Iwan Wirth, co-founder and president of Hauser and Wirth
Photo: Felix Clay

The contemporary and modern art mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth has just announced the construction of a major new gallery space in lower Manhattan on West 22nd street. The new location will replace the current, temporary Chelsea address on 18th street. The current venue will continue to host exhibitions and programs, like the recently opened Subodh Gupta show (see At Hauser & Wirth, Subodh Gupta Shows He Is More and Less Than the “Damien Hirst of Delhi”), until the expiration of its lease in 2017.

The 7,400 square-foot space will function as a permanent gallery alongside Hauser & Wirth’s townhouse at East 69th street, and will be designed by Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects. The firm has been designing for the gallery powerhouse since the 1990s, in Zurich, London, and New York. It will remain under the direction of partner and vice president Marc Payot.

Gallery president and co-founder Iwan Wirth said of the new location, “On 22nd Street we plan to craft the great variety of spaces ideal for presenting the full range or our artists’ works, and to expand our capabilities as a cultural and social destination in one of the world’s most dynamic and creative cities.”

The gallery, which represents Paul McCarthy, Rita Ackermann, Rashid Johnson, and Isa Genzken, among many other artists, recently added Pierre Huyghe (see Pierre Huyghe Joins Hauser & Wirth) and the Mike Kelley Foundation (see Hauser & Wirth to Represent Mike Kelley Foundation) to its roster.

The space is among a slew of recent additions to the Hauser & Wirth empire, which began with its first permanent gallery in Zurich in 1996 and currently includes, in addition to its Zurich and New York locations, a London space, a space in Somerset, which opened in July this past year (see Hauser & Wirth Somerset Opens) and its much anticipated upcoming Los Angeles space (see Hauser Wirth & Schimmel to Open in LA Flour Mill), which will be under the direction of partner, and former LA MOCA curator, Paul Schimmel.

The new building differs from the company’s other structures, being the first freestanding, purpose-built location. The site on which the multistoried gallery will stand has had a varied industrial and commercial history. In the 1920s it was occupied by an electric switchboard manufacturer, before housing a brewery and later a plastic manufacturing facility.

The new gallery is expected to open in 2018.