Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
MASS MoCA

Established	1999
Location	North Adams, Massachusetts

Arnold Print Works
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Buildings of the Arnold Print Works, now MASS MoCA, along a tributary of the Hoosic River (2012)
Location in Massachusetts Show map of Massachusetts Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	87 Marshall St., North Adams, Massachusetts
Area	24 acres (9.7 ha)
Built	1872
Architectural style	Italianate Industrial
MPS	North Adams MRA
NRHP reference No.	85003379
Added to NRHP	October 25, 1985

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a huge museum in North Adams, Massachusetts. It's built inside an old factory complex called the Arnold Print Works. This museum is one of the biggest places in the United States for showing contemporary art (art made in our time) and hosting live shows.

The buildings were first used by the Arnold Print Works company from 1860 to 1942. After that, the Sprague Electric company used them. MASS MoCA first opened in 1999 with 19 galleries and about 100,000 square feet of space. It has grown a lot since then. In 2017, it added another 130,000 square feet when Building 6 opened.

Besides art galleries and performance areas, MASS MoCA also rents space to businesses. It's home to the Bang on a Can Summer Institute. This is where composers and musicians from all over the world come to create new music. The festival started in 2001 and includes concerts in the galleries during the summer. Since 2010, MASS MoCA has also hosted the Solid Sound Music Festival.

MASS MoCA is one of three important art museums in the northern Berkshires. The others are the Clark Art Institute and the Williams College Museum of Art.

How MASS MoCA Began

From Factory to Museum: Arnold Print Works

The buildings that are now MASS MoCA were built between 1870 and 1900. They were originally for a company called Arnold Print Works. Before that, smaller businesses had used this spot. It's a great location because it's on a peninsula between two branches of the Hoosic River.

In 1860, the Arnold brothers started their cloth printing company here. They began working in 1862 and quickly became very successful. They even got big government contracts during the Civil War to make cloth for the Union Army.

In 1871, a fire destroyed eight of their buildings. But they rebuilt almost right away, and a bigger factory was ready by 1874. Even during a tough economic time in the 1870s, Arnold Print Works kept growing. By 1900, almost all the buildings you see today were built.

The old factory look of the buildings is still there, even though it's now an art museum

At its busiest in 1905, Arnold Print Works had over 3,000 workers. It was one of the world's top makers of printed fabrics. They produced an amazing 580,000 yards of cloth every week! Arnold had offices in New York City and Paris. They even started making their own "grey cloth," which was the plain fabric before colors were printed on it.

In 1942, Arnold Print Works had to close down. This happened because cloth from other places was cheaper, and the Great Depression made things hard for businesses.

The Sprague Electric Company Era

After Arnold Print Works closed, the Sprague Electric Company bought the factory complex. This company, founded by Robert C. Sprague, made capacitors, which are electrical parts.

During World War II, Sprague worked all the time. Many women worked there because men were away fighting. Also, making the small capacitors needed tiny hands and careful work. Sprague didn't just make parts; they also had a big research team. This team helped create parts for the atomic bomb and for the Gemini space missions.

In the 1960s, Sprague was at its peak, with over 4,000 workers in a town of 18,000 people. The factory was like a small city itself! It had a radio station, an orchestra, a school, a library, a day-care center, a clinic, a grocery store, sports teams, and even a gun club.

But in the 1980s, Sprague faced problems. Cheaper electronics were made in Asia, and new technology changed the industry. Sprague had to sell and close its factory in 1985. This left North Adams with many people out of work and facing a tough economic time.

The factory site was later cleaned up because of past contamination. In 1985, the complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The main entrance to MASS MoCA, with a tall tower on the right

How MASS MoCA Was Created

The idea for MASS MoCA started a year after Sprague Electric left the buildings. In 1986, some staff from the nearby Williams College Museum of Art were looking for big factory buildings. They wanted a place to show large modern art pieces that wouldn't fit in their regular museum. The mayor of North Adams suggested the Marshall Street complex. When they saw the huge buildings, they realized it could be much more than just an extra gallery. That's how the plan for MASS MoCA began.

It took many years to raise money and organize the project. The plan grew to include not just new museum space but also a place for performing arts. A photographer named Nicholas Whitman even made a book about the transformation, called Mass MoCA: From Mill to Museum.

The state of Commonwealth of Massachusetts gave the museum $18.6 million after local people and businesses asked the government for help. Local residents and businesses also gave $8 million. Finally, in 1999, MASS MoCA opened its doors!

The Cambridge architecture firm Bruner Cott & Assoc designed the museum. They won top awards for their work from the American Institute of Architects and The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In 2015, a program called "Assets for Artists" started. It gives artists and writers business help and studio space at the museum. It also works with Maker’s Mill, a place in North Adams for artists to create things.

Atrium of Building 6, which was updated in 2017.

On May 29, 2017, Building 6 opened as new gallery space. This added about 130,000 square feet for art!

A documentary film about the museum, called Museum Town, was released in 2018.

Current Exhibitions

Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing Retrospective

On November 16, 2008, the museum opened a special exhibition of Sol LeWitt's wall drawings. This show, called Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective, is in a 27,000 square foot building. It features over 100 huge wall drawings and paintings made by the artist from 1968 to 2007. These drawings will be on display until 2033!

Bruner/Cott & Associates, the same architects who designed the museum, changed the old mill building into this gallery space. LeWitt himself planned where each drawing would go before he passed away in 2007. A team of draftsmen then installed the drawings. Time Magazine called this exhibition the "top museum exhibition of 2008."

