Our gallery spaces are temporarily closed as we construct our new building, renovate our current spaces, and transition into The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery of York University.

We still have active programming, including Mind Furniture by Shannon Garden-Smith in our Vitrines and online with The Tourist by Gary Zhexi Zhang and From Longhouse to Highrise: The Course of Empire by Dele Adeyemo. For updates on our off-site programs including At the Transit Bar: An International Visiting Curators Series, our Community Resource Program, and Arts on My Mind, please join our email list or follow us on Instagram @a_g_y_u for ongoing programming announcements in this epic moment in our story.

We are scheduled to celebrate and open our new spaces in November 2024 with a complex series of programs including new art commissions, an international group exhibition, performance showcases, and the addition of new artwork to York University’s collection.

Our transition into The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery was made possible through a substantial financial contribution from Joan and Martin Goldfarb whose gift facilitates the building of a new stand-alone art gallery on the University’s Keele Campus and the conversion of our current spaces into a Visible Vault. Their contribution has inspired an elegant 670 square meter building dedicated to contemporary art exhibitions and public programs with three distinct gallery spaces plus a pavilion for performances and events. It also includes a reimagination of our current exhibition spaces in Accolade East as a Visible Vault and Study Centre to care for, house, and research the University’s art collection.

Our new building, designed by internationally renowned architect Siamak Hariri, re-visions the AGYU with a distinctive butterfly design containing a generous central reception area and gathering space that connects four unique programming spaces. Each space is a wing extending from a central core, which will house our book shop, be a place to gather, and a connecting point to the Visible Vault and Study Centre.

The Joan and Martin Goldfarb Gallery will uphold and strengthen the essential need for art on campus and in the community. The new gallery sits as a connection point for the School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design, and will be a focal point on The Harry Arthur Common of the University’s main campus and to the greater public, being only metres away from the YorkU subway station.

In this transformative moment, we are poised to be an integral point of connection where we celebrate local and international artists and audiences. This new purpose-built art gallery is a legacy project for the University and the Gallery that envisions the importance of art in and of itself as a form of learning that produces knowledge, debate, and experience.

For press inquiries, please contact Michael Maranda: mmarand@yorku.ca