MOCA Tucson

☀️Join us next Thursday for a 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝑶𝑪𝑨 with galleries open late, live music by KXCI (KXCI Tucson 91.3FM), food by Special Eats (az_special_eats), and free beer and root beer floats by Brick Box Brewery (Brick Box Brewery)! Don’t miss this lively time to gather with friends and family around art, music, and drinks; all ages are welcome!

This same evening, the plaza will come to life with the 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒑 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆, a vibrant celebration of the artworks created by this year’s youth participants. The event features a parade of student creations, music, fun outdoor water sprinklers, and more.

Visitor’s are also invited to experience 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑵𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒆𝒏: 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌, on view through June 27!

Thursday, June 18
6-9pm

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘒𝘟𝘊𝘐 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘰. KXCI Tucson 91.3FM

Free Third Thursday is this week! From 6-9PM on May 21st, MOCA will be the place to beat the heat with free beer from Brick Box Brewery (), a DJ from KXCI Community Radio (), and food by Reservation Sensation (), and museum galleries open late!

No Desert Data Center Coalition () will present their work protecting water, desert, and community from the Project Blue data center and other extractive industries. They will also share information about the water pollution that results from data centers. Watershed Management Group () will present materials on how they develop community-based solutions to ensure the long-term prosperity of people and health of the environment. Learn about our precious water systems, how to conserve, and replenish water in the Sonoran Desert.
Plus, free artmaking activities for all ages with MOCA Teaching artists!

Join us on Saturday, May 23rd from 6-9pm for a showcase of new works that examine the ‘grassification’ of the Sonoran Desert! This evening will showcase several new projects that received special grants to promote awareness and public engagement around the issue of invasive grasses, including artworks by Alex! Jimenez (), David Fenster, (), and Serena Tang alongside video works by Tohono O’odham Community College students, plus the work of Barrio Buffelworks Adobe Brickyard! MOCA’s plaza will come to life with efforts to bring awareness about invasive plant species and their impact on the Sonoran Desert ecosystem.

Drinks by Brick Box Brewery () and food by Brazilian Delights ().

The Grassification and Fire Resilience projects are part of the AIR Annual Resilience Theme Theme Award project Invasion, Ignition, and Restoration: Science, Art, and Education for Sonoran Desert Resilience.

Summer Camp is almost sold out! Sessions 1 & 2 are full, secure a spot in Session 3 (June 8–12 | Ages 12-17) before May 31!

Throughout the week of Summer Camp, participants take part in a schedule that combines play, artmaking, rest, music, and meditation. The heart of the camp is the Fantastical Creature LAB, where youth imagine and build wearable sculptures with papier-mâché. Across the week, campers develop their creatures imagining their form, identity, movement, textures, colors, and details.
At the end of Summer Camp, campers participate in a special showcase at MOCA, where they present their fantastical creatures in a runway public event.

Register at link in bio.

This Thursday May 14th, MOCA presents an online artist talk by artist collective Hilma’s Ghost on Thursday, about their current exhibition Light as Resistance. The duo, artists Dannielle Tegeder and Sharmistha Ray, will discuss their artistic processes and the works in the exhibition. The program will open and close with a collective ritual.

This artist talk will take place over Zoom from 3:30pm - 4:30pm MST on Thursday, May 14th. Register at the link in bio.

Last chance to participate in Artist Office Hours with Natalie Brewster Nguyen, this Saturday, May 9th from 2-6pm.

In conjunction with her current exhibition titled we need to talk, Nguyen will offer a range of poetic and dialectic services for visitors on a drop in basis, as an extension of their examination of communication, care, and meaningful conflict in the installation. Visitors can discuss individual problems, workshop hard conversations, or commiserating around the elusive nature of communication together,

Visitors may also respond to poetic prompts by inscribing their own balloons that they may choose to take home or contribute to the growing assembly of balloons within the exhibition.

Summer Camp is less than a month away! Create and become a fantastical creature with papier-mâché sculptures designed to be worn. Explore an art project-based camp and let the creativity flow freely at MOCA this summer.

Summer camp is a bilingual program where young people are encouraged to share ideas, take creative risks, and see their voice as meaningful within a community. Full scholarships are available, visit our website for more information.

Week 1: May 25–29 | Ages 6–8
Week 2: June 1–5 | Ages 9–11
Week 3: June 8–12 | Ages 12–17

Final Showcase on Thursday, June 18th.

Register at link in bio.

Join artist Natalie Brewster Nguyen () for an artist talk tomorrow at 1 PM. They will discuss the ideas and processes behind we need to talk, a large-scale installation currently on view in the Great Hall. Using balloons, text, audio, and participatory artist activations to explore the elusive nature of communication, Nguyen will investigate how these elements encourage presence, invite active engagement, and offer ways to practice mutual responsibility and care.

She will stay on site following the talk for Poetic Prescriptions, artist office hours offering a range of poetic and dialectic services for visitors on a drop in basis.

✨APRIL 30 - Pajarito Performance & Panel

As part of the 𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙄𝙣𝙟𝙪𝙧𝙮 exhibition programming at MOCA, join us for an evening of conversation and performance, Thursday, April 30.

The evening begins with a panel conversation between Safos Dance Theatre’s ()founder, Yvonne Montoya, community activist-academics Elizabeth Yee and Emily Morel, and Historian and exhibition Co-Curator Alisha Vasquez will be in conversation about using arts, academics, and community knowledge to convey contested histories.

Following the panel, Safos dancer Madeline McDonald will perform Pajarito, a solo dance and monologue that explores themes of multigenerational embodied environmental justice. Pajarito is an excerpt of a multi-part performance that centers Nuevomexicana, Xicana, and Mexican American bodies, aesthetics, and experiences from the U.S. Southwest.

6:00pm: Doors
6:30pm: Panel Conversation
7:30pm: Pajarito Performance

—

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘊 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘢𝘣, 𝘛𝘶𝘤𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦 𝘛𝘶𝘤𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘖𝘊𝘈 𝘛𝘶𝘤𝘴𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴.

Join us at 6 PM on Thursday, April 30th for an evening of conversation and performance exploring the power of the arts and community knowledge to address contested histories as part of the Living With Injury exhibition at MOCA, with food by Muna Food () and drinks by Brick Box Brewery ().

The evening begins with a panel conversation between Safos Dance Theatre’s () founder, Yvonne Montoya (), community activist-academics Elizabeth Yee and Emily Morel, and Historian and exhibition Co-Curator Alisha Vasquez () will be in conversation about using arts, academics, and community knowledge to convey contested histories.

Following the panel, Safos dancer Madeline McDonald () will perform Pajarito, including a monologue and Mujerota solo dance. Pajarito represents that cataclysmic event of dispossession and the beginning of illnesses related to radiation overexposure for nuevomexicanos in New Mexico and the Southwest.

This event is free and open to the public.