Anselm Kiefer's Art

This exhibition shows works by the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer. It includes three very large art pieces: Etroits Sont Les Vaisseaux, Les Femmes De La Revolution, and Velimir Chlebnikov. These pieces are in a 10,000 square foot building that was specially updated for the show. You can see them through 2028.

James Turrell: Into the Light

Into the Light is a look back at many years of James Turrell's art. It's in Building 6, also known as The Robert W. Wilson Building. This exhibition shows a major artwork from each decade of the artist's career.

Past Exhibitions

Invisible Cities

This exhibition was named after a book by Italo Calvino. It showed art by ten artists who imagined city landscapes, both real and fantasy. Invisible Cities included works by Lee Bul, Carlos Garaicoa, and Sopheap Pich. It also featured new art made just for the show by Diana al-Hadid, Francesco Simeti, Miha Strukelj, and local artists Kim Faler and Mary Lum. (May 24, 2012 - February 3, 2013.)

Oh, Canada

"Oh, Canada" was the biggest show of modern Canadian art ever held outside of Canada. It featured art by more than 60 artists from every Canadian province and almost every territory. The artists were from different generations and used many types of art. (May 26, 2012 - April 8, 2013.)

Some of the artists in this show:

Katharina Grosse: One Floor Up More Highly

Katharina Grosse painted four large piles of soil that looked like they were spilling from an upper balcony. Stacks of styrofoam pieces rose from the colorful mounds. (April 4, 2010 - January 1, 2012.)

Petah Coyne: Everything That Rises Must Converge

This exhibition showed beautiful, detailed art pieces in four galleries. One piece, "Scalapino/Nu Shu," was a former apple tree that Coyne had brought to the museum. The show also included some of her photographs. (May 29, 2010 - April 11, 2011.)

Sean Foley: Ruse

Sean Foley created a special artwork for MASS MoCA on a wall over 100 feet long. It was outside the Hunter Center for the Performing Arts. (January 23, 2010 – December 31, 2011.)

Jörg Immendorff: Student of Beuys, 6 paintings

Jörg Immendorff was one of several famous artists who studied with Joseph Beuys. This show was part of a series focusing on Beuys and artists he influenced. (June 1, 2010 – February 26, 2012.)

Jenny Holzer Projections

On November 18, 2007, Jenny Holzer showed her first indoor light projection in the United States. Her projection filled a large room with poems by Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska, and later with writings by Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek. (November 16, 2007 - November 16, 2008.) She also has stone benches with carved words placed around the museum campus.

Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape

Badlands was an exhibition of environmental art. It explored how modern artists think about the Earth and environmental issues. New artworks were made for the show by Vaughn Bell, the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Nina Katchadourian, Joseph Smolinski, and Mary Temple. Other artists included Robert Adams, the Boyle Family, and Edward Ruscha. (May 24, 2008 – April 12, 2009.)

Simon Starling: The Nanjing Particles

Simon Starling's The Nanjing Particles was based on a small 3D photograph. It showed a group of Chinese workers at the Sampson Shoe Factory. Sampson had brought them from California to break a strike. This made the largest group of Chinese workers east of the Mississippi River. Starling looked at the photo under a microscope to see tiny metal particles. This inspired him to create two large sculptures made by hand in Nanjing, China. (December 13, 2008 - November 1, 2009.)

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: Gravity is a Force to be Reckoned With

This exhibition opened with an upside-down glass house in MASS MoCA's large Building 5 gallery. The house was based on plans by architect Mies van der Rohe for a house that was never built. A film called Always After (The Glass House) (2006) was also part of the show. (December 12, 2009 - October 31, 2010.)

The Knitting Machine

This was a sculpture by Dave Cole. He used two excavators (digging machines) fitted with huge 20-foot knitting needles to knit an oversized American flag. When finished, the flag was folded into a traditional triangle shape. It was shown in a display case that Cole said was "slightly smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle". The giant knitting needles and a video of the knitting process were also on display. (June 30, 2005 - December 31, 2005.)

Material World: Sculpture to Environment

This exhibition featured artists who used industrial materials like plastic and fishing line. Michael Beutler, Orly Genger, Tobias Putrih, Alyson Shotz, Dan Steinhilber, and Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen B. Nguyen created art that fit into the museum's old factory spaces. (April 24, 2010 - March 1, 2011.)

Leonard Nimoy: Secret Selves

Artist and actor Leonard Nimoy (who played Spock in Star Trek!) showed a series of photographs. He asked volunteers from the community to pose as their true or imagined "secret selves." Large, life-size photos were shown with a video of Nimoy talking to his subjects. (August 1, 2010 - January 2, 2011.)

Laylah Ali: Paintings on Paper

This exhibition showed small works on paper (1996–1999) by the artist Laylah Ali. Her figures look like they are from comic books, with green heads and simple uniforms. They are in the middle of mysterious stories. At first, her "Greenheads" look colorful and fun. But when you look closer, the stories become a bit unsettling. Ali's art can make you think about history and even what the future might hold. (November 8, 2001 - January 28, 2002.)

Past Building 5 Exhibitions

Many famous artists have shown their work in Building 5. These include Robert Rauschenberg, Tim Hawkinson, Robert Wilson, Ann Hamilton, Cai Guo-Qiang, Carsten Höller, Sanford Biggers, Xu Bing, and Ledelle Moe.

Directors

• 1999–2021: Joe Thompson
• 2021–present: Kristy Edmunds

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Images for kids

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  Buildings of the Arnold Print Works, now MASS MoCA, along a tributary of the Hoosic River (2012)