The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, or SMoCA, is, as the name suggests, dedicated to "presenting exhibitions on contemporary and modern art, architecture, and design." There are five galleries on a single level which host traveling exhibitions and those specially researched and organized in-house by SMoCA, as well as occasional rotating segments of the permanent collection.
Don't forget to stop by the outdoor sculpture garden, which includes a permanent ‘skyspace’ viewing chamber by internationally acclaimed artist James Turrell. He entitled it Knight Rise. The skyspace is best viewed at sunset, so Thursday evenings, when SMoCA is open late, are the best days to experience it.
The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art opened officially on February 14, 1999. Coincidentally, February 14 is also Statehood Day in Arizona.
SMoCA Factoid: Before it was redesigned to into the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, this facility was the home of five movie theater screens.
