted to
address the design of the front entry area and social spaces in the
museum to make them more engaging for visitors and create new reasons
for people to come to the museum, he said.
The entry space at the museum will be refurbished to allow more
kinds of art to be displayed there, and a wet bar will be added on
the back side of a relocated admissions desk, so people can stop for
coffee during the day or cocktails at night.
Because of the entryway's design, "We were definitely limited in
what kind of work we could show in that area, and it's the first
impression of the museum," said Irene Hofmann, the museum's curator
of contemporary art.
The museum's sculpture court will become a multi-purpose space
suitable for concerts, performances and film screenings, with
retractable glass doors separating it from the main pavilion.
With the renovations, the museum will be able to offer more
interactive programs to enhance visitors' experience of the offerings
such as panel discussions and live music. This reflects a shift in
the art community's attitude toward the role of museums, which are
now seen as a social gathering space, Szakacs said.
"With this renovation we're kind of on the leading edge of that
change," he said.
The Orange County Museum of Art does a good job of educating
people about art, but like all museums, it first needs to get people
in the door, said Derby Williams, co-owner of South Coast Art Gallery
in Newport Beach.
"[Museums] do need money to support them, therefore a lot of them
do put in fine restaurants and gift shops and bring in major
exhibits," he said. "It all goes to bringing people in, and that's
the main objective."
The South Coast Plaza space, called the Orange Lounge, also will
