After 26 years without a permanent address, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia has finally moved into a home of its own. MOCA GA opened its new building at 1260 Foster Street NW inside the Goat Farm Arts Center in West Midtown, giving the institution five galleries, a rooftop deck and a sculpture garden to show off a collection that has grown to more than 1,600 works.
Mayor Andre Dickens joined museum leaders, artists and supporters for a ribbon-cutting on September 14, according to ocaatlanta.com. The public got its first look at the finished building on October 7, when the new home officially opened its doors, as reported by Atlanta Magazine. The project carried a $16.4 million price tag, per the same outlet, and was funded through a capital campaign that included $2 million from the City of Atlanta, according to Axios.
An earlier accounting from the museum's planning phase had pegged the project's cost at just under $14.5 million, with roughly $10.4 million secured and about $4 million still to raise, the station's report from Saporta Report noted at the time. Whatever the final math, the building that resulted is now open and occupied, designed by Atlanta-based Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, according to Atlanta Magazine.
What's Inside the New Building
The finished museum includes five galleries. Rounding out the footprint are an archive and video room for research, an education and research room housing the museum's library, and dedicated collection storage, the museum's own site states.
Beyond the galleries, Axios reports the building also includes programming spaces and offices, plus a second-floor rooftop space with panoramic views. Outside, the museum's exterior incorporates event space and a sculpture garden, according to the same report, while a tiered auditorium rounds out the public-facing spaces. Event and rental areas were built in deliberately to support expanded public use and open up new revenue streams, mocaga.org notes.
A Collection Built Over Two Decades
MOCA GA's permanent collection started small: about 250 works, according to mocaga.org. It has since swelled past 1,600 pieces, and the museum says the collection continues to grow through acquisitions and gifts. Axios reports the collection on view includes work by Nellie Mae Rowe, Lamar Dodd, Radcliffe Bailey and more than 40 other artists.
The museum traces its roots back 26 years and says it has spent 25 of those years working deliberately to elevate contemporary art made in Georgia, according to mocaga.org.
Square Footage Still Up for Debate
Exactly how big the new museum is depends on which account you read. Coverage of the finished building from ocaatlanta.com describes it as approximately 26,000 square feet, while Axios cites a figure of 26,300 square feet. Earlier planning materials from mocaga.org had put the project at 26,306 square feet — a reminder that the numbers shifted somewhat as the project moved from blueprint to ribbon-cutting.
What's Next for Visitors
MOCA GA is open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., according to Axios. An opening reception for Wilay Méndez Páez's exhibition “La aleatoriedad de los símbolos/The Randomness of the Symbols” is scheduled for October 23, per the same report.
Atlanta's $2 million contribution to the project was notable enough that ArtsATL, in an article published August 20, 2024, compared it to the kind of substantial public arts funding seen in peer cities such as Philadelphia and Seattle. For a museum that spent more than two decades without a permanent home, the Goat Farm building marks a long-sought arrival.
