Museum of Arts and Design

Museum of Arts and Design is quite close the Central Park, I saw it after the walk around the park. so decided to come in here to explore a bit.
This museum actually seem more like a exhibition center to me. At the very top of the building is the workshop of the artists of designers, if you want to get contact with anyone you are interested at. this floor should be the place for you. If you like to leave you bags or jackets, just go down to the basement. Beside the ground floor, the rest of the building is the museum itself.
During my visit, it got 3 floors hold the exhibition of Wendell Castle, I found most of the furniture he made, really interested and beautiful. some of them even looked a bit funky to me. The furniture mostly come from many parts but it did seem like just one. That wasn’t something easy to make. Plus the light and shadow inside the exhibition, it just made most of them looked pretty much like a living art. There were several pieces of this exhibition I like very much. It was also great to be able to saw the interview of the artist, then people can get the idea how the artist thinks and works.
And then there were an others exhibition like the Japanese Kōgei — Future Forward, which I also found several works really interesed. And Ebony G. Patterson: Dead Treez, to be honest, I kinda get carried away by the work, this was something I don’t usually see. I’m not sure this is as interested as to me than to others, some people might found it not so appealing.
Overall, this museum isn’t that bit. but it sure held some cool exhibitions. I think, people either love it or hate it. I found it cool.

This place is smaller than it looks from the outside. It is five floors of exhibits of various innovative crafts and designs from around the world, but each floor is fairly small. It was definitely not worth the $ 16 admission price I paid. Exhibits were separated into various themes: jewelry, furniture, African arts, etc. Do not go here expecting the MoMa or Met. The majority of the objects on display are actually very recent (from the last 20 years).

Only three stars because they were in the middle of setting up new exhibitions on many of the floors. Artist work area is fascinating and the staff are way cool. Much better selling name than arts and crafts though the Morgan crosstown has a Puryear exhibit that reminds American art should not be overlooked.
Hope to go back when more exhibits are open. So glad the City required this to remain museum space as opposed to another location for a international retailer.

I don’t think there is enough museum to justify the $ 16 general admission price. Luckily I went on Free Museum Day so I’m not giving this a lower review. It’s a nice location by the park so it has that going for it.
The third floor was closed for installation, floors 4 – 5 had the same show and then there was a show on floor 2. I went through it in less than an hour. I don’t want to judge it based on the art because obviously that changes and that’s just my pure taste. I did find the Ralph Pucci show more interesting from an aesthetic and business perspective. The Pathmakers show was 2 floors and was too crafty for me.
The also had shades pulled over the windows. My guess is they didn’t want the light to awkwardly fall onto the pieces and have it vary through the day, but you are facing Central Park! I wanted to see that. The gift shop had some interesting but expensive items and barely anything that said «MAD» on it. Usually in a store gift shop I want a souvenier. I can get a fancy scarf elsewhere.
If it’s featuring a show you are interested in or you go on a discounted night, it can be worth it. I certainly like a chance to see as many museums as possible. It’s just for me not worth the full price to come again.

I went on a Thursday evening so I was able to pay whatever I wanted for admission. The museum was nice and had a lot of interesting exhibits, but it was quite small. It took me about an hour to go through and see everything.
It was a fun place to go after work with friends, but with the size of the museum I would have been disappointed if I had paid full price for admission.

This is a tough town for museums. We’ve got the Met AND MOMA, for instance. Both of those are all day affairs– in fact I’ve been to both multiple times and not seen the whole of them. They are thought provoking, expansive, impressive, and memorable.
MAD is not. Exhibits rotate constantly– there doesn’t appear to be a house collection. So check the site before you go and figure out if this is something you want to do. Like others, I found the museum to require less than an hour at a VERY leisurely pace. The current content focused mostly on textiles and visual art– very little focus on design. While some of the art was interesting, most of it was unmemorable and did not justify the cost of admission.
Also like others, I found the exhibit guards to be a little creepy, and I was scolded (from the sounds of these reviews, getting scolded is part of the experience!) when my elevator went directly to a non-​exhibit floor and I attempted to step out without noticing it. WHY would you allow your elevator to go directly from the street to a back office floor? Pretty poor «design» choice.
I’d go for free/​$ 5. But I felt a little cheated when I paid most of the Met price to get the contents of one room. If you find an exhibit is showing that you’re interested in, check it out. But don’t just pop by and expect to find something interesting.

love this place! i’ve been dying to go forever. i went up to floor 6 and each exhibit was different. there were mannequins on display on the 2^nd floor. i saw some really nice oil paintings of nyc that looked like photographs. thats how good they were. the rest was either cool pottery, paintings, drawings, furniture, etc. really cool stuff. i would go back.

This is my new favorite art museum– a classy and more elegant alternative to MOMA. There is plenty to see on the 5 floors of exhibit space. A most wonderful and large exhibit is of the photorealist paintings of the amazing Richard Estes.
The gift shop offers a large selection of gorgeous things at reasonable prices.
This arts and design museum is so far superior to the Cooper-​Hewitt that it isn’t even funny!

This is small museum with exhibits on several floors. The exhibits I saw had jewelry, photographs, textiles, mannequins. Some of the jewelry and textiles were interesting. The staff guarding the exhibits were rude.

