Marciano Art Foundation

The Marciano Art Foundation is a contemporary art institution located in Los Angeles, set within a landmark building that bridges architectural heritage and forward-looking artistic vision. Since opening to the public in 2017, the Foundation has developed a dynamic exhibition program centered on living artists, presenting ambitious projects that reflect the diversity and complexity of contemporary art today. Its scale and curatorial freedom allow for exhibitions that are immersive, experimental, and thoughtfully paced, offering visitors a meaningful encounter with art across disciplines.

Photography plays an important role within the Marciano Art Collection, which comprises more than 1,500 works spanning multiple generations and approaches. The Foundation’s photography holdings explore both the documentary and conceptual traditions of the medium, highlighting artists who use the camera to question representation, identity, and social structures. Photographic works are frequently integrated into broader thematic exhibitions, where they enter into dialogue with painting, sculpture, and installation, reinforcing photography’s central place in contemporary visual culture.

Housed in a former Scottish Rite Masonic Temple designed by Millard Sheets in 1961, the Foundation occupies over 100,000 square feet of exhibition space. The building was carefully transformed by architect Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY Architecture, preserving its monumental character while adapting it for contemporary art presentation. This unique environment provides an especially powerful setting for large-scale photographic works, time-based media, and installations that require architectural presence and spatial depth.

Committed to accessibility and public engagement, the Marciano Art Foundation is always free and open to visitors, reflecting a strong belief in equitable access to the arts. In addition to exhibitions, the Foundation supports artists through ongoing acquisitions and by lending works from its collection to museums and institutions worldwide. Through its dedication to contemporary photography, thoughtful exhibition-making, and public openness, the Marciano Art Foundation continues to contribute to the cultural life of Los Angeles while preserving a respectful dialogue between past and present.