Image courtesy OMA
Scheduled to open in early 2024, the OMA-designed Centre Pompidou × Jersey City museum, New Jersey, will be a new international cultural hub located at the heart of the historic Journal Square.
The Centre Pompidou will provide its expertise to create a program emphasizing education via hands-on artistic and cultural experiences, with a community component central to Jersey City’s inclusive vision for the future, making the Centre Pompidou × Jersey City a multidisciplinary art laboratory for cultural and educational programming, OMA said in a press release.
With the addition of exhibitions created with the modern and contemporary art masterpieces from the Paris Centre Pompidou’s collection, as well as tailor-made and diversified events at the crossroads of all disciplines, the Centre Pompidou × Jersey City’s cultural agenda seeks to offer a fusion of art and ideas.
In 2018, Jersey City Mayor Steven M. Fulop’s administration acquired the Pathside Building, located in the heart of one of the busiest transportation hubs in the tri-state area, and a short train ride from both Lower Manhattan and Newark Penn Station. The city purchased the 5400-m2 (58,000-sf) building. While the building was slated for residential units at the time, the Fulop Administration wanted to instead try to optimize the building to establish Jersey City as a larger destination for the arts.
The international partnership is the culmination of a strategic plan and cultural partner search by the creative consultants Jersey City hired in 2019, OMA New York, led by Partner Jason Long. This included engagement with the Jersey City community and discussions with potential partners both within and outside the United States.
“Centre Pompidou’s history as an institution dedicated to multiple forms of contemporary art and culture, its dedication to education, and cultural organizations match Jersey City’s and the community’s ambitions for the building,” OMA said in the release.
In the coming months, OMA/Jason Long will work with Jersey City and the Centre Pompidou on the design of the Centre Pompidou × Jersey City within the historic Pathside Building.
“As the largest modern and contemporary art collection in Europe, the Centre Pompidou is the perfect partner to carry out our vision and solidify Journal Square as a regional anchor for the arts,” said Mayor Fulop.
Developed in close collaboration with local creatives and residents, inviting international art professionals, and prospecting for emerging talents from all walks of life, the Centre Pompidou × Jersey City future program will appeal to diverse audiences, offering a unique form of cultural outreach.
“We worked closely with Jersey City to find the best partner to help create a unique new art center for Journal Square within a historic structure rich with potential,” said OMA Partner Jason Long. “The Centre Pompidou, a multidimensional institution that from its founding has crossed disciplines and cultures, was both a perfect fit and a provocation to use the building in unexpected ways.”
