About

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art believes in the power of the art of our time. Through programming, advocacy, and collaboration, we work with artists and communities to build a better world.

Located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) is an award-winning aesthetic force dedicated to advancing contemporary art in Utah since 1931. The museum features groundbreaking artwork by local, national, and international artists, offering exploration in the contemporary cultural landscape through exhibitions, films, events, and classes.

UMOCA reaches more than 123,000 Utah residents and visitors annually through visitorship, community events, workshops, and extensive arts education programming. UMOCA’s varied contemporary art exhibitions feature an array of local and national artists, exploring themes that connect residents and visitors alike with our community and region. These exhibitions, often interconnected in theme and concept, become the foundation for UMOCA’s public programming and community engagement.

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art acknowledges that it sits on the land of the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Goshute, Shoshone, Paiute, and Ute peoples. We recognize the enduring relationships between Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands. Indigenous peoples have been living, working, and residing on this land since time immemorial. UMOCA respects Utah’s Indigenous peoples, the original stewards of this land, and we respect the sovereign relationship between tribes, states, and the federal government. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this land, and we honor and respect the Indigenous peoples still connected to the land on which we gather.

Since 1931, UMOCA has been a clear and independent voice committed to the contemporary. While many things have changed over the organization’s ninety-year history, UMOCA has maintained a commitment to community, local artists, education, awareness, and inclusion. These values—so central to art in the 21st century—have been integral to the mission of each organizational incarnation across nine decades, from the Art Barn (1931-1958) to the Salt Lake Art Center (1959-2010) to the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (2011-present).