The George Lucas and Mellody Hobson-founded museum, which will emphasise all genres of narrative art, is now being built in Exposition Park.
As building proceeds, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has postponed its debut once more.
The Los Angeles museum founded by director George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson said on Tuesday that its anticipated debut had been postponed yet again by two years, following a prior shift from 2022 to 2023. A five-story, 300,000 square foot building will be part of the museum’s Exposition Park property when it opens in 2025. The campus also contains an 11-acre park and gardens.
Director and CEO Sandra Jackson-Dumont underlined that the institution will mix both high-brow and mass-produced work, with a focus on all types of narrative art rather than just showing movie artefacts. She added that the Lucasfilm archive will be housed in the museum, which would also have two 299-seat cinemas.
She stated in a statement that it was both inspiring and humbling to witness how this new public resource was coming together. “We think that narrative art may unite us and contribute to the creation of a more just society. As a result, the site is one physical representation of that idea, which permeates every aspect of this institution.
Jackson-Dumont explained to The Hollywood Reporter during a press conference on Tuesday that the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the supply chain were the primary cause of the delays: “The pivots we’ve had to do are a result of that fallout.”
THR also discovered that the present focus of the work is on adding the panels that will coat the building and planting trees in the expansive park grounds (designed by studio MLA designed for an area of L.A. historically lacking in parks). A moat-like cavity enclosing the building, which will protect it in the event of a seismic event, and the beginnings of an outside rain fountain to cool it with recycled water were also visible during the early-stage site tour. The circular roof will be defined by solar panels on one side and trees on the other, with an oculus in the centre of the building providing access to the open sky.
“The Lucas Museum is located where art, people, places, and ideas converge. Jackson-Dumont noted at the occasion that according to George Lucas, narrative art, or the art of conveying stories via images, “embodies the values and ideals that hold communities together.” “With a founder like George Lucas who created one of the most well known and enduring worlds of our lifetime, we can imagine that the capacity of narrative art to create worlds along with their stories is a strong theme in the Lucas Museum collection.”
The museum’s bottom floor will be developed to include a café, a shopping area, two movie theatres, and a significant exhibition space on the north side; “education and engagement” will be the focus on the south side, which will also feature a distinctive library (featuring several books that have influenced Lucas’ approach to storytelling). On the fifth level, there is a room set aside for museum events that could be rented out for other private events. It will feature a complete AV setup for presentations and provide access to the balcony, which surrounds the entire structure. According to Jackson-Dumont, “I almost want to call this narrative architecture.”
Along with the museum building itself, the grounds will also have a sculpture park, a children’s meadow, and an amphitheatre for future programming. Visitors must travel along a path that is encircled by a hanging garden (which is rumoured to be one of Lucas’ favourite features) in order to get there.
Jackson-Dumont informed visitors on Tuesday that the museum had already purchased approximately 13 paintings by Ernie Barnes, a sizable percentage of the body of work by Los Angeles-based artist Kadir Nelson, and the entire archive of Mexican graphic artist José Guadalupe Posada (known for his images of skeletons that define the narrative of Day of the Dead). She anticipates sharing additional curatorial and purchase updates in around two quarters.
She added: “Through these works, we hope to ignite complex and nuanced conversations that may impact how people see the world and each other. The museum’s wonderfully evolving collection of narrative art features all kinds of perspectives that are multifaceted through the stories that humans have told over time.”