New Zaha Hadid art museum opens next month

The radical planes and curves of Dame Zaha Hadid's buildings might blend into the ever-evolving cityscape of, say, Beijing. However, the novelty of her designs are felt more acutely in sedate surroundings.

Michigan State University, founded in the 19th century, has a scholarly, redbrick campus, more used to Gothic Revival stylings than angular concrete and sheet metal. So, the university should  perhaps be commended for approving Hadid's pleated steel and glass plans for its new 46,000-square-foot Eli and Edythe Broad MSU Art Museum.

The building, due to be opened on November 10, will house a collection of 7,500 objects from the Greek and Roman periods through the Renaissance and Modern era. However, the new museum will place greater emphasis on new work, shifting its position from simply being an academic institution, to that of a more active player in the arts world.

"With its focus on international contemporary art, we are creating an institution unique among university art museums, and Zaha Hadid's innovative design is a physical manifestation of our mission," said the museum's director Michael Rush.

Rush has two inaugural shows planned; Global Groove 1973/2012 will use Nam June Paik's seminal 1973 video Global Groove as a jumping-off point to explore current trends in international video art, while In Search of Time will "investigate artists' expressions of time and memory by creating dialogues among works by artists including Josef Albers, Romare Bearden, Damien Hirst, Toba Khedoori, Andy Warhol, Edward Muybridge and Sam Jury, among others." Both sound like worthy accompaniments to Hadid's exhibition space.