Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

Last updated
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Mmocaicon.jpg
MMoCA glass facade and Icon staircase on the corner of State St. and Henry St.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Former name
Madison Art Center, Madison Art Association
Established1901 (1901)
Location227 State Street
Madison, Wisconsin, US 53703
Type Art museum
DirectorPaul Baker Prindle
Website mmoca.org

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), formerly known as the Madison Art Center, is an independent, non-profit art museum located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.

Contents

MMoCA is dedicated to exhibiting, collecting, and preserving modern and contemporary art. Its mission is to educate and inspire by means of rotating permanent collection exhibitions, special exhibitions, film series, and educational programming. The museum opened in its current home adjacent to the Overture Center for the Arts on April 23, 2006. Both MMoCA and the Overture Center were designed by architect César Pelli.

History

MMoCA is one of Madison's oldest cultural organizations. Established as the Madison Art Association in 1901, the organization presented education programs and exhibitions in borrowed spaces. In 1964, the organization leased the former Lincoln School on Lake Mendota and merged with the Madison Art Foundation to become the Madison Art Center.

In 1980, the Madison Art Center moved into the Madison Civic Center. In 2003, the Art Center’s name was changed to the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) to more accurately reflect the museum’s ongoing mission.

Controversies

2019 Chroma Event

In 2019, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) became the center of a controversial community dialogue after posting a Call for Artists for an unpaid exhibition opportunity. [1] Equity for Artists, [2] an artist-led response, published an open letter claiming that this call exemplified how the museum “perpetuates… systemic problems that hurt artists and obstruct diversity in the field.” [1]

Starting in 2018, the Chroma exhibition was a ticketed fundraising event featuring a colorful art experience and DJs. In their open letter, Equity for Artists decried the $25 application fee and $100 installation fee for an unpaid one-night exhibition opportunity. [1] They added: “Additionally, all participating artists agree to allow MMoCA the free use of images taken of their artwork for perpetuity.” [1]

Community members' posters in front of MMoCA in August 2022. Signs in support of the Triennial artist collective are hung. MMoCA's glass facade and Icon staircase are visible in the background. Posters in Front of MMoCA.jpg
Community members' posters in front of MMoCA in August 2022. Signs in support of the Triennial artist collective are hung. MMoCA's glass facade and Icon staircase are visible in the background.

Following the open letter, and after an offsite discussion between the artists, museum staff and leadership, MMoCA published a statement revising the terms of the event: waiving artist fees; providing installation support at no charge; and offering paid honorariums of $100. [3] They wrote, “MMoCA is staffed by human beings and sometimes, our best intentions are off pitch. It was never the intent of the museum to put an undue burden on artists participating in Chroma.” [3]

2022 Wisconsin Triennial Exhibition

The Wisconsin Triennial is a triennial exhibition and survey of contemporary artists in Wisconsin. The Triennial began as a biennial in 1978 at MMoCA’s predecessor, the Madison Art Center, and became a triennial in 1987. [4]

The 2022 Wisconsin Triennial exhibition became controversial after the majority of the exhibiting artists published an open letter [5] protesting the museum’s director, Christina Brungardt, along with the board of directors, and their decisions relative to multiple incidents before and during the exhibition.

The curatorial theme of the 2022 Wisconsin Triennial, “Ain’t I A Woman?” [4] exclusively focused on the work of black or African American women, femmes and gender nonconforming artists in Wisconsin. This triennial exhibition was the first to be curated by a guest curator and the first to pay exhibiting artists honorariums. [6]

In an open letter published on FWDTruth.com, a collective of the artists denounced two incidents involving another triennial artist, Lilada Gee: once after a “verbal attack” by a former employee of the Overture Center for the Arts [7] and another where her artwork was damaged and removed by visitors. [8] Following the second incident, the museum director reportedly intervened to “de-escalate” the situation by asking Gee if the guests who had marred the work could also keep it. [6]

In their open letter [9] published on August 19, 2022, the collective of artists in MMoCA’s 2022 Wisconsin Triennial presented a list of concerns including policy and contract violations, unfair compensation, unequal distribution of resources, and repeated onsite disrespect and harms, especially to Lilada Gee. The collective artists wrote that: “Well before the works of these artists rested in their designated places at MMoCA, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s leadership has failed to demonstrate meaningful care for this exhibition and its participants by both failing to secure against outside harm and repeatedly perpetrating internal institutional harm.” [9]

