Santa Monica Museum of Art
| Established | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Location |
2525 Michigan Avenue, G1 |
| Type | Art |
| Director | Elsa Longhauser |
| Website | www.smmoa.org |
2525 Michigan Avenue, G1
The "Santa Monica Museum of Art" (SMMoA) was based at the Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica, California until May 2015. As an independent and non-collecting art museum (or kunsthalle), it exhibits the work of local, national, and international contemporary artists. In May 2016, SMMoA announced an official name change to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) and its relocation to Los Angeles's Downtown Arts District. The organization's administrative offices are currently located in Century City and the museum will reopen its doors to the public in Spring 2017.
The Santa Monica Museum of Art was founded in 1984 by Abby Sher as part of the Frank Gehry-designed mixed-use center, Edgemar, which she developed on Main Street in Santa Monica, California between 1984 and 1988. In 1988, Thomas Rhoads was named the museum’s director, mounting that summer its first exhibition, Art in the Raw in the 8,000 square foot clear span, clerestory-rimmed 1908 Imperial Ice Company warehouse building. In 1997, after establishing an international reputation for first-rate exhibitions, SMMoA moved from Edgemar, reopening in Bergamot Station Arts Center in 1998.
SMMoA’s mission focuses on pivotal but under recognized moments and figures in the history of contemporary art and culture. In 2000, former Moore College Gallery Director Elsa Longhauser was appointed executive director. Longhauser marked her arrival with a retrospective of feminist Austrian artist Valie Export, and has continued to champion the city of Los Angeles and the Museum as important players in the ongoing international art dialogue. [2] She has dedicated SMMoA’s exhibition spaces—a Main Gallery and two Project Rooms—to advancing the work of contemporary local, national, and international artists whose work merits study and recognition.
In 2010, Phase 2 of the Metro Expo Line light rail was approved, and land adjacent to the Bergamot Station Arts Center was allocated for a stop on the new line. The stop, 26th Street/Bergamot, is scheduled to open in 2015.
From its inception, SMMoA developed a reputation for hosting groundbreaking exhibitions for future art world luminaries. Under the banner of the Museum’s Artist Project series, Director Thomas Rhoads and his team of curators organized shows for Andrea Bowers, Meg Cranston, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, and Lynn Aldrich. They arranged the first solo shows for Daniel J. Martinez (1988), Jennifer Steinkamp (1989), William Leavitt (1990), and Allan Sekula (1996) among others. Upon the Museum’s relocation to Bergamot Station Arts Center, the Artist Project Series continued in the Museum’s two Project Rooms. The inaugural exhibition at Bergamot featured emerging artist Liza Lou and her dazzlingly beaded, full-size kitchen and backyard installations.
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