Nomadic Museum

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The Nomadic Museum is the name given to a temporary structure used to house the Ashes and Snow photography exhibit by Gregory Colbert. Originally made of shipping containers, the most recent structure was constructed entirely of bamboo.

The Nomadic Museum, Mexico City, 2008

A view of The Nomadic Museum at night in the historic Zócalo in Mexico City, 2008

Gregory Colbert originally conceived of the idea for a sustainable traveling museum in 1999. He envisioned a structure that could easily be assembled in ports of call around the world, providing a transitory environment for his work on its global journey. The first public installation of Ashes and Snow at the Arsenale in Venice, which opened in 2002, inspired the groundwork for the aesthetics and architectural concepts used in the Nomadic Museum.

Colbert transformed the interior of the Venice Arsenale using atmospheric elements including stone, curtains made from one million pressed paper tea bags from Sri Lanka, and minimalist lighting techniques. Built in 1104, the Arsenale was originally used to assemble and launch boats to sea via the Venetian canals. The interior architecture of the structure provided an ideal setting for Ashes and Snow, as the monumental space, once used to construct ships, provided room for Colbert’s large-format photographic artworks and films. The show was a critical and popular success, and remains one of the most attended exhibitions by any single artist in Europe.^[1]

The first Nomadic Museum debuted with the opening of Ashes and Snow on the Hudson River Park’s Pier 54 in New York City in March 2005. The museum then traveled to Santa Monica, California, in January 2006, and Tokyo, Japan, in March 2007.

From January 19, 2008 to April 27, 2008 a new Nomadic Museum designed by Simón Vélez was opened to Zócalo, Mexico City. The museum occupied 5,130-square meters containing two galleries and three distinct theatres. Like other elements of Ashes and Snow, the museum is an on-going project that will transform in each location to adapt to its environment and the evolving artistic content of the exhibition itself. Colbert will continue to collaborate with innovative architects to integrate the most recent advances in sustainable architecture and give new expression to the museum as it travels.

The Nomadic Museum will reopen in Brazil in late 2008.