Founded in 1977, the New Museum is Manhattan’s only dedicated contemporary art museum, with a curatorial program known for its global scope and adventurousness. In its building on the Bowery, the New Museum has continued its mission of exploring new art and new ideas with a major triennial that gives participating artists their first museum exposure.
The initiative of the New Museum Triennial (2009) is the first recurring international exhibition in New York City devoted to emerging artists from around the world, providing an important platform for a new generation of artists who are shaping the current discourse of contemporary art and the future of global culture.
The first edition of the triennial titled The Generational: Younger Than Jesus occupied the entire New Museum building on the Bowery. The name of the exhibition was inspired by the fact that some of the most enduring, influential, and radical changes in art and history have been carried out by young people.