Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia
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| Established | 2000 (current location since 2007) |
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| Location | 75 Bennett Street Atlanta United States |
| Director | Annette Cone-Skelton |
| Website | MOCA GA |
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA) is a contemporary art museum located in Atlanta. The museum collects and archives hundreds of contemporary works by Georgia artists. MOCA GA fulfills its mission through an exhibition schedule, increasing its permanent collection, and the Education/Resource Center, which houses the museum’s historical archive collection.
MOCA GA was co-founded in 2000 by David S. Golden and Annette Cone-Skelton. The museum was the evolution of the idea the co-founders presented in 1989. Annette Cone-Skelton’s artist background and David S. Golden’s position as the President of CGR Advisors (private real estate investment firm) led them to the idea for a contemporary art museum for the state of Georgia. Prior to MOCA GA, the city was bereft of any major institutions devoted to collecting and showcasing the work made since WWII by regional artists. MOCA GA was founded to fill in that historical gap. Its primary focus was to give Georgia artists a place of their own to protect and to archive the history of the state because so much of it was getting lost. They believed in Georgia artists and wanted to build the finest collection possible. As the collection grew and remained housed in a corporate environment, the co-founders proceeded to creating a museum for the collection.
Established with private funding, MOCA GA began with the extensive collections of Atlanta-based CGR Advisors, a real estate advisory company and Mr Golden’s personal collection. The museum’s first location was at 1447 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. The combined collection features more than 250 works by 110 Georgia artists and includes a variety of mediums—paintings, prints, sculpture, photography, and installation pieces. From bold color lithographs made by Trena Banks, and others to composed photographs by John McWilliams, Virginia Warren Smith, and others.
When the burgeoning collection needed more space, the CGR Advisors decided to move to another location. They also considered selling or giving the collections to various groups but the gap that existed in showcasing Georgia Artists was too large. Annette Cone-Skelton searched for a model of this type of museum but there was none quite like the one they needed, a model whose focus was contemporary art from the state in which it was located. The state of Georgia was in need of this type of institution. In January 2005, MOCA GA moved into the SunTrust Plaza. Two years later, the SunTrust Plaza location closed. In January 2007, MOCA Georgia moved into the downstairs suite M1 at the TULA Art Center at 75 Bennett Street in Atlanta, Georgia. In order to expand exhibition space MOCA GA expanded into additional galleries I, II, and III in Suite A2 and Suite O2 of the TULA Art Center in spring of 2008. MOCA GA now covers about half of the TULA Art Center with additional exhibition space for the permanent collection.
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