Caleb Duarte Piñon

Dirt Wall

Inspired by his own immigration to the states when he was a child from Northern Mexico to California, Duarte's work is often concerned with disenfranchised communities. Duarte aims to bring awareness to the often invisible conditions of the migrant experience, by sharing and expanding on their stories. Duarte's performance installation, Dirt Wall, serves as a community experience positioning two recent immigrants opposite each other (Esmeralda Felix pictured above), as they stand in a suspended wall of concrete that resembles dirt. The performance shifts the geographic space of the border inside the museum and hints at the restrictive conditions of mobility and movement. Audiences are nudged into a physical encounter with these conditions, as they move from one side to the other. Written by Marcela Torres

UMOCA Will be closed Friday June 6 through Saturday June 7 in preparation for the Gala. We will re-open Tuesday June 10.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Opening Reception

Bikuben

Between 1876 and 1935, Bikuben was a newspaper published in Utah for the Danish immigrants as a way to foster cultural connectivity and a sense of community. For this exhibition, the word bikuben (meaning beehive) is reimagined as a way to highlight the many fascinating ties between Denmark and Utah in terms of ideas regarding progress, industry, and utopia.

VIEW EXHIBITION>

JUN 27 | 7-9 PM

Opening Reception

Christopher Kelly: GOD COMPLEX

Christopher Kelly's GOD COMPLEX expands and encapsulates a particular creationist motif by referencing the language and aesthetics of science fiction. A genre often associated with futuristic pursuits of new worlds and extraterrestrial life, sci-fi is also an apt metaphor for the discovery of the differences between self and other, human and alien. VIEW EXHIBITION>

JUN 27 | 7-9 PM

2014 Annual Gala

Diamond Horseshoe Roundup

Cut your check-in time in half! Pre-register Now!

Didn't get your ticket in time? Contact Chrissy Upton for special availabilities.

JUN 7 | 6 PM

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

In Motion: Borders and Migrations

In collaboration with Professor Elena Shtromberg and the students from the course, Visual Culture along the U.S./Mexico Border at the University of Utah, the exhibit, In Motion: Borders and Migrations, examines different manifestations of the Mexico and United States border in the visual arts, giving residents and visitors of Utah the experience of this unique geographic boundary through artist projects that offer both visual and conceptual alternatives to mainstream media representations. VIEW EXHIBITION>

MAY 16 - SEP 27

Melik Ohanian: Welcome to Hanksville

This film examines the congregation of a group of pseudo-scientists on August 27 2003, during the cosmological opposition of Mars to the Earth. The desert, reminiscent of the vacant landscape on Mars, is transformed into an unknown territory waiting to be explored. VIEW EXHIBITION>

Melik Ohanian: Welcome to Hanksville is the first installment of the Cultural Cartographies series.

MAY 16 - JUN 28

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

E.A.T.

Eat Art Together (E.A.T.) is a community outreach initiative that explores the intersection of art and food as a way to reimagine our relationships to the land, the city, and each other. UMOCA has paired local artists Robin Clark and Simon Larson with Wasatch Community Gardens, Neighborhood House and Real Food Rising to create public art pieces from re-purposed or recycled materials that serve as improvements to each garden site. MORE >

MAY - OCT

FILM SCREENINGS

KUED Presents:

Latino Americans

A chronicle of the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos who have helped shape the United States over the last 500-plus years. Come hear their stories. MORE>

This 6 part series is arranged in correlation with UMOCA's exhibition In Motion: Borders and Migrations.

JUN 14 | 3 PM War and Peace

JUN 28 | 3 PM The New Latinos

LATINO AMERICANS is a production of WETA Washington, D.C.; Bosch and Co., Inc.; and Latino Public Broadcasting, in association with the Independent Television Service.

Major funding for LATINO AMERICANS is provided by Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the Annenberg Foundation, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and The Summerlee Foundation. Funding for outreach is supported by a grant from The New York Community Trust.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE ACTIVITY

Become a UMOCA Artist-In-Residence

UMOCA's residency program is designed expressly to meet the needs of artists living and working in Utah. If you have a commitment to work in a contemporary idiom and an eagerness to propel your careers to a national level, please apply.

