The Museum of Contemporary Art is a collecting museum located in the heart of downtown North Miami, Florida. MoCA offers visitors both temporary exhibitions and exhibitions of its collection. The 23000sqft structure was designed by the internationally acclaimed architecture firm Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, New York City, which worked in conjunction with the Miami firm of Gelabert-Navia to create the building.HistoryThe Museum of Contemporary Art began as the Center for Contemporary art in a single gallery space in 1981. In 1996, the museum opened a new building, following the establishment of its permanent collection in 1995.MOCA’s Optic Nerve is recognized as an important forum for emerging artists working in film. Since its inception in 2000, over 220 artists have been featured in this series, many of them publicly presenting their work for the first time.In the fall of 2014, a longtime conflict between the City of North Miami and the museum's board of trustees led to the establishment of a new arts organization, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami's Design District. The split came after a lawsuit claimed that the City of North Miami failed to meet its obligation to the museum, damaging its reputation. The lawsuit was eventually settled and as a condition, approximately 70 percent of MOCA's 700 works of art were gifted to the city. 200 pieces were to be held by the new organization, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA Miami).
