Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

Sainsbury Centre
Sainsbury Centre
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeArt gallery and museum
Architectural styleStructural Expressionism
LocationUEA, Norwich,
England, UK
Construction started1974
Completed1978
Design and construction
Architect(s)Foster + Partners
Website
sainsburycentre.ac.uk
References

The Sainsbury Centre is an art museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. As part of its relaunch in 2023 under new executive director, Jago Cooper, the Sainsbury Centre became the first museum in the world to formally recognise art as alive. The centre's ethos 'Living Art Sharing Stories' aims to give agency to the objects in the collection, as well as enable people to build relationships with the living works of art. The centre's approach to programming was also transformed in 2023, moving away from a traditional approach to adopt one which "empowers art to answer life's biggest questions".

The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by the architects Norman Foster and Wendy Cheesman, completed in 1978. The building became Grade II* listed in December 2012.