Canal Projects, a New York art space that mounted shows for celebrated artists such as Karimah Ashadu, Sin Wai Kin, and Candice Lin, will shutter next year after just four years in operation.
The nonprofit space announced on Wednesday that it would close its physical space on May 23, 2026, and pivot its efforts toward grant-making. Canal Projects said it would supply $3 million to arts projects over the next three years, including Ayoung Kim’s forthcoming show at MoMA PS1.
“The transition to a new model is mission-driven—to redirect resources into grants and financial support,” a spokesperson for Canal Projects told ARTnews. “The gallery space was not functioning in the way that Canal Projects needed it to in order to accommodate their programming. The costs of maintaining a building with complex and outdated infrastructure was an important factor in the decision to close the space.”
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Launched in 2022 by the YS Kim Foundation, Canal Projects ran a Tribeca space that hosted an array of shows featuring commissions for rising artists.
Geumhyung Jeong, a Korean artist who appeared in the 2022 Venice Biennale, recently turned the space into what appeared to be a staging ground for dissembled robots, and Korakrit Arunanondchai and Gvojic exhibited a videos about ghosts. Seung-taek Lee, a pioneering Korean artist who’s now in his 90s, had one of his biggest US shows to date there, and Ashadu brought her Silver Lion–winning video from the 2024 Venice Biennale to New York via Canal Projects.
The YS Kim Foundation, which is registered in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, also runs a camp for Korean American children in Pennsylvania.
According to the website for Canal Projects, some staff appear to have left the organization. Summer Guthery, who was brought on as artistic director and curator when Canal Projects was launched, is no longer listed as part of the staff.
The Canal Projects spokesperson said that Guthery departed at the end of March. Guthery declined to comment.
The final show at Canal Projects’s New York space will be an exhibition by Jakkai Siributr that opens on January 30, 2026.