KANSAS CITY.- Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art plans to open its new downtown Kansas City location, called Kemper at the Crossroads, on Friday, November 7. Located at 19th and Baltimore in the heart of the Crossroads art district, Kemper at the Crossroads includes exhibition galleries as well as space for administrative functions. Kemper at the Crossroads will be open noon–;6:00 p.m., Wednesday and Thursdays, noon–;8:00 p.m., Fridays, and 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free.

The Kemper at the Crossroads’ building at 19th and Baltimore has been for many years the home of the Dolphin Gallery. The first phase of renovations encompasses a new entryway for the building off 19th Street, light renovations to the primary gallery, and the creation of a “flex space” for exhibitions, programs, and special events. The new exhibition gallery measures 2,400 square feet, and the flex space adds 1,740 square feet. A small lobby space of 400 square feet will connect the two spaces. Kansas City-based KEM STUDIO is overseeing the renovations to the building.

Kemper at the Crossroad’s first exhibition will be Reel to Reel, a collaborative project by Texas-based artists Jeff Shore and Jon Fisher. The exhibition opens with a free public reception, 6:00–9:00 p.m., Friday, November 7. A room-size, sculptural video installation, Reel to Reel incorporates real-time video and sound components that create a multisensory experience in the gallery. Co-organized by the Kemper Museum and the Weatherspoon Museum of Art in Greensboro, NC, the exhibition is on view November 7, 2008–January 11, 2009, at Kemper at the Crossroads.

The Museum’s two other buildings—the signature Gunnar Birkerts-designed Kemper Museum (4420 Warwick Boulevard) and Kemper East (200 East 44th Street)—are located in the Southmoreland neighborhood next door to the Kansas City Art Institute and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, northeast of the historic Country Club Plaza.

At the Kemper Museum, slight interior renovations to the Barbara Uhlmann Gallery and the Sally Kemper Wood Gallery will create an additional 725 square feet for the permanent collection, which has tripled since the Kemper Museum opened in 1994. Renovation to these galleries is scheduled to take place in early 2009.