The Future of Museums and Mesoamerican Art

, February 5, 2026 6:00PM

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February 5, 2026 6:00PM

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Thursday, Feb. 5 | 6–7:15 pm
Atkins Auditorium
Free event | Registration required

Join a lively presentation and conversation about the future of museums, collections, and culture. Leading voices from nationally renowned institutions will discuss projects that challenge historic museum design and offer new models for art presentation and interpretation, with a particular focus on Mesoamerican collections.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator Diana Magaloni will provide a sneak preview of the museum’s new building, designed by Peter Zumthor and set to open in April 2026. She will address the museum’s vision for a more democratic art experience and new curatorial directions expressed in her exhibition We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art, currently on view as Painted Worlds at the Nelson-Atkins.

Curator Laura Filloy Nadal from The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the recently renovated Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, designed by Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture, and reimagined installation of the Arts of Ancient Americas collection. She will share how the museum incorporated community perspectives, artists’ voices, and new scholarship to deepen the stories and relevance of the collection.

Following the presentations, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art director Julián Zugazagoitia will moderate a conversation on how these case studies reflect new forays into the role of an encyclopedic museum in an increasingly complex world, and explore implications for the evolution of the Nelson-Atkins.

About the speakers

Diana Magaloni is Deputy Director, Head Curator of the Art of the Ancient Americas, and Director of the Conservation Center at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Magaloni co-curated the exhibition We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art, currently on view as Painted Worlds at the Nelson-Atkins.

Laura Filloy Nadal is Curator, Arts of the Ancient Americas at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Julián Zugazagoitia is Director and CEO of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Sponsored by the Carolyn Benton Cockefair Chair.

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