External view of the Warburg Institute © Hufton+Crow
The Bloomsbury site is to open its first gallery as part of designed by Stirling prize-winning architects
The Warburg Institute in London, a leading centre for the study of art and culture, has unveiled further details of a significant redevelopment.
Plans see the Bloomsbury site introducing its first gallery, one of a series of new spaces to host a public programme of exhibitions and events.
The £14.5 million renovation project designed by Stirling Prize-winning architects Haworth Tompkins also includes a 140-seat auditorium, and a new centre for special collections.
The centre said the redevelopment “restores the Institute’s original emphasis on discovery, display and debate, and opens the doors of the Institute to new publics and partners.”
Funding for the project has been enabled by the University of London with an investment of £9.5m and a major gift from the Hamburg-based Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, along with support from other national and international philanthropists, trusts and foundations.
Its first gallery will be named The Kythera Gallery. Located on the ground floor, it will open with ‘Memory & Migration: The Warburg Institute 1926 – 2024’ next month, 2 October 2024, with a selection of treasures from the Warburg collection.
The exhibition will explore “the interwoven histories of movement and survival with a focus on key moments in the Institute’s journey from Hamburg to London, narrated by artists, writers and historians”.
The new Hinrich Reemtsma Auditorium will be positioned in the centre of the Institute and will fill the previously empty courtyard.
Other enhancements throughout the building incorporate the refurbishment of the reception area, in which the newly restored Coade stone frieze of the nine muses of the arts and sciences is installed to welcome visitors upon entry.
Matthew Harle, Curator of Artistic Programmes, the Warburg Institute, said: “The Warburg’s new programme will see the Institute’s collections and unique lens on cultural history encounter the landscape of contemporary arts and ideas at its home in Bloomsbury for the first time. Through the programme, we hope to share the Warburg’s mission to chart the movement of images and culture through time with new audiences and participants.”
Jo Fox, Pro Vice-Chancellor of University of London, added: “There has never been a more important time to support the intrinsic value of the arts and humanities, the transformation will sustain the Warburg’s position of research excellence, activated by new ideas, diverse voices and perspectives, continuing Aby Warburg’s pioneering belief in the importance of visual literacy.”
Founded in Hamburg by scholar Aby Warburg the Warburg Institute, its scholars, books and images were rescued from Nazi Germany and brought to London in 1933. It joined the University of London in 1944 and is now part of the School of Advanced Study, the UK’s national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities.
