LONG ISLAND CITY, NY.- Due to unanticipated delays in its renovation that preclude the use of much of its special-exhibition galleries, The Noguchi Museum has been compelled to cancel its upcoming exhibition Asian/American/ Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900-1970. The exhibition has been organized by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (FAMSF) in association with the Asian American Art project at Stanford University. Currently on view at the de Young Museum, in San Francisco, it was scheduled to open at The Noguchi Museum on February 18, 2009.

The Museum's collection galleries remain open, and public programs continue as scheduled. In February, a special exhibition devoted to Noguchi's iconic Akari lights, including new acquisitions and several rarely seen lamps, will open in the collection galleries. (Press release to be distributed.) In summer 2009, the Museum and its world-renowned sculpture garden will reopen in full. At that time, in anticipation of the Museum's twenty-fifth anniversary in 2010, the work will be installed exactly as designed by Noguchi upon the Museum's opening in 1985.

Occupying a renovated industrial building dating from the 1920s, The Noguchi Museum, which is located in Long Island City, New York, is the only museum in the U.S. founded by an artist specifically for the display of his or her work. It comprises ten indoor galleries and an internationally celebrated outdoor sculpture garden. Since its founding in 1985, the Museum has exhibited a comprehensive selection of the artist's works in stone, metal, wood, and clay, as well as models for public projects and gardens, dance sets, and his Akari Light Sculptures.

The Noguchi Museum began plans for extensive renovation in the 1990s, when it was discovered that the building, which is located in close proximity to the East River, had settled unevenly, putting stress on the brick walls. The first phase of the renovation, which was implemented from 2002 to 2004, included ensuring the building's structural integrity and handicap-accessibility; redesigning and relocating the shop and café; adding heating and cooling systems, which enabled the Museum to remain open year-round for the first time; and creating new space in the basement for education and public programs and for on-site storage.

This current phase of renovation builds upon the earlier work, completing the structural stabilization and climate control-which will enhance the Museum's ability to borrow works for its exhibition program-and rebuilding the Museum entrance to better serve visitors. The new entry pavilion is scheduled to open on March 1, 2009.