The MCA began as a kunsthalle, a noncollecting museum dedicated to producing rotating exhibitions. In keeping with this origin, the museum has no permanent collection galleries; works from our collection often appear in special exhibitions. This section keeps visitors up-to-date on which collection works are currently on view. Ask a Visitor Services associate (wearing a "HI" pin) about where to find them in the museum.
Short This sculpture is composed of differently sized, disembodied breasts stacked atop one another and that seem to squeeze out of a clear pedestal, like bubbles.
Short A black-and-white photograph of a wall label and a photograph of a topless woman on stage with an audience and a tarp-like backdrop are hung next to each other on a white wall.
Short A conical sculpture with three round humps at the widest end lies on its side. The middle of the object is brown and smooth, and both ends are covered with tiny spherical beads: black on the narrow end and red, white, and black on the wide end.
Short A strange, vivid orange structure looks like the wooden storefront, including a door and display window. The windows are mostly covered by white sheets.
Short A very loosely rendered portrait implies the shoulders and head of a person wearing a hat. There are no discerning features other than ears, eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
Short A long, brown wool trench coat is crowned by a panel of cherry wood in place of a wearer's neck and head. The eye of an animal peeks through the open chest of the coat.
Short A roughly equilateral fabric triangle hangs on a gallery wall with one of its points touching the floor. The black triangle has many splotches of rich blue and is affixed with what appear to be crumpled strips of brown cardboard.
Short A bald man wearing glasses and a suit and tie occupies the lower left quarter of this two-tone photograph. He holds a hollow, cage-like ovoid constructed from thin white sticks.
Short Desaturated colors of paint vaguely articulate a human form reclining.
Long In a muddled scene of faded gray, blue, and pink colors, a human form is vaguely defined by a more precise application of color and darker marks. The person reclines against one hand, their legs extending in the other direction.
Short Black, uppercase, words appear on a white background that read: "IN A PARADISIAC CLIMATE EVERYTHING IS CLEAR AND SIMPLE WHEN YOU ARE PERFORMING BASIC ACTS NECESSARY FOR SURVIVAL."
Short A black-and-white portrait photo shows a young dark-skinned man holding a large camera at his chest, as if taking a self-portrait in a mirror.The image is surrounded by a large white mat and a thin black frame.
Long The subject's head is lowered, looking up at the viewer at such an angle that his expression could be read as ominous or threatening. He wears a long-sleeved button-down shirt and has long, tightly coiled hair. The background behind him fades from black at the bottom of the photo to a lighter gray at the top.
Short An irregular zigzagging grid of thick silver brushstrokes overlaps three broad planes of color, vertically stacked from top to bottom: light pink-purple, tangerine orange, and teal.
Short Black stenciled text that reads "WE ARE THE INK THAT GIVES THE WHITE PAGE A MEANING" repeats for twenty-nine lines, gradually becoming distorted until it's almost illegible at the bottom.
Short Two mossy stone figures with human legs and fish torsos sit leaning against each other on a mossy stone by the seashore. On the horizon the shape of a double-masted sailing vessel made out of water rises out of the sea and cuts into the blue, cloud-filled sky.
Short Rectangular photograph of a low cityscape against a light blue sky, a green field in the middle ground, and a clay tennis ground in the foreground.
Short A sculpture resembling an irregular trellis leans against a white wall. The sculpture is covered in string or yarn in shades of green, blue, white, red, and orange, as if encased in colorful spiderwebs.
Short The horizontal black-and-white photograph captures a night view of a high-rise, church, and vacant lot.
Long In the horizontal black-and-white photograph taken at night, a high-rise building cropped by the image frame dwarfs a church to its right. An empty lot fills the foreground of the deserted neighborhood, drawing attention to bright starbursts from the streetlights. The spare high-rise with rectangular windows contrasts with the traditional church and steeple topped by a cross. The dark sky and white buildings and ground create the impression of a photographic negative.
Short In this grainy photograph, a light-skinned woman with long brown hair is seen in profile. She stands with her hands on her hips in front of shelves full of glassware and spices.
Short Three yellow sculptures of abstract human figures stand as if communicating with each other outdoors in an urban setting.
Long Three yellow and white forms are installed on an outdoor terrace. The forms resemble human bodies, yet they have no faces. The heads of the forms are created from coiled, hard textured material and the bodies are similarly constructed of coiled material, arranged into torsos, arms and legs. The scale of the figures is about double the size of an average person and the are arranged about a half of a figure length apart from each other. The figure on the left appears to have its head tilted to the sky, while the center figure faces to the right, where the third figure bends lightly towards the ground, hand upraised. The bright color of the figures contrasts with urban scene in the background: behind the figures a black fence, green leafy trees and tall gray buildings are visible. The sky is bright blue and the bright light of mid-day casts sharp shadows below the figures.
Short A light-skinned feminine figure wearing a white tee-shirt and short denim shorts lays on their side against a dark background. The figure is wet, as if laying in the rain. The photograph is a wide horizontal composition.
Short A matte black geometric sculpture juts out from the snowy ground. Two of its faces, one square and one triangular, are perfectly covered by a white layer of snow.
Short In this image, three concentric shapes like curved triangles or slices of pizza appear within one another. From largest to smallest, they are orange, burgundy, and black.
Short A ceramic rendering of a flower resembling a peace lily has golden, spiked humanoid fingers in place of a stamen. Its stem appears to be made of a wooden paint brush handle.
Short Painted in a traditional style, a light-skinned nude woman with wide hips reclines on a red surface. The top half of the painting, including most of her face, collapses into abstract shapes like crumpled fabric.
Short A vivid red background features a series of white concentric shapes in this symmetrical square composition.
Long A symmetrical geometric pattern of white lines is formed on a red canvas. In descending order of size, moving toward the center of the image, are a square, a circle, a diamond, a thin square, and a circle. An "x" and a "+" bifurcate each of these shapes. The lines and shapes appear to be hand-drawn due to their slight imperfections. Barely visible darker lines expand the pattern into greater detail.
Short An adult wearing large headphones and black lingerie stands confidently next to a smiling child in a t-shirt and jeans. The pink wall behind them features a shelf of records and audio equipment, and a poster of nude male figures.
Short One square photograph of a swamp-like environment is shown above a second square with a paragraph of text titled “Ebo Landing” and a third square with another photograph of a swamp-like environment, all aligned vertically.
