MoMA PS1 has announced that the Young Architects Program will be placed on a one-year hiatus. MoMA PS1, formerly P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit arts centers in the United States devoted to contemporary art. The Young Architects Program founded by MoMA and MoMA PS1 was made to offer emerging architectural talent the opportunity to design a temporary, outdoor installation in New York.
Founded in 1971, MoMA PS1 is the first nonprofit arts center in the US devoted solely to contemporary art. Functioning as an active meeting place for the general public, MoMA PS1 aimed to be a catalyst for ideas, discourses, and new trends in contemporary art. As stated in their mission, MoMA PS1 is devoted to the "production, presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of the work of innovative artists in all mediums, fostering creativity and uninhibited artistic exploration." MoMA PS1 also serves constituencies beyond New York with traveling exhibitions, a studio program, publications, and representation by professional staff.
MoMA architecture curator Terence Riley established the Young Architects Program as an annual invited competition in 2000. To choose a firm for the Young Architects Program, a list of scholars, professionals and previous winners nominate around 50 firms experimenting with new styles or techniques. Each group is asked to submit portfolios of their work for review by a panel, and the panel selects five finalists who are invited to make preliminary proposals; the chosen winner is announced in February of each year. First reported by The Architect's Newspaper, Martino Stierli, the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the MoMA, said that:
“Following the 20th anniversary of the Young Architects Program (YAP), MoMA and MoMA PS1 have decided to place the program on a one-year hiatus. We remain deeply committed to supporting and recognizing emerging architectural talent. We’ve already started to use the hiatus to bring together a diverse group of influential scholars and professionals, experimental architects and designers, and previous YAP winners to assess the program’s impact for the past two decades, explore its potential, and strategically chart its future. We look forward to sharing more news as we move along in this process.”
MoMA and MoMA PS1 have partnered with the National Museum of XXI Century Arts (MAXXI) in Rome, Italy, with CONSTRUCTO in Santiago, Chile, with Istanbul Modern in Istanbul, Turkey, and with MMCA in Seoul, Korea, to create international editions of the Young Architects Program.
