The Momentary is a

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

Bentonville, Arkansas Bentonville is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers, Arkansas, Rogers adjacent to the east. The city proper had a population of 54,164 at the 2020 Unite ...

and operates as a satellite of

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

. It opened on February 22, 2020. It offers free public admission.

Overview and founding

As part of the opening of Crystal Bridges in 2011, an exhibition entitled "State of the Art" focused on up and coming contemporary artists from around the United States and was very well received. The growth of the Crystal Bridges collection led to the decision to look for a location to more permanently and prominently feature contemporary art as the original Crystal Bridges facility did not have adequate space for this need. A 63,000 square foot former

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

manufacturing facility in downtown Bentonville, about 1 mile from Crystal Bridges, was adaptively reused to create the Momentary facility. The Momentary is a non-collecting institution which primarily focuses on visual and performing arts, culinary experiences, festivals, and artists-in-residence. It opened to the public on February 22, 2020, with the performing arts festival Time Being, a 2nd iteration of the exhibition State of the Art and INVERSE Performance Arts Festival. The founding director of the Momentary was Lieven Bertels, and the current director is Jill Wagar.

Design and Concept

The design process was unique given the complexity of the existing building, in which each condition was unique. The design team was led by Wheeler Kearns Architects, as an

Adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed. It is also known as recycling and conversion. The adaptive reuse of buildings can be a viable alternative to new con ...

project, supported by Lux Populi on lighting design, Thornton Tomasetti for structures, Schuler Shook for theater design, McClelland Consulting Engineers, Inc. and McGuire on Engineering, Threshold Acoustics for sound issues and FODA for interior design. The building was built by Flintco and their subcontractors.

References

External links

Official website
Museums in Benton County, Arkansas Buildings and structures in Bentonville, Arkansas 2020 establishments in Arkansas Art museums and galleries in Arkansas {{Arkansas-struct-stub