Denver, May 15, 2007 — The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (MCA | Denver), the city’s first institution devoted entirely to contemporary art, will inaugurate its new environmentally sustainable facility designed by David Adjaye, with two permanent commissions and an inaugural exhibition entitled Star Power: Museum as Body Electric. The two permanent commissioned works, both by Colorado-based artists, include a collaborative design for The Gates Rooftop Garden by artist Kim Dickey and landscape architect Karla Dakin and an exterior site-specific work by artist Clark Richert. The opening exhibition, Star Power: Museum as Body Electric, curated by Cydney Payton, MCA | Denver’s Executive Director and Chief Curator, will feature seven emerging and established artists from seven countries including: Carlos Amorales (Mexico), David Altmejd (Canada), Candice Breitz (South Africa), Rangi Kipa (New Zealand), Wangechi Mutu (Kenya), Chris Ofili (UK/Trinidad & Tobago) and Collier Schorr (United States). "I invited a diverse range of leading and provocative artists to respond to the underlying concepts for MCA | Denver ’s new building as outlined in our original RFQ," said Payton. "My intention was that the first exhibition should manifest our goal of a creating a dynamic museum that supports artists and their ongoing investigations."

Star Power: Museum as Body Electric

Star Power, while exploring the body and its relationship to architecture, marks a new direction for MCA | Denver by featuring commissioned work by individual artists in an artist-centered program. The subtitle, Museum as Body Electric, is a direct homage to Walt Whitman’s poem I Sing the Body Electric, as well as Whitman’s uniquely American spirit of innovation and creativity. Further curatorial inspiration comes from the conceptual brief that was developed by Payton for the design of the facility. Among the philosophical and mathematical concepts referenced by Star Power are: The Golden Proportion, interpreted as the ideal proportion between architecture, man and nature; the pentagram, as a guideline for the museum’s balancing of the five principles of art, architecture, light, nature and the human experience; and the five elements of water, earth, metal, fire and wood, all of which correlate to parts of the body in Chinese philosophy. These philosophies surrounding the number five correlate directly to the five unique exhibition spaces housed within the building, including galleries for works on paper, large works, new media works, photography, as well as a project gallery for artist in residence. Star Power artists will participate in the installation of their works just prior to the October 2007 opening.

Permanent Commissions

Clark Richert, who has made significant contributions to contemporary art throughout the western United States , was commissioned by MCA | Denver to create a site-specific work turning the lane alongside the new Museum into a plaza. The artist is designing the piece to cover the ground surface of the entire 102 foot by 22 foot lane. "I have rigorously applied the mathematical calculations of classical geometry to this commission based on Cydney’s early discovery that the building’s site was a Golden Proportion," said Richert. "My piece will work both with and against the geometry of the building."

Landscape architect Karla Dakin and artist Kim Dickey have been selected as the team to design the Gates Rooftop Garden . Chosen for their knowledge of regional native plants and weather conditions and for their design aesthetic, they will provide the Garden with a user-friendly, climate-sensitive garden which advances MCA’s commitment to sustainability. Dakin has been a practicing landscape architect since 1997 specializing in environmentally-sensitive design. Dickey is a ceramic artist whose work explores the relationship between utopia, dystopia, nature and nostalgia. Her work has been exhibited widely throughout Colorado and the United States . The Gates Rooftop Garden is generously funded by the Gates Family Foundation in the memory of both the late Charles C. and June S. Gates.

Opening Week Events

MCA | Denver ’s Inaugural week will include public lectures, receptions, a Gala dinner and a public celebration, among other events. The Museum anticipates over 25,000 visitors during the week, and over 50,000 visitors during the course of the first year. Public lectures include conversations with architect David Adjaye and Star Power artists. Other opportunities to meet the artists will be made available at receptions, gallery talks and breakfasts. A formal gala dinner for 900 will be held on site. To close the week, MCA | Denver will host a large scale celebration with a prominent national music artist and a variety of performance art.

About the New Building and LEED Certification

MCA | Denver is a cornerstone of the city’s revitalized Lower Downtown historic Union Station neighborhood. Adjaye’s design for the 27,000 square foot facility supports rather than defines the Museum’s mission and demonstrates its commitment to sustainability. Payton comments on the building’s design: "It is a museum without a door, where one enters through a corridor which becomes the transition between the street experience and the museum experience. The effect will be very welcoming, breaking down barriers between our audience and the art." "The exterior curtain wall is clad in a gray glass that is etched on the inside and evokes ‘black milk,’" noted Payton.

The interior features walls of white MonoPan, a translucent, textured plastic, which surrounds the core gallery spaces spanning three separate levels. Color and light are shot-through at various junctures, signature features of Adjaye/Associate’s design practice.

In addition to the five galleries and rooftop garden pavilion, the building will also feature three education spaces, a bookshop, other public spaces, as well as office space for the museum staff. MCA’s education programs for adults and children will increase substantially in the new building.

When complete, MCA | Denver ’s new facility will be an environmentally sustainable building, seeking to gain the distinction of Gold Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED). This will be the nation’s first Gold LEED certified contemporary art museum, putting MCA at the forefront of the sustainability movement. "We realized early in the process that we needed to be on the cutting-edge of green building in order to be true to our mission of innovation," remarked Karl Kister, President of MCA’s Board of Trustees. Sustainable features of the building include: using 40% less energy than a similarly sized non-LEED building, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills, before, during and after construction, and providing a rooftop garden to decrease the heat island effect (the trapping of heat by buildings which raises the temperature in the surrounding area.).

About MCA | Denver

Founded in 1996, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver was created to provide Denver with its first and only museum devoted exclusively to contemporary art. Since that time, MCA | Denver has grown substantially in budget size, attendance and membership. Community demand for increased exhibitions, programs and educational opportunities fueled the museum’s commitment to creating a permanent home for contemporary art in Denver .

In 2003, Mark Falcone and Ellen Bruss, members of MCA Denver’s Board of Trustees donated a gift of land valued at $1.5 million in Lower Downtown. In that same year, under the leadership of Board President Karl Kister, MCA | Denver launched the Contemporary Campaign for the building and endowment totaling $18.9 million. To date 60% of the goal has been raised, exclusively in private funds.

In 2006, on its 10th anniversary, MCA | Denver broke ground on its new permanent home designed by Adjaye. Following in the European tradition of a kunsthalle, MCA | Denver is a non-collecting institution acting as an incubator for art and ideas, artistic exchange and dialogue, and a place for exploration. In addition, it serves as a vanguard institution for educating the community through its "Contemporary Laboratory" education program, which reaches over 1,800 youth annually in the greater Denver area.

About the Architect

MCA | Denver marks David Adjaye’s first public building in the U.S. as well as his first contemporary art museum worldwide. Adjaye, founder of Adjaye/Associates in London , was unanimously selected by a 12-person committee, from a competitive field of internationally renowned architects, after an extensive public interview process, which attracted nearly 5,000 respondents. Adjaye/Associates’ recent projects include Nobel Peace Center in Oslo and The Idea Store in Whitechapel, London which was nominated for the 2006 Stirling Prize, and winner of the RIBA Inclusive Design Award. David Adjaye is widely recognized for collaborating with artists, notably temporary pavilions with Chris Ofili and Olafur Eliasson shown at the Venice Biennales 2003 and 2005, The Upper Room with Chris Ofili, now part of the collection at Tate Britain and the Asymmetric Chamber, exhibited at the Bohen Foundation, NYC in 2005.