As part of the celebrations for São Paulo’s anniversary, celebrated this Saturday, the São Paulo Museum of Art (Masp) opened the doors of the new building this weekend – and for the first time to the public. But it was just to give a taste, as the official opening of the building, which was named after Pietro Maria Bardi, only occurs in March. 
For this “prelude”, as the event was called, Masp is presenting an entirely free program that includes shows, storytelling, dance presentations and readings of letters written by architect Lina Bo Bardi, who designed the original building of the museum. This Sunday, for example, the museum opened its doors with a performance by the Heliópolis Choir, which performed near the entrance door, in the first basement.
“The event is called Prelude, because it has this idea of anticipation, of a warm-up for what is to come. Masp opens the new building, with exhibitions, on March 28th, but we wanted to give this gift to the city of São Paulo, on this anniversary. So the building opened for the population to see the architecture and has a series of multidisciplinary cultural activities so that they could also come to Masp to enjoy a dance show, theater, music, children’s programming”, said Paulo Vicelli, Director of Experience and Museum Communication. “This weekend is a treat for people to satisfy their curiosity and to see how he is inside and appreciate all this programming that we thought of”, he added.
Chef João Carlos Casangel, 37 years old, was one of the visitors to the new Masp building this Sunday morning. “My boyfriend knew the Heliópolis Choir and we came because of that. It was a beautiful presentation, which brought something more current, with more contemporary songs like Milton Nascimento and Emicida”, he told the Agência Brasil report. But it wasn’t just the choir that attracted them. “I’m very curious to see the rest of the new Masp building”, he said.
But there are also those who couldn’t get tickets online to enjoy this Sunday’s program and queued up outside, waiting for a chance to enter the new space. This was the case of civil engineer Veronica Mariko Mori, 48 years old, who works in building maintenance. “I’m curious to get to know this new arts venue, attached to Masp, which is already grand. I was curious to see the new facilities,” he said. “At first, my biggest curiosity is to understand how the construction was carried out, especially because of my training. And also understand how it will interact, whether it is more modern or contemporary. From the outside it looks more modern and technological to me.”
New building
The new building is located next to the traditional Masp building – which is a postcard of the city of São Paulo, with its immense red columns and a free space.
This new building was named after Pietro Maria Bardi, an Italian critic and art dealer who ran the museum between 1947 and 1990. The best-known and most historic building is named after its designer, architect Lina Bo Bardi.
The new building has 14 floors, increasing Masp’s operating area from 10,485 m2 to 21,863 m2. In this new building, Masp will have five new galleries for exhibitions, two multipurpose areas, classrooms, conservation laboratory, public reception area, restaurant and café, as well as warehouses and docks for loading and unloading works of art. .
“Masp felt the need to expand its limits. We even say that Masp has grown: the building was no longer enough for everything we wanted to do. And the new building complements a series of spaces and possibilities that were not possible in the historic building. Here [no novo prédio] There is a space for docks, which we didn’t have there, and a space entirely for technical areas, which we are now able to accommodate. There is also space for Masp Escola, a space dedicated to classes and courses”, explained Vicelli.
The new building was built entirely with donations and private resources. “It was all built with private money, from donors, individuals, who did not use incentive laws. So, this is also a unique precedent in Brazil and we hope that this will be an example for other institutions and for other donors to also be inspired by this successful example”, said Vicelli.
More information about the new building can be found at museum website.
