Baltimore Museum of Art Announces Reopening Plan, Resumption of Female-Focused Exhibitions

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced that it will begin a phased reopening on September 16, with the intention of having all of its galleries and gathering spaces accessible to visitors by September 30, 2020. The museum will be open Wednesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with timed-entry passes available to BMA members beginning Friday, August 28 and the general public on Friday, September 4. The Sculpture Gardens are already open Tuesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to dusk.

The BMA also released its health and safety protocols, which include details regarding timed and limited entry to the museum, PPE requirements, changes to visitor flow, and planned signage to remind visitors about social distancing, capacity limits, and sanitary practices. The BMA plans to welcome up to 25 percent of its capacity, or 350 visitors per day, on September 16 and increase to 525 visitors per day by September 30. The BMA’s reopening remains contingent on state and city guidelines, and the museum is prepared to alter its timelines should further precautions be necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of staff and visitors.

Upon reopening, the BMA will resume its planned roster of 2020 Vision exhibitions, which explore and celebrate the achievements of female-identifying artists and leaders. While 2020 Vision was originally developed as a year- long curatorial and programmatic initiative, it will now be extended and unfold throughout the remainder of 2020 and into 2021. The museum will reopen with exhibitions that debuted in March—just weeks or in some cases days before the museum temporarily closed in response to COVID-19. Focused solo presentations of works by Zackary Drucker, Katharina Grosse, Valerie Maynard, Ana Mendieta, Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young, Howardena Pindell, Jo Smail, Shinique Smith, and SHAN Wallace will be on view beginning September 23, and Candice Breitz: Too Long, Didn’t Read, which features two poignant video installations by the South African artist, will reopen September 30 without an admission fee.

On September 30, the BMA will also open A Perfect Power: Motherhood and African Art, which explores the significance and power of iconography related to motherhood in Central Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Among other upcoming 2020 Vision highlights are an exhibition of works created by Lakota women in the late 19th century, solo presentations of Tschabalala Self, Lisa Yuskavage, and Sharon Lockhart, and the much- anticipated Joan Mitchell retrospective, which will premiere at the BMA in March 2021 before traveling to other venues. The BMA will also continue its expanded outdoor and virtual programming, which includes the presentation of Kota Ezawa’s powerful video National Anthem in the Latrobe Spring House through November 29, updated tours of exterior artworks and architecture available through BMA Go Mobile, and website presentations of works by Baltimore-based artists through the BMA Salon and BMA Screening Room, two extensions of The Necessity of Tomorrow(s) series.