Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art - Scottsdale Arts District

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA)

7374 E. Second Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

480.874.4665

Website: SMoCA.org
Email: SMoCA@ScottsdaleArts.org

Hours
Sunday through Thursday noon to 5 p.m.
Thursday and Friday noon to 9 p.m.
CLosed Mondays and major holidays
Admission: $10 adults, $7 students, free for members and children under 15
Free on Thursdays and after 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays

About

Founded in 1999, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), situated on a twenty-one acre, beautifully landscaped park in the middle of downtown Scottsdale, explores the best of contemporary art, architecture, and design. Global in its focus, the Museum is a unique and vital cultural resource for the Southwest, serving local audiences as well as visitors from the United States and abroad.

Designed by award-winning architect Will Bruder, SMoCA’s minimalist building (an ingenious renovation of a former movie theater) has four galleries for showcasing changing exhibitions and works from the Museum’s collection, along with SMoCA Lounge, a living, functional art installation and space for community engagement. The Museum presents a wide variety of educational programs and special events for adults and families, including lectures, readings, performances, docent-led tours, workshops, and classes such as Arizona and world politics, Japanese flower arranging, the science of optics, piñata making and the latest ideas about food production and distribution. SMoCA also features an outdoor sculpture garden housing James Turrell’s Knight Rise, one of the renowned artist’s public skyspaces, and Scrim Wall, a monumental curtain of translucent glass panels by James Carpenter Design Associates.

SMoCA frequently collaborates with institutions and communities both in Arizona and outside of the state. The City of Scottsdale, Arizona State University, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Warhol Foundation, the Graham Foundation and the Tremaine Foundation have all assisted the museum in its creation of exhibitions and programs. Thousands of individuals, business, and groups have also given time, money, ideas and energy to help the Museum grow and prosper over its history.

The Museum’s retail store, Shop@SMoCA, offers classic design objects and furnishings, contemporary jewelry, art and architecture books, and imaginative gifts for all occasions.

SMoCA’s Mission Statement
The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art champions creativity, innovation and the vitality of the visual arts. We seek to build and to educate audiences for modern and contemporary art, as well as to provide opportunities for the artistic community— locally, nationally and internationally. SMoCA provides a memorable experience of art, architecture, and design by exploring new curatorial approaches and by highlighting cultural context. We interpret, exhibit, collect and preserve works in these media.