MOCA PRESENTS MICHAEL ASHER AT MOCA GRAND AVENUE
A FOCUSED SURVEY OF A KEY FIGURE OF CONCEPTUAL AND SITE-SPECIFIC ART
On view February 24–August 2, 2026
Michael Asher, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, West Hollywood, California, USA, How Many Billboards? Art in Stead, February 8–June 30, 2010. Billboard designed by Michael Asher, located on Glendale Boulevard. Courtesy of the MAK Center / Photograph by Gerard Smulevich. Michael Asher Archive, © Michael Asher Foundation.
Los Angeles, CA—The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) presents Michael Asher at MOCA Grand Avenue from February 24–August 2, 2026. Over a career spanning six decades, Michael Asher (1943–2012) played a pivotal role in developing conceptual art through site-specific interventions that made their surrounding context the active content of his work. This focused survey, organized by Artists Space, New York, presents twenty works via their material elements, documentation, and an accompanying exhibition guide. In conjunction with the exhibition, MOCA will also present Gifts of Michael Asher, a selection of works from the permanent collection gifted to the museum by Asher, underscoring his enduring impact on the institution’s history.
Asher’s interrogations of sites reveal the many ways art can critique and make visible the often unseen social, economic, and institutional structures that underpin the subjects it addresses. While many of Asher’s projects left no trace, “fragments” exist for some, including distributed objects (household items, games, clothing, maps, and postcards) that were designed to circulate publicly. His practice also employed a broad range of twentieth-century media and utilized their conventions of production and distribution—including film, television, radio, magazines, publications, advertising, and graphic identities. Among his many engagements with institutions, Asher intervened in branding and signage, patronage, as well as educational and curatorial responsibilities.
Asher lived his entire life in Los Angeles and made numerous works at its local galleries, alternative spaces, and museums, including MOCA. His critical engagement with the conditions of art also shaped his teaching; over nearly four decades at CalArts, his methods of questioning and analysis left a lasting mark on generations of artists.
Ann Goldstein, Interim Maurice Marciano Director of MOCA, stated: “Michael Asher’s work is inseparable from MOCA’s history and from the emergence and foundations of conceptual art in Los Angeles and beyond. This exhibition not only honors his enduring influence on generations of artists and curators, but also reflects MOCA’s long-standing commitment to artists whose practices challenge the conditions under which art is produced, displayed, and understood. The presentation of works gifted by Asher further underscores the depth of his relationship with the museum.”
"Drawing on documentation from the artist’s archive, alongside loans from friends and peers, this exhibition acknowledges that much of Asher’s work cannot be reconstituted. MOCA is grateful for the collaboration with Artists Space, which helped us to imagine a fresh new installation of the exhibition attuned to the specific contexts provided by the museum," said José Luis Blondet, Senior Curator.
A film by Michael Asher will be screened on Thursday, July 16, 2026 at 7:00 pm at REDCAT.
To underscore Asher’s commitment to publications, documentation, and study as central modes through which his work is encountered, a selection of related publications will be made available in the galleries on the second Thursday of each month beginning in April—on April 9, May 14, June 11, and July 9—from 3:30 to 7:30 pm. For this hand library, facilitators from the Michael Asher Foundation will be present to support close reading and conversation around these materials.
Audio interviews with curators and facilitators involved in Asher’s projects, conducted on the occasion of this exhibition, are available on MOCA’s website.
Michael Asher is organized by Artists Space, New York, and curated by Jay Sanders and Stella Cilman. The Los Angeles presentation is organized by José Luis Blondet, Senior Curator, with Emilia Nicholson-Fajardo, Curatorial Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.