Over half of the artists withdrew from the exhibition in protest over the last three months of the scheduled six-month exhibition, [5] citing indications of misogynoir and institutional racism. “I don’t know that there’s anything that they could do now that would change how I feel about what’s happening,” Portia Cobb said. “The response now is basically underscoring their own supremacist and patriarchal standards. But I’m really proud to be part of this collective voice — it’s motivated us to understand what our power is, as individuals and as a collective.” [5]

In a response published on August 24, 2022, MMoCA’s executive committee called the criticisms “inappropriate and unfounded accusations of institutional racism [addressing] their handling of this unique situation.” [10] They continue: “the 16-minute period during which hired gallery attendants were not in one part of the exhibit space does not equate to disrespect for the Black artists or guest curator of the exhibit, nor does it point to institutional racism.” [5]

Facilities

Made possible by the philanthropy of W. Jerome Frautschi and Pleasant T. Rowland, MMoCA encompasses 51,500 square feet of interior space, including highly flexible gallery spaces. MMoCA's primary art and gallery spaces are:

Also included are a 230-seat lecture hall, an education classroom, a study center for drawings, prints, and photographs. Fresco, the rooftop restaurant, closed in 2021. [11]

Collection and exhibitions

Collection

The permanent collection includes nearly 6,000 objects, comprising one of the nation’s finest collections of Chicago Imagism as well as significant holdings in Mexican Modernist prints, Wisconsin-based artists, and contemporary photography.

Of the more than 1,400 artists in MMoCA's permanent collection, included are Romare Bearden, Deborah Butterfield, Alexander Calder, Sonya Clark, Sam Gilliam, Guerrilla Girls, Frida Kahlo, Jin Soo Kim, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Mapplethorpe, Gladys Nilsson, José Clemente Orozco, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, John Wilde, and Wesley Willis.

Depending on current exhibitions, a rotating selection of permanent collection work normally remains on view.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions are the cornerstone of MMoCA's public programs and have featured many of the most respected artists of the last century, including Louise Bourgeois, Cecelia Condit, Tacita Dean, Jeffrey Gibson, Jasper Johns, Brad Kahlhamer, Alice Neel, Shirin Neshat, Rashaad Newsome, Georgia O'Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Robert Rauschenberg, Faith Ringgold, Peter Saul, George Segal, Alec Soth, Frank Stella, Do Ho Suh, and Ursula von Rydingsvard.

The Main Galleries, located on the second floor, host the museum's major exhibitions. The Imprint Gallery, also on the second floor, is a small black box theater dedicated to time-based media, multimedia, and special installations. The State Street Gallery on the first floor offers a changing roster of special exhibitions and installations, while the Henry Street Gallery on the lower level presents selections and exhibitions from the museum's permanent collection. The Shop (as in, "workshop"), on the first floor, is dedicated to hosting interactive exhibitions and community events. MMoCA's Rooftop Sculpture Garden presents major 3D works and installations on a rotating basis in an illuminated, outdoor garden setting.

Admission and funding

MMoCA glass facade and Icon staircase. GlassMuseumArt.jpg
MMoCA glass facade and Icon staircase.

MMoCA is free to the public.

As a free-admission museum, MMoCA relies on individuals, corporations, private event rentals, and foundations for necessary financial support. Key support is also provided by museum memberships, fundraising events like the annual Art Fair on the Square, and private gifts and donations.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago</span> Art museum in Chicago, Illinois

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues. The museum's collection is composed of thousands of objects of Post-World War II visual art. The museum is run gallery-style, with individually curated exhibitions throughout the year. Each exhibition may be composed of temporary loans, pieces from their permanent collection, or a combination of the two.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Museum</span> Museum in New York City

The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overture Center for the Arts</span>

Overture Center for the Arts is a performing arts center and art gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The center opened on September 19, 2004, replacing the former Civic Center. In addition to several theaters, the center also houses the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitney Biennial</span> Contemporary art exhibition in New York City

The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was in 1973. It is considered the longest-running and most important survey of contemporary art in the United States. The Biennial helped bring artists like Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, and Jeff Koons, among others, to prominence.

Bruce Charlesworth is an American artist, known primarily for his highly stylized and constructed photographic, video and multimedia works.

Michelle Grabner is an artist, curator, and critic based in Wisconsin. She is the Crown Family Professor of Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she has taught since 1996. She has curated several important exhibitions, including the 2014 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art along with Anthony Elms and Stuart Comer, and FRONT International, the 2016 Portland Biennial at the Oregon Contemporary, a triennial exhibition in Cleveland, Ohio in 2018. In 2014, Grabner was named one of the 100 most powerful women in art and in 2019, she was named a 2019 National Academy of Design's Academician, a lifetime honor. In 2021, Grabner was named a Guggenheim Fellow by The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2024 Grabner was inducted into the Wisconsin Academy of Art and Science.

