Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

MMoCA is a free art museum, so of course, I would stop by!

The building features beautiful architecture to admire on its own. It's also very spacious with all of the art pieces really spaced out. No feeling claustrophobic here!

However, because of this, the museum features a much smaller collection compared to other museums. With the huge University of Wisconsin art museum down the street though, you'll have more than enough art to see in this city!

This museum also offered a rooftop gallery with sculptures, gardens, and a screen for film viewing (At least, that's what I think it was for!). It's a lovely space. It looked like they had a cafe on the top floor where you could buy drinks and food to enjoy outside on the roof, but it was closed when I visited. Maybe due to pandemic reasons? I hope it's open when I get to visit next time!

FREE! That's a nice opening lure. I enjoy art of many forms but contemporary art can be tricky. Some exhibits come across as pure crap. But it is as they say, in the eye of the beholder.

We were blown away by the first floor exhibit here in late March 2024. I can't recall the artists name but his artwork was the recycling of a vast array of materials into animals, people, plants and many other items. The work itself is aspiring but the subject matter is unreal. Bullet casings made into a lion, used rubber made into a horse, even hypodermic needles made into birds. The artists work is nothing short of brilliant.
The museum has four floor of art that offer different exhibits at each level. We also enjoyed an exhibit entitled 'dreams' that dealt with artists perceptions of what we dream about. The top floor is outdoors and features sculpture. The idea alone just felt unique.
We'll easily make a point of returning here in the future to see new exhibits. Cheers!

A free art museum right in downtown Madison. We have not been here in years but glad we stopped in to see the latest exhibit by Fredrico Uribe - it was excellent fun.

The museum is bright and airy with a nice space on the first floor. The second floor was in the process of being changed over so we did not get to see it.

Overall the space is not huge. Unfortunately the restaurant that used to be on the top floor is closed as is their store which was wonderful.

A nice resource in town.

This museum has free admission but there is a donation box by the entrance. We had brunch nearby and decided to check it out. Wendy Red Star exhibit is on and it didn't disappoint. I learned about Native American history.
There are 4 levels and you can easily spend over an hour visiting.

Giving a place that acquires and displays art anything less than 5 stars isn't on my to-do list. Having visited this museum and another museum recently in Nashville... 4-stars has to be given to them both.

I love art. I love art like this. Going into this museum, I thought I would love it more than the Chazen. When it came down to it, there just wasn't enough here for me.

The art they had was fun but the size of this place and the limited number of art pieces spread out made it seem empty. I didn't feel like I was in a museum at all. I like to get lost in a museum. I see a piece of art and feel like I could jump in and visit that time. The first floor did have an interactive art piece that covered half of the first floor but it was lackluster for me.

The other rooms were much better but the collection was just too small. I can't complain too much because it's free. Even then, I don't see myself popping in here the next time I'm in Madison. I'll choose the Chazen every single time.

I'm sure they have different exhibits from time to time but I'm just not sure. The spaces here take me out of wanting to look at art.

The art is fun here. It is free so I can't knock it too much. If you're a tourist in town, check it out. It'll kill some time and you might like whatever exhibits they have.

Wow I truly enjoyed the museum and the shop. It had the most amazing things to see and the structure of the museum was a wow factor loved it and it was free. I was so surprised it was not packed. I had an amazing time walking up and down at this museum.

The museum is very nice it had nice things for the entire family to enjoy

We were looking for some fun and affordable things to do on our last full day in Madison. And nothing is more affordable than free! Free is the best! To add to that, I adore exploring art museums. And I love me some contemporary art!! I mean...really. I was sold in a heartbeat.

This was the second museum we visited on the day, following a morning at the Chazen. It is an easy walk between the two, if you are interested, by the way.

We were greeted immediately by a jovial front desk worker that instantly gave me a good impression. He gave us an overview of the current exhibitions and gave us a map/catalog and we were on our way. We started in the interactive exhibit in the room next to the lobby. It was fun and bright and interesting, regardless, but the staff member observing the room and exhibit very eagerly and passionately told us about the exhibit, the artist, and her background and intent. It might have taken a bit longer than my compatriots might have liked, but it definitely added to my experience!

I mostly enjoyed the exhibit on the second floor. "Far Out: Art of the 1960s." Bright! Bold! Funny! Fluxus!
Look, I don't claim to 'get' all the art. And I certainly see some and think "....why?" or "Well, I could do THAT!" and it is not unheard of for me to giggle at nudity in the works. But I swear to glob, I just freaking love all of that stuff! Even if your thought are those I already said...at least it got you thinking! Anyway...all that to say, I super loved the exhibit and I think it was perfect for the space.

We also went to the top floor to check out the "sculpture garden" up there. I will say, that was the most disappointing part of the visit. If you are on a schedule or are waffling about checking it out...I would say you can skip it. It didn't really add anything to my enjoyment of the museum.

