Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland to open permanent home after 44 years on the move

Posted October 08, 2012 in Articles

Author: Steven Litt

You might call it the tale of the wandering museum. Or, with apologies to John Milton, "Paradise Regained."

The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, which opened in a tiny storefront on Euclid Avenue in University Circle 44 years ago and then left in search of more space, has finally come back to its roots.

From 1 to 6 p.m. Monday, MOCA Cleveland will open to the general public its spectacular new building on the prow of the triangular intersection of Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road. (Admission is free, but timed tickets are recommended. Regular hours begin Wednesday.)

The $27.2 million, 34,000-square-foot structure is a seductively mysterious four-story gemstone sheathed in reflective panels of black stainless steel. It was designed by architect Farshid Moussavi of London, a native of Iran and an up-and-coming international star. The building is both her first museum and her first assignment in the United States.

Those factors will make the MOCA building news for art- and architecture-loving media outlets from around the world. More to the point for Cleveland, the new MOCA symbolizes the view that investing in the arts is critical for a city on the mend after decades of struggling with population loss and poverty.

"I think it's the new Cleveland," said Stewart Kohl, a MOCA board member and co-chair of the museum's capital campaign. "MOCA will be a kind of draw that we really haven't had."

Original Article: http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2012/10/museum_of_contemporary_art_cle_9.html