AIR Applications due June 30 by 11:59 PM. Applicants will be notified by July 10. Residency begins August 1, 2014 and runs through July 31, 2015. Interested artists may apply through the Slideroom link on our website under Education/ Artist-in-residence. There is a $10 application fee. APPLY>

SEE CURRENT A-I-R ARTISTS>

WORKSHOPS

Art Fitness Training

Yet again UMOCA invites you to bulk up your art brawn with another installment of Art Fitness Training. This time we are headed to the foothills for exercise at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. MORE>

Don't be bullied by art critics anymore!

JUN 21 | 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Artist Career Development

Artists, it's time again to invest in your artistic careers! Learn the ins-and-outs of the First Amendment, free speech and defamation. Acquire much-needed media literacy to ensure your name and your work are represented well by the press. And finally, discover the real meaning of "fair use" under the Copyright Act so that you can avoid accusations of copyright infringement. Knowledge is power! MORE>

JUN 21 | 9AM - 12PM

FAMILY AND YOUTH EVENTS

Stroller Tours

Come see what parents and little ones have been cooing over! Stroller Tours have been featured in the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News and in the July issue of Parents Magazine.

Please RSVP to Jared Steffensen to get rolling.

JUN 11 | 9:30 AM

Family Art Saturday: do it!

As the last Family Art Saturday inspired by the do it exhibition, this project exemplifies the play between originality and creativity. Create your own set of instructions for creating a work of art. Then, switch with a friend or neighbor and complete the steps they outlined to bring each artwork to life!

JUN 14 | 2 - 4 PM | FREE Supplies Provided

Art Truck: Calder Kamin

These are the final weeks to Calder Kamin's Art Truck exhibition! Check it out at one of these public appearances before the birds fly the coop.

JUN 6 | 5:30-8:30pm
Millcreek Venture Outdoors
Canyon Rim Park, Salt Lake City, UT

JUN 13 | 12:00-4:00pm
Ogden Arts Festival
2501 Wall Avenue, Ogden, UT 84401

JUN 14 | 10:00am-6:00pm
Ogden Arts Festival
2501 Wall Avenue, Ogden, UT 84401

MORE INFORMATION

All New Summer Camps!

UMOCA is excited to team up with Discovery Gateway to offer summer camp opportunities for your second/third grader and your fourth/fifth grader!

Reclaim It!

During this camp, discover ways that art and science illuminate what it means to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Starting at Discovery Gateway, use your imagination to transform trash into treasure. Create unique works of art with unusual materials and unearth the essential reasons why we recycle through science experiments and hands-on projects. Then, head to the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art to explore recycled materials in art, gain inspiration from the outdoors, and use the fundamentals of art as a springboard for creating a functional outdoor sculpture in UMOCA's gardens. MORE>

JUL 7-11 | Second & Third Graders
REGISTER HERE

AUG 4-8 | Fourth & Fifth Graders
REGISTER HERE

ART SHOP FEATURE

Annika Q. N. Dimeo

Dimeo's chosen medium, metal, gives her an opportunity to hammer, sand, and buff each element into one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. Each item pulls inspiration from unique experiences from her personal life; or stimulus from the past, present, and future including the wild west and ancient Viking seafarers. With distinct shapes and simple, clean lines, her talents in designing metal, and understanding how it interacts with the body is clear. Come into the UMOCA Art Shop and see how your body acts as a canvas for Annika Q. N. Dimeo's handcrafted jewelry.

SEE ART SHOP ARTISTS >

NEW MEMBER BENEFITS

I AM CONTEMPORARY

Become A Member

When you become a UMOCA member, you will have access to unlimited entry plus a continuous calendar of talks and workshops hosted by renowned artists and art world professionals. You also gain preferred access to RSVP film screenings, special events and private opening receptions.

Stay in touch with broader contemporary art community with a range of benefit levels.

Find the membership that describes you>