Gregory Euclide is an American contemporary artist and teacher who lives and works outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Allan deSouza is a transmedia artist, photographer, art writer, and professor. Their work deals with issues of migration, overlapping histories, and the poetics of relocation. They work in the San Francisco Bay Area, and are Full Professor in the Department of Art Practice at the University of California, Berkeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Buchanan</span> American artist (born 1946)

Nancy Buchanan is an American visual artist, known for her work in installation, performance, and video art. She played a central role in the feminist art movement in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Her work has been exhibited widely and is collected by major museums including the Museum of Modern Art and the Centre Pompidou. She is Los Angeles-based.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce J. Scott</span> African-American artist

Joyce J. Scott is an African-American artist, sculptor, quilter, performance artist, installation artist, print-maker, lecturer and educator. Named a MacArthur Fellow in 2016, and a Smithsonian Visionary Artist in 2019, Scott is best known for her figurative sculptures and jewelry using free form, off-loom beadweaving techniques, similar to a peyote stitch. Each piece is often constructed using thousands of glass seed beads or pony beads, and sometimes other found objects or materials such as glass, quilting and leather. In 2018, she was hailed for working in new medium — a mixture of soil, clay, straw, and cement — for a sculpture meant to disintegrate and return to the earth. Scott is influenced by a variety of diverse cultures, including Native American and African traditions, Mexican, Czech, and Russian beadwork, illustration and comic books, and pop culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weston Teruya</span> Artist and arts administrator (b. 1977)

Weston Teruya is an Oakland-based visual artist and arts administrator. Teruya's paper sculptures, installations, and drawings reconfigure symbols forming unexpected meanings that tamper with social/political realities, speculating on issues of power, control, visibility, protection and, by contrast, privilege. With Michele Carlson and Nathan Watson, he is a member of the Related Tactics artists' collective and often exhibits under that name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Smith III</span> American artist

Leslie Smith III is a contemporary African American visual artist. He currently lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin.

Sherry Farrell Racette is a First Nations feminist scholar, author, curator, and artist. She is best known for her contributions to Indigenous and Canadian art histories. She is currently an associate professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina.

Duane Linklater is an artist of Omaskêko Cree ancestry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa</span> Art museum, design/textile museum, historic site in Cape Town, South Africa

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is a public non-profit museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Zeitz MOCAA opened on September 22, 2017 as the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The museum is located in the Silo District at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town. A retail and hospitality property, the Waterfront receives around 24 million local and international visitors per year.

Lydia Ourahmane is an artist based in Barcelona, London and Algiers. Ourahmane has had recent solo exhibitions at MACBA, Barcelona, SculptureCentre, New York; rhizome, Algiers; Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland; S.M.A.K Ghent; Portikus, Frankfurt; De Appel, Amsterdam; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco and Chisenhale Gallery, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Latin American Art Triennial</span>

The New York Latin American Art Triennial is an event that takes place every three years. It is dedicated to presenting contemporary Latin American art in New York City.

Jared Madere is an American contemporary artist and curator who lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

Sharon Kerry-Harlan is an African-American artist active in Hollywood, Florida and Wauwatosa, Wisconsin who is known for her textile art.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gordon, Scott (2019-12-05). "Artists sign letter protesting Madison Museum of Contemporary Art's Chroma event". Tone Madison. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  2. ↑ "The Protest". equityforartists.org. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  3. 1 2 Gordon, Scott (2019-12-24). "MMoCA changes the terms of its Chroma event after artists protest". Tone Madison. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  4. 1 2 "MMoCA Announces the Selection of Fatima Laster as the Wisconsin Triennial's First Guest Curator". Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Liu, Jasmine (2022-08-25). "Madison Museum Apologizes to Black Artist but Rejects Racism Allegations". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  6. 1 2 Christians, Lindsay (19 August 2022). "Artists pull out of MMoCA Triennial, call for director to resign". The Cap Times. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  7. ↑ Dahmer, David (18 March 2022). ""It took my breath away:" Beloved Black artist ends MMoCA project after verbal attack by Overture Center staff". Madison365. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  8. ↑ Dahmer, David (29 June 2022). ""Is Black art safe at MMoCA?" Lilada Gee's exhibit defaced, and museum officials aren't talking". Madison365. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  9. 1 2 "Open Letter". fwd: truth. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  10. ↑ "Statement from MMoCA Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees". Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  11. ↑ "After 15 years, Fresco announces its last summer in business". Channel3000.com. 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2022-09-03.

43°04′28″N89°23′21″W / 43.07458°N 89.38914°W / 43.07458; -89.38914

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.