New arts and culture museums opening in 2025 | Things To Do

By Pune Media On Jan 2, 2025

For arts and culture enthusiasts, 2025 offers new reasons to visit (or revisit) some seriously cool destinations. Read on for a curated list of museum openings worth travelling to see.

For the archives of a music legend: David Bowie Centre at the V&A East Storehouse

Where: London, U.K.

Anticipated opening: September 2025

After acquiring more than 80,000 Bowie-related items, the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum will share the full artistic legacy of the Thin White Duke at the upcoming David Bowie Centre. The centre is just one part of the new, four-level V&A East Storehouse in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, located in London’s emerging East Bank cultural quarter.

Here you’ll find memorabilia galore, including Bowie’s original Ziggy Stardust costumes, instruments such as the Stylophone used on “Space Oddity,” film stills from “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” handwritten lyrics and more. The centre will also have “atmospheric curated displays,” media booths for viewing archival footage and audiovisual installations.

There’s much more to see beyond Bowie, too: East Storehouse will house more than a half-million works across creative disciplines, spanning everything from the Glastonbury Festival Archive to Dior and Schiaparelli haute couture. And East Storehouse is just one of two new V&A landmarks; the second, V&A East Museum, is slated to open in spring 2026.

A rendering of the Naoshima New Museum of Art, designed by architect Tadao Ando, opening on “Japan’s art island.”

By Naoshima New Museum of Art

For an immersive island art escape: Naoshima New Museum of Art at Benesse Art Site Naoshima

Where: Naoshima Island, Japan

Anticipated opening: Spring 2025

Naoshima Island may be small — it covers just about eight square kilometres in the Seto Inland Sea — but it’s earned its nickname, “Japan’s art island,” due to its many art and architecture attractions, collectively known as Benesse Art Site Naoshima. The first museums opened in 1992 and initially showcased installations in abandoned houses and other structures, including a former pachinko parlour. But the upcoming Naoshima New Museum of Art, designed by influential architect Tadao Ando, will be a purpose-built home for major works by Asian artists.

Spread over four galleries and outdoor grounds, the museum will open with iconic works and new site-specific creations from talents such as Takashi Murakami, Cai Guo-Qiang and Heri Dono. While other spaces at Benesse Art Site Naoshima focus on more permanent installations — such as Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin” sculpture, set on a seaside pier — the New Museum will offer changing exhibitions, talks and workshops, designed to make visits an evolving experience.

Marrakech’s MACAAL celebrates contemporary art from the African continent and its diaspora.

By Omar Tajmouati

For a vast collection of African art: Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL)

Where: Marrakesh, Morocco

Anticipated opening: February 2025

When MACAAL reopens in its new building, it will be a permanent home for one of the world’s most comprehensive troves of contemporary African art. Founded in 2009 to house the private collection of the Lazraq family, the museum had already grown to include a sculpture garden in 2013.

The permanent exhibition will feature 150 rotating works from the 2,500-piece collection that celebrate the “cultural richness and creative energy of the African continent and its diaspora,” from the past century to the present. Themed galleries will concentrate on decolonization, globalization and environmental issues.

New spaces will host site-specific installations — with the first coming from architect and anthropologist Salima Naji and queer Tunisian artist Aïcha Snoussi — as well as a new media gallery, residencies and community workshops. There’s also an artist-specific room, opening with a show by French Moroccan artist Sara Ouhaddou.

Fenix is a migration-themed art museum, and its “Tornado” design (centre) is a symbol of arrivals and departures.

By Henry Verhorst

For stories that transcend borders: Fenix

Where: Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Anticipated opening: May 2025

The first art museum devoted to exploring the theme of migration, Fenix has transformed a 100-year-old warehouse on the Rotterdam waterfront into an art piece in its own right. The Tornado, a shining metallic double-helix exterior staircase protruding from the roof and transporting visitors through the galleries, was designed as a symbol of arrivals and departures, reflecting the exhibits inside.

The museum will open with 150 artworks and objects inspired by the concepts of borders, identity, separation and home. Displays include a “labyrinth” of suitcases donated from around the world, as well as personal mementos gathered from the people of Rotterdam. It will also spotlight individual stories of migration, alongside important historical artifacts such as a section of the Berlin Wall.

An archival view of Le Louvre des Antiquaires. The historic Paris building is being reinvented to house Fondation Cartier’s new museum.

By Cali Brutz / Unsplash

For the largest private art centre in Paris: Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

Where: Paris, France

Anticipated opening: Late 2025

While the facade of Fondation Cartier’s new museum building on historic Place du Palais-Royal still looks every part the classic Parisian Haussmannian architecture of the mid-1800s — it previously housed Le Louvre des Antiquaires — what’s inside is a completely different story. Reimagined by French architect Jean Nouvel, the centre spans some 8,500 square metres, and five “mobile platforms” allow spaces within the museum to be flexible and change, with walkways overlooking the platforms.

It’s a suitably impressive place to show off Fondation Cartier’s private collection, which encompasses almost 4,000 pieces from more than 500 artists worldwide. Come for art from the likes of Australian sculptor Ron Mueck, the paintings of David Lynch, Nan Goldin’s iconic photography and many other important contemporary works.