Miller ICA to Get New Home, Rebrand as Institute for Contemporary Art Pittsburgh

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has announced that it is building a new home for its art gallery, which it is renaming. The Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, currently housed in CMU’s Purnell Center for the Arts, in 2027 will move into brand-new digs at the university’s forthcoming $210 million Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences, where it will be rebranded the Institute for Contemporary Art Pittsburgh (ICA Pittsburgh). ZGF Architects is designing the 29,000-square foot structure, which will be nearly triple the museum’s current size, with groundbreaking planned for spring 2024. The move, to a location directly facing the city’s renowned Carnegie Museum of Art, and the renaming reflect what ICA director Elizabeth Chodos describes as a “recognition of [the institution’s] growing role within the city” and is intended to elevate the museum’s profile both locally and internationally.RelatedDOCUMENTA 16 DOGGED BY SELECTION COMMITTEE RESIGNATIONSHELEN FRANKENTHALER FOUNDATION SUED FOR “DESTROYING” PAINTER’S LEGACY Founded in 2000, the Miller ICA has hosted shows by artists including Dara Birnbaum, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacolby Satterwhite, the Yes Men, and Andrea Zittel as well as student exhibitions and various iterations of the Pittsburgh Biennial.

In its new incarnation as the ICA Pittsburgh, it will reside inside a 338,900-square-foot building complex additionally housing classrooms, labs, and other academic and research facilities connected with the arts, sciences, and technology. Supported by a $15 million gift from the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation and the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, the new building will include the Miller Gallery, so named for founding benefactors Regina and Marlin Miller. The two-story structure will feature floor-to-ceiling windows on its ground floor, which in addition to a gallery will house a restaurant, public space, and classrooms; the second floor will host three flexible galleries as well as the museum’s first space dedicated to public programs including lectures, symposiums, and artists’ talks.

“As the cultural and civic anchor of the Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences, the new ICA Pittsburgh will be an important point of connection between the city and university campus,” said Mary Ellen Poole, dean of the CMU College of Fine Arts, in a statement. “At the same time, it will amplify and extend the historic cultural offerings of Forbes Avenue, which include the Carnegie Museums and Carnegie Library, providing a continuum of cultural and artistic experiences for our university community and the public alike.”.