(Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
(CHAPEL HILL, N.C.) The Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced it will reopen to the public on Jan. 27.
The university art museum is welcoming guests back with required free timed ticketing and limited capacity to adhere to state COVID-19 protocols.
“In order to open to the public as safely as possible during the pandemic, the Ackland Art Museum has made significant changes to our daily operations,” the museum wrote on its website. “We want to ensure that visitors have the best experience possible.”
The museum is following guideline recommendations from the university, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Ackland Art Museum requires guests to wear fitted masks during their visits and won’t allow gaiters, vented masks or bandanas. The museum has also asked guests who can’t wear a mask for any reason to delay their visit.
In accordance with COVID-19 recommendations, museum capacity will be limited to 25% for each one-hour timed entry ticket to allow for safe social distancing throughout the building.
Guests can start reserving required tickets to visit on Jan. 14. Public tickets will be released every other Thursday after the 14th on a first come, first serve basis. Each household is limited to four tickets.
Once the museum reopens, guests will be able to view four different exhibits, including Yayoi Kusama's "Open the Shape Called Love," which the museum will now show until March 28.
Kusama's art became a global sensation after the debut of her infinity rooms that used mirrors and lights to create a mirror dimension. Her exhibit on display at Ackland include "early works on paper, intimate 'dot' and 'net' paintings, provocative sculpture and multimedia work and a tabletop mirror box," according to a release.