Museum of Arts and Design

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) is an art museum located at 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1956, it collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. Through its exhibitions and educational programs, the museum celebrates the creative process by which materials are crafted into works that enhance contemporary life. MAD occupies a distinctive position in the American museum landscape as an institution devoted to the intersection of handmade objects, material innovation, and contemporary design practice.

The museum first opened in 1956 as the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, founded by the American Craft Council and philanthropist Aileen Osborn Webb. Its original mission centered on recognizing the craftsmanship of contemporary American artists and advocating for emerging practitioners who worked with traditional craft materials and techniques. From 1963 to 1987, under director Paul J. Smith, the museum presented dynamic, often participatory exhibitions that reflected social currents and broke down hierarchies between fine art and popular culture by celebrating mundane materials. In 1979, the institution reopened as the American Craft Museum at 44 West 53rd Street, then relocated in 1986 to 40 West 53rd Street, an 18,000-square-foot space. The name changed to Museum of Arts and Design in 2002 to reflect increasingly interdisciplinary collections and programming. Leadership proved unstable between 2013 and 2021, with eleven directors including six interim directors. Dr. Glenn Adamson served as Nanette L. Laitman Director from 2013 to 2015; Jorge Daniel Veneciano held the post for five months in 2016-2017; Chris Scoates directed from 2018 to 2020; and Timothy R. Rodgers became director in 2021.

MAD's collections and exhibitions focus on objects that document innovation in craft, art, and design, with particular attention to the materials and techniques of craft disciplines. The museum's holdings encompass works in clay, glass, metal, fibers, and wood, among other media. Its programming examines the changing roles of craftsmanship in society and maintains connections between art and industry. The institution serves approximately 300,000 visitors annually, with special exhibitions and retrospectives potentially doubling that attendance.

The museum's permanent collections and exhibition program emphasize works by both established and emerging artists working at the intersection of craft, art, and design. While specific signature objects are not detailed in the available sources, the institution maintains a Center for the Study of Jewelry as part of its programmatic offerings.

In 2008, MAD moved to its current location at 2 Columbus Circle, a building originally designed by Edward Durell Stone. The proposed renovation sparked significant preservation debate, with opponents including Tom Wolfe, Chuck Close, Frank Stella, architect Robert A. M. Stern, Columbia art history chairman Barry Bergdoll, and New York Times architecture critics Herbert Muschamp and Nicolai Ouroussoff. Supporters of the redesign included Mayor Michael Bloomberg and critic Ada Louise Huxtable. Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney described the building as one of New York's most photographed and readily recognizable structures. Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture redesigned the structure, replacing its Vermont white marble facade with glazed terra-cotta tile and fritted glass. The resulting Jerome and Simona Chazen Building features a ceramic cladding that produces color-shifting effects depending on viewing angle, reflecting MAD's craft heritage. The new location provides more than 54,000 square feet, more than tripling the museum's previous space.

The Museum of Arts and Design is located at 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building contains four floors of exhibition galleries, a 150-seat auditorium for lectures, films, and performances, a restaurant, a Center for the Study of Jewelry, an Education Center with multi-media access to primary source material and hands-on classrooms, and three artists-in-residence studios. The museum is an independent institution, having separated from the American Craft Council during restructuring in the 1990s. Its website is http://www.madmuseum.org/.