New building and inaugural exhibitions

SITE Santa Fe opens the doors of its new building to visitors this October. The expansion, designed by SHoP Architects, enhances SITE Santa Fe’s capacity to engage the city of Santa Fe and beyond with dramatic new spaces for art, programming, and gathering. With a total of 36,000 square feet of new and renovated interior and exterior space, SHoP’s design for SITE provides elegant spaces within the building and an iconic new form on the exterior of the building that brings distinctive contemporary architecture to Santa Fe’s landscape.

The design for the NEW SITE Santa Fe addresses critical operational and programmatic needs of SITE’s existing facilities, while creating a dynamic new presence for SITE. Led by SHoP principals, and project director Ayumi Sugiyama, the design emphasizes SITE’s role as a progressive and vibrant cultural hub, while considering SITE’s increased national and international profile. Key features of the building include the expansion of SITElab, an experimental exhibition gallery; a flexible Auditorium for lectures and events; a Learning Lab; outdoor gathering and social spaces, including the Sky Terrace; and an expanded SITE Store and a SITE Snack & Coffee Bar, both situated in the new Lobby.

Inaugual exhibition season:

Future Shock
October 7, 2017–May 1, 2018

SITE Santa Fe presents Future Shock, a large-scale exhibition of international artists that articulates the profound impact of the acceleration of technological, social, and structural change upon contemporary life. Future Shock takes its title from Alvin Toffler’s prophetic 1970’s book, in which he describes the exhilaration and consequences of our rapidly advancing world. With Toffler’s predictions and warnings as a backdrop, Future Shock brings together the work of 10 artists whose works imagine a range of visions of our present and future. The works in Future Shock explore such themes as the role of technology and science in society, the effects of financial markets and globalism, the impact of migration and population growth, and issues of surveillance and privacy.

Artists on view:
Doug Aitken, Patrick Bernatchez, Andreas Gursky, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Dario Robleto, Alexis Rockman, Tom Sachs, Regina Silveira, Andrea Zittel

Kota Ezawa: The Crime of Art
SITElab Project Space
October 7, 2017–January 10, 2018

Accompanying Future Shock in SITE’s inaugural year will be a series of SITElab exhibitions presented in a 2,000 square foot gallery space addition. Launching the SITElab space will be The Crime of Art, a solo exhibition of new and recent works by San Francisco-based artist Kota Ezawa. This exhibition will bring together works related to Ezawa’s The Crime of Art series, a group of lightboxes and video animations that chronicle some of the most infamous and high profile museum heists in history.

Opening events: October 5-8, 2017

SITE Santa Fe presents a series of opening events in celebration of the new building and the inaugural exhibitions with special guests and exhibiting artists. More information on these events is available at sitesantafe.org.

About SHoP Architects
SHoP is an award-winning architecture firm with a staff of over 180 talented architects, designers and engineers. Since 1996, SHoP has set the standard for creative innovation in the field, modeling a new way forward with its unconventional approach to creating built solutions at every scale.

About SITE Santa Fe
SITE Santa Fe opened in 1995 to present what was then the only international biennial of contemporary art in the United States. From its inception, SITE established a commitment to a risk-taking and visionary perspective that continues to drive its programs today. Year-round exhibitions and educational programs encourage the creative and intellectual potential of the audience and uphold the region’s tradition of fostering avant-garde art.