Such a cool museum. Probably my favorite arts museum I’ve been to in a while. Organized, aesthetically pleasing, and interesting. Loved the exhibits on women designers (Pathmakers) and Richard Estes. And the gift shop is on point. A must see for anyone remotely interested in design. Only takes about 45−60min to go through the entire museum.

My favorite non-​Met, non-​MoMA museum in the city. You get automatic hipster points for coming here simply because a lot of people have – inexplicably – never heard of this museum. Which boggles my mind given its spectacular location, fantastic views and incredible displays.
Make sure to explore all the floors, esp the furniture and jewelry floors. It’s quite fascinating to try to guess what the «finished» look will be for each piece, since the museum really focuses on the transition from art/​design to product.
If you’re looking for a perfect night in the city, stop by here after 5pm on Friday. Take advantage of the free admission to explore all the exhibits. Then head up to Robert, the museum’s upscale restaurant located on the ninth floor, for delicious food and cocktails above Columbus Circle and Central Park. Easily one of my favorite nights ever in this city.

Good small museum, not as well known as it should be – well worth a visit.

This museum sucks. I love museums, I live in nyc, and I wanted to check this place out for the feminist art show/​performance. Have you ever been to a museum/​art space where everyone working there is totally chill, accommodating and not at all snobby? This is not that.
It felt like every other second, someone who worked there was being the most annoying version of themselves. Everyone was rude. We tried to find seats at the performance and were scolded like 15 times in a row about finding a seat. Maybe those 7 staff members didn’t need to be taking up a whole row? Just a thought. Maybe they could help us find a seat? Nope, scolding and shaming is obviously better.
So we left to see exhibits instead. And honestly, it took about 10 min to see everything. Finally, we wanted to eat something so we went to the restaurant and after a confusing 5 min were told rudely by an employee that it was closed. No sign, just, «um, we are CLOSED.» Get it together, people.

As much as I am drawn to and love things with color, this Columbus Circle museum was meant for me with that aspect alone. Having found it quite by accident, as our intention was to dine at Robert NYC on the 9^th floor of the same building, we were quite pleasantly surprised to find this museum. After lunch, we walked through a few floors of the museum, and I’m glad we did.
While I couldn’t necessarily relate to the art styles or design, I loved the color. There was NO lack of color used in any of what we saw. (Check out my photos) They have a number of rotating exhibits, about 6 floors of them, and it can all be seen in 1 hour, maybe a little longer.
The only thing I didn’t like was having to check our bags/​coats in the basement while everything else was upstairs. The elevator was rather sluggish, and it was even more so when there was a museum elevator operator bossing people around as to what floors they could go to… or not. Then again, he’d disappear half the time, and then we could go to any floor we wanted… strange… and annoying.

This is a pretty small museum located in a pretty awesome spot and covers multiple floors. I’am admittedly not a very cultured individual as I don’t tend to enjoy visiting most art museums. Everything to me is a little freak with various sculptures, displays, cartoon drawings, etc. The museum is pretty small so don’t expect to spend your whole day here, we were probably able to walk in and our in about an hour.

My wife and I are both furniture designers.
The exhibit done on modern manufacturing methods and products was a great representation of things that are happening now in the art/​design world.
I was happy to see some interactive exhibits to show the true tactility of some of the newer manufacturing techniques.
Well organized and easy to get around museum overall.
Will be back.

I absolutely LOVED Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities, Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle, and Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary. Unfortunately there hasn’t been anything at MAD lately that has appealed to me as much as those shows did. I hope future exhibits can show more craftsmanship & quality versus completely concept-​driven art .
Tip:
* Every Thursdays from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm: Pay-​What-​You-​Wish!

When we look at everyday objects, most people rarely think of design. A spoon is just a spoon, and chair is just a chair…
But if you let your mind to expand beyond the «normal», outside the defined lines, and into the endless imagination, you can see that every object can be dreamt into something more.
Building itself is a jewel box. The façade with intersecting lines and ever-​changing colors give you a hint of the treasures contained inside.
Step in. Take an elevator to the top floor, and make your way down, floor by floor, discovering it.
Interactive displays let you create with your voice and movement…
Real jewelry sparkling in the cases…
«Bird» shirt is ready to take flight…
The «Twisted Dumb Truck» — is it a truck? Or is it a Notre-​Dame-​meet-​Fringe?
Is it «Lady Belhaven» — or is it snapshot of the symphony cast in sculpture?
The exhibits that make you think. Make you feel. Make you look around once more.
Do it.

You can get yourself scanned and 3D-​printed as a little 2″ figurine. It is part of the «Out of Hand» exhibition at the MAD through June 1. The subject of the exhibition is the new era of digital fabrication. In addition to 3D printing, there are CNC (computer numerically controlled) machining and digital knitting and weaving.
I know that sounds really technical (and it is) but it’s also very cool to see these shapes and designs that are not possible using other materials or methods.

I was really pleased at this museum and surprised never to have found myself here before. There are some truly beautiful pieces and exhibits that come through this space. Plus, the museum store has equally as fun and enticing items.
It’s definitely a manageable museum for a quick hour or a longer museum excursion. Plus, the location is great. It can easily be a part of a full-​day plan.