SMoCA - Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

Scottsdale - 7374 E 2nd St - AZ 85251

The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) is a dynamic cultural hub located in the heart of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. Dedicated to modern and contemporary art, architecture, and design, SMoCA stands as a beacon for creative expression and critical dialogue. Since its opening in 1999, the museum has become an essential space for exploring the ideas and innovations shaping today’s artistic landscape.

SMoCA occupies a minimalist building redesigned by award-winning architect Will Bruder, reflecting its commitment to forward-thinking design and aesthetic clarity. Inside, the museum features rotating exhibitions that highlight both internationally acclaimed artists and emerging voices. With a keen eye on contemporary trends and global perspectives, SMoCA curates shows that challenge viewers to consider the intersections of art, society, and technology.

One of the museum’s most notable features is its commitment to site-specific and immersive installations, offering audiences transformative encounters with art. Whether through provocative sculpture, multimedia presentations, or conceptual works, SMoCA fosters a deep engagement with contemporary practice. Educational programming, artist talks, and hands-on workshops further extend the museum’s reach into the community, creating opportunities for dialogue and learning across all age groups.

SMoCA also houses the Knight Rise skyspace by James Turrell, a permanent installation that invites visitors to experience the sky in a uniquely contemplative way. This meditative piece is a hallmark of the museum, embodying its mission to inspire through sensory and intellectual exploration.

As part of Scottsdale Arts, SMoCA benefits from a vibrant ecosystem of cultural institutions and public art initiatives that energize the city’s artistic identity. Through its bold exhibitions and inclusive programming, SMoCA continues to play a vital role in shaping the region’s cultural landscape while offering a platform for diverse, contemporary voices from around the world.

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FotoFocus Announces Big Tent Opening of FotoFocus Center

This summer, FotoFocus will expand on their vision and embark on a new chapter with the launch of Big Tent, the inaugural exhibition at the new FotoFocus Center, a 14,700 square foot, purpose-built structure to house photographic exhibitions and year-round programs. Bringing together work by over fifty artists (including An-My Lê, Catherine Opie, Dawoud Bey, Gordon Parks, Justine Kurland, Mitch Epstein, RaMell Ross, Sky Hopinka, Tina Barney and many more), the exhibition (on view May 29-August 22) reflects upon the current state of American democracy while also considering the efficacy of photography to be a catalyst for meaningful change.

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The Queering of Photography by Asa Johannesson

Stills are delighted to announce their spring exhibition: The Queering of Photography by Åsa Johannesson; the artist’s first solo exhibition in Scotland. The Queering of Photography takes place from 1 May – 27 June 2026, Preview: Thursday 30 April, 6–8pm. Åsa Johannesson is an artist working across photography and writing. Over the past two decades she has explored the possibilities of queer visual vocabulary within photographic portraiture – a practice that intertwines queer documentary approaches with performative formalist aesthetics.

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Event

Eko: Japan In Two Visual Narratives

From 5 March 2026, The National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam presents the exhibition Ekō – Japan in two visual narratives. Curated as artists conversing across time, the exhibit juxtaposes early photographs of Japan from the museum's own collection, including those by Felice Beato, with the contemporary work it inspired as captured by photographer and visual artist Anaïs López.

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Event

Photography and the Black Arts Movement at the Getty

From February 24 to June 14, 2026, the J. Paul Getty Museum presents Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985, a landmark exhibition exploring how photographic practices helped shape one of the most influential cultural movements of the twentieth century. Organized by the National Gallery of Art, the exhibition reveals how artists across the African diaspora used images not simply to document history, but to transform it.

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MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades

The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP) proudly announces its 2026 exhibition, MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades, on view from January 22 through May 16, 2026.

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Event

Brassaï’s Secret Paris

In 1933, captivated by the nocturnal rhythms and hidden corners of Paris, the Hungarian-born photographer Brassaï published Paris by Night, a landmark photobook that forever transformed how the city of lights was imagined. Through his lens, Brassaï illuminated the city’s shadowed streets, smoky cafés, solitary lovers, and night-time wanderers, creating images that were simultaneously intimate and cinematic. Paris by Night did more than document the city—it defined a modern vision of Paris after dark, capturing a blend of elegance, vulnerability, and intrigue that had never been seen in photography before

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Event

Photo Vogue Festival: Women by Women

The PhotoVogue Festival, the first conscious fashion photography festival to bridge ethics and aesthetics, returns to Milan for its tenth anniversary in 2026. From March 1 to 4, during Milan Fashion Week, the festival will take place at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, one of Italy’s most historic and prestigious libraries—a fitting venue for a milestone edition that underscores the festival’s commitment to thoughtful, socially engaged photography.

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Event

Ruth Orkin: Women on the Move

Few photographers shaped the visual language of the mid-20th century with the clarity, empathy, and narrative force of Ruth Orkin. Long recognized as a key figure in the rise of American photojournalism, Orkin forged a body of work that placed women—ordinary and extraordinary—at the center of the modern world. Ruth Orkin: Women on the Move, on view at the National Museum of Women in the Arts from December 12, 2025, through March 29, 2026, revisits this legacy through 21 iconic and intimate photographs made between the 1950s and 1970s.

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Event

World Press Photo Exhibition 2025

For the first time in New York City, the World Press Photo Exhibition 2025 opens its doors, presenting the 42 winners of the annual World Press Photo Contest. This year’s selection brings together striking and thought-provoking images that capture the defining issues of our time, offering a window into urgent global stories through the lens of exceptional photographers.

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SMoCA - Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

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