I only wish the restaurant was open for lunch, we absolutely would have eaten there! But, it is State Street. There are plenty of other dining options nearby.

If you enjoy museums, or are willing to give them a try when they are free of cost, I highly recommend a visit to the MMoCA!

Amazing museum with many fun social events! I recommend following on social media to always know what's happening. Make sure to climb those atrium stairs all the way to the roof to enjoy the views. Many different gallery spaces to explore with friends or independently.

My review is based on my DIRECT EXPERIENCE as a viewer of art exhibits at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, on my DIRECT EXPERIENCE as a customer at this museum's book store, and on my DIRECT EXPERIENCE watching live performances by Sotovento and by Reid Miller in the foyer inside this museum. PLEASE CLICK on my posted photographs, to see the ENTIRE PAINTING. The front-desk person at this museum gave me permission to take the photographs.

MUSEUM BOOK STORE and EXHIBIT BY ONE OF THE CHICAGO IMAGISTS. At this museum's book store, I bought several books about a group of artists known as The Chicago Imagists. Attached are my photographs of paintings display at this museum, where the paintings are by Richard Lostutter, an artist affiliated with The Chicago Imagists. The attached photographs prove that I had DIRECT EXPERIENCE with this museum. Why is this? The reason is that in my photographs showing close-up views of paintings, you can see the texture of the canvas (the tiny bumps). This proves that my photographs are from my direct experience with real paintings in this museum, and that my photos are not of reproductions published in an art book (in art books, reproductions of paintings never show the tiny bumps found on all canvases).

LIVE PERFORMANCES. In the foyer of this museum, sometimes there are performances by musical groups and by story-tellers. Once, in this museum I saw a performance by Sotavento, which was founded by Francisco Lopez. Sotavento plays traditional Mexican music. Francisco Lopez and I share a common friend, Agnette Peralta. Also, in this museum, I saw a performance by Reid Miller, who was and continues to be a story-teller and folk dancer. He combines clog-dancing with his story telling. Reid Miller and I share a common friend, Mr. Bill Kreamer, who was the leader of the Kickapoo Cloggers, in Madison, WI. These facts further prove that I have DIRECT EXPERIENCE with Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA).

BOOK PUBLISHED BY DIRECTOR and CURATOR of MMCA. The following information concerns a recently published book, Uncommon Accumulation, written by Stephen Fleischman, Director of MMCA, and by Mel Solomon, Curator of the Collection at MMCA. During the many times that I visited this museum (MMCA), my home was exactly two blocks from the museum, and this made it easy for me to have DIRECT EXPERIENCE with this museum, to buy books from the museum's book store, to view new art exhibits, and to see the occasional live performances in the foyer.

UNCOMMON ACCUMULATION concerns paintings and drawings in the Bednar Collection. The design and production of this book are stunningly excellent. For example, the book comes with a thick paper book cover, that was cut on top to have the profile of bushes and hills. This paper cover is printed with one of Roger Brown's paintings of a country road at night. Also for example, some of the pages that have text only are printed with text (either white text or black text) on a background that is either all light blue, all green, all yellow, all dark orange, or all turquoise. The quality of the photographic reproductions of all of the paintings in this book is absolutely stellar ! ! !

THE ARTISTS. Each of these artists gets a chapter that is 10 to 20-pages long: Roger Brown, Robert Lostutter, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Barbara Rossi, and Karl Wirsum, and Ray Yoshida. Sarah Canright is one of my favorite of the Chicago Imagists, but none of her paintings are included in this book (of course, it is not my business to tell Mark and Judy Bednar which paintings to buy for their collection).
THE TEXT. A unique aspect of the text is that it discloses childhood influences and adulthood influences on the artist's style. For Karl Wirsum we learn that his mother was a seamstress and that he was, "fascinated by her ability to start with a bold of cloth, and with her hands and scissors, cut out parts of a pattern . . . sew it up, making a 3-dimensional object out of 2-dimensional materials . . . much like the custom-made cloths his mother designed . . . Wirsum's figures wear elaborate clothes" (page 127). For Robert Lostutter, we learn about his childhood influences where, "As a young boy, Lostutter was introduced to birds by his grandfather, and they have remained in his paintings. They are seen . . . often as hybrid man-bird forms" (page 42). Regarding Roger Brown and his depiction of clouds in the sky, we read that for, "The aesthetic allure of Brown's scalloped sky . . . Brown got the pattern directly from a Chinese textile that he found at a London flea market in 1970" (page 33). Regarding Ed Paschke, we read that, "Paschke identified as an outsider" and we read his statement that, "Things out of the norm and circus life appealed to me a great deal" (page 91).

This was a nice Museum, don't expect too much though! It is 3 stories but very limited in the exhibits which is completely understandable as I believe it's funded by the public. Still a great little place to stop off at!