SMoCA brings to Arizona art, architecture and design that challenges expectations. We are not a typical museum filled with random selections of art from the past. SMoCA engages the ideas and concerns of the present—the ideas that interest, trouble and perplex you are the same ones that artists investigate in exhibitions at the museum. This season SMoCA will present artists obscure and fascinating, famous and acclaimed, humble and boisterous. Their ideas will challenge you to see the world anew.

Wonder why some people are considered artists and others are not? Visit the People’s Biennial this fall and consider a selection of Valley creators that we consider artists—even if they may not agree! Want to know more about one of the leading artists of our day? I Myself Have Seen It: Photography and Kiki Smith will feature thousands of seldom-seen photographs by this world acclaimed artist this coming spring in 2012. Ever question why video art is not the same as television? Attend Peter Sarkisian: Video Works, 1996-2008 this next summer and you will understand the true aesthetic power and beauty of video.

In case you need further enticement to visit, this fall we open SMoCA Lounge—a casual, mixed use education space that will allow us to provide the community a wider selection of programs and events like international art movies, music, and art-making.

Visit SMoCA and engage the world.

Tim Rodgers, Director, SMoCA