MoMA Media & Performance Department | History, Collection & More

Media & Performance

NYC MoMA Museum is an art museum that collects and exhibits modern art from around the world. This is the most influential modern art museum. The collection here includes contemporary art such as drawings, architecture, films, and more.

MoMA Departments

MoMA Museum displays over 150,000 artworks that are managed under different departments. There are seven curatorial departments at NYC MoMA. Each department displays artwork related to them, making it easier for the visitors to explore their interests.

The architecture and design department holds 28,000 artworks that include architectural models, blueprints, large-scale designs, and more. In the Drawings and Prints department, you will find over 11,000 drawings and 60,000 prints. The film department features 30,000 films and 1.5 million film stills from all periods and genres. Painting and sculpture department has 3,600 artworks that date back to the 19th century. MoMA Media and Performance department focuses on time-based art, while the photography department houses 25,000 works of modern and contemporary photography

MoMA Media & Performance Department

The NYC MoMA Museum started collecting and displaying time-based art from the 1960s. However, the MoMA Media and Performance department was established only in September 2006. The main focus of the MoMA Media and Performance Department is to collect, display, and preserve time-based art. The artworks consist of film installations, moving images, performance, motion or sound-based works, videos, and so on. Any work which represents the time or duration and is presented in a gallery setting is a part of this department. Special equipment is required to preserve media-specific artworks which are taken care of by the department. They also update the exhibition technology and recreate time-based presentations for media artworks.

The Studio

The Museum of Modern Art opened the People’s Studio in October 2019 on the second floor of the museum. This experimental space allows the visitors to experiment with the art and the artists’ ideas through programs. The weekly programs get the visitors in touch with the creators and the artists to learn from them.

These programs have an annual theme and aim to connect the displayed artwork with visitors’ life experiences. Every year, the MoMA museum invites collaborators from different fields to participate in the Catalyst Program of the Studio. This program allows them to work on innovative projects with MoMA museum educators to expand the public function of the museum.

Media and performance study center

MoMA Media and Performance department is located in The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building. The study center is also a part of this building on the third floor south wing. It offers a gorgeous view of The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. MoMA Media and Performance study center manage the showing of the artworks. It gives access to a few selected documentation related to the collection.

It is accessible by an appointment from Monday to Friday 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM. One needs to give four weeks of advance notice for their appointment.

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