AMERICAN ART MUSEUM OF THE 20TH–21ST CENTURIES AS A LABORATORY OF NEW SPATIAL SCENARIOS

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the role of architecture in the processes of transformation of art museums. The article analyzes the formation and evolution of the model of American art museums of the 20th–21st centuries in the context of global museum traditions. It is shown that their development took place under conditions of the absence of a rigid national canon, the dominance of private philanthropy, and an orientation toward a broad audience, which contributed to the transition of the museum from an archival institution to an open socio-communicative space. The role of architecture as a tool for renewing museum functions through flexible planning solutions and the integration of public zones is emphasized. The research employs comprehensive and systematic approaches involving methods of analysis, synthesis, comparative-historical and descriptive methods. The results of the study consist in the systematization of architectural and curatorial strategies of leading American museums (MoMA, the Whitney Museum, LACMA, SFMOMA, The Broad, etc.) and in defining them as laboratories of contemporary museology. The conclusions indicate that the American art museum functions as a dynamic communicative environment in which architecture acts as an active mediator between art and society, and that the accumulated experience serves as an important reference point for rethinking museum practices in Ukraine in the context of decolonization and work with collective memory.