The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) is an epicenter of artistic experimentation and incubator of new ideas in downtown Los Angeles.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA) opened in September 2017 and is a new museum housed in a renovated industrial building in Downtown Los Angeles. The ICA LA’s revelatory exhibitions of works by international artists, dynamic public programs, and inclusive community partnerships will reflect the diversity of Los Angeles and the world, fostering critique of the familiar and empathy with the different.
Founded in 1984 as the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA), the ICA LA is one of few kunsthalles—non-collecting museum—in the United States. The museum opened in a 12,700 square-foot industrial building in Downtown Los Angeles in September 2017 and features spaces for exhibitions, public programs, offices and a café, designed by the architectural firm wHY under the leadership of Kulapat Yantrasast. ICA LA will build on the distinguished history of SMMoA, a museum that fostered artistic experimentation with bold curatorial choices and often presented the first West Coast solo exhibitions of artists who went on to celebrated stature.
ICA LA supports art that sparks the pleasure of discovery and challenges the way we see and experience the world, ourselves, and each other. The museum will nourish the community through the arts: educating the eye, stimulating the intellect, and nurturing the life of the mind and the spirit. ICA LA is committed to making contemporary art relevant and accessible for all; as always, admission is free. For more information, visit theicala.org.
