Contemporary art museum The Bass has reopened following a US$12m (€10.3m, £9.1m) renovation headed by project architects David Gauld and Arata Isozaki.

The privately run, city-owned museum in Miami Beach, Florida, managed to avoid major damage from the recent Hurricane Irma, but the project had been delayed for more than a year.



The Bass Opens October 29, 2017 from TheBassMoA on Vimeo.


First opened in 1964 inside the Russell Pancoast-designed former Miami Beach Public Library and Art Center, the Bass now offers around 50 per cent more public exhibition space.

Expanded by more than 10,000sq ft (929sq m), the institution’s original 1930s Art Deco building and 2001 extension expands its internal structure by 47 per cent, adding 4,100sq ft (380sq m) to the existing 8,700sq ft (808sq m) space. This includes three new galleries, a museum store, café and a designated education facility to better serve expanded programmes and increased attendance.

Additionally, a new 5,200sq ft (483sq m) Creativity Centre features education spaces, visitor spaces, administrative offices and a multimedia lab. An enclosed courtyard can also host special events.

Swiss-born, New York-based multimedia artist Ugo Rondinone’s retrospective of work – Good Evening Beautiful Blue – features on the museum’s second floor, including the Vocabulary of Solitude, a large room filled with a collection of clowns doing a variety of activities.

A second exhibition, by Cameroon-born, Ghent-based artist Pascale Marthine Tayou, features a mixture of his own works and objects from the museum’s permanent collection.

In 2016 The Bass announced a 10-year initiative to add international contemporary art to its permanent collection. The museum’s development plan forms part of the wider art and culture plan for Miami Beach, home to Art Basel, the Faena Forum art and performance centre, the New World Center and the Miami City Ballet.

The next opening for Miami will be the new building for the Institute of Contemporary Art, which will debut to coincide with Miami Art Week on 1 December.