The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is a contemporary

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily co ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

and one of the first

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...

institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, performance art and new media. Focusing on programming that reflects "the art of the last five minutes", the CAC has displayed the works of many now-famous artists early in their careers, including

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

. In 2003, the CAC moved to a new building designed by

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

History

The Contemporary Arts Center was founded as the Modern Art Society in 1939 by Betty Pollak Rauh, Peggy Frank Crawford and Rita Rentschler Cushman. These three women were able to raise enough money through donations to display modern art at the

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

. Early advice and encouragement was offered by both Edward M.M. Warburg, a friend of the Pollak family, as well as Alfred H. Barr. The society's very first exhibit, Modern Painting from Cincinnati Collections, opened in December of the same year. In 1954 the Modern Art Society adopted its current name, the Contemporary Arts Center. The name change coincided with the creation of two permanent galleries that were remodeled from part of the museum's lower level. These two spaces, designed by Carl Strauss and Ray Roush, consisted of about each and featured movable wooden wall covers. Many local Cincinnati collections were shown in this space, including works now kept at the

from the Mary E. Johnston collection. Construction on the Emery Wing at the

replaced the original space of the CAC. As a result of the museum’s need to expand, the center moved out in 1962 and temporarily inhabited various locations at the Taft Museum of Art, space at 608 Main Street, and the Carew Tower. In 1964 the center occupied the fourth floor of the Women’s Exchange building at 113 West Fourth street where it remained for six years. After two years on Fourth street the center announced that it had plans to move to the Mercantile Center on Fifth street, which opened in 1970. The new building cost $400,000 and was designed by

Harry Weese Harry Mohr Weese (June 30, 1915 – October 29, 1998) was an American architect who had an important role in 20th century modernism and historic preservation. His brother, Ben Weese, is also a renowned architect. Early life and education Harry ...

. The CAC’s space covered about and overlooked the new bus terminal in downtown Cincinnati. Despite early financial troubles in 1971, the CAC was able to put on over 400 exhibitions during its 30-year stay on Government Square. A permanent lease for the location was acquired in 1982 through a city bond. Early proposals for a new home began at the end of the 1980s and included possible locations at the Ohio Mechanics Institute (currently the Emery Center) and the

Aronoff Center The Aronoff Center is a large performing arts center in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Events that can typically be found at the Aronoff Center include: plays, ballet, popular music concerts, stand-up comedy shows, and musicals. The center was desi ...

. Later, as the idea of constructing an entirely new building became possible, the CAC focused on the site at Sixth and Walnut. By 1997 the center’s Architectural Selection Committee was publicly seeking architects to design the CAC's first-free standing building. The search narrowed 97 statements of qualification to twelve semi finalists: Coop Himmelblau, Diller & Scofidio, Herzog & de Meuron,

Steven Holl Steven Holl (born December 9, 1947) is a New York-based American architect and watercolorist. Among his most recognized works are the 2019 REACH expansion of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the 2019 Hunters Point Library in Q ...

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a r ...

Eric Owen Moss Eric Owen Moss (born 1943 in Los Angeles) practices architecture with his eponymously named LA-based firm founded in 1973. Education Moss was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1943. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Califo ...

, Jean Nouvel, Toyo Ito, Antoine Predock,

Daniel Liebeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

and

Bernard Tschumi Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French-S ...

. One year later the board granted the commission to Zaha Hadid. Construction began in 2001 and the new building opened on May 31, 2003.

Projects and exhibitions

In March 2008, the Contemporary Arts Center announced the exhibition and auction "FORM: Contemporary Architects at Play". Participating architects included: *

Peter Eisenman Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his writing and speaking about architecture as well as his designs, which have been called high modernist or deconstructiv ...

, Eisenman Architects * Michael Graves, Graves Design *

, Zaha Hadid Architects * Thom Mayne, Morphosis * Bill Pedersen, Kohn Pedersen Fox * Laurinda Spear, Arquitectonica *

, Bernard Tschumi Architects * Jaime Velez, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP *

Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli (; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas including packaging, houseware, furniture, public signage, and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his ...

, Vignelli Designs, Inc. * Buzz Yudell, Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...

Fine Arts Division sold eight pieces and one concept at auction raising $425,000. In March 2011 the Laminex Group brought the collection to New Zealand for the

Auckland Arts Festival Formerly known as Auckland Festival, Auckland Arts Festival or is an annual arts and cultural festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. The Festival features works from New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia and beyond, including world premieres of new wor ...

and invited New Zealand architects and design professionals to submit entries for a New Zealand collection. The domestic competition was entitled "Formica Formations". Queenstown designer Graham Roebeck of Structural Integrity Ltd won the Professional category and Auckland Unitec student Norman Lin, the emerging designer category.

Controversies

In 1990, a Cincinnati jury acquitted the Contemporary Arts Center and its director, Dennis Barrie, of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibition of photographs by

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

. In the first criminal trial of an art museum over the contents of an exhibition, the case centered on seven out of 175 photographs in an exhibition ('' The Perfect Moment'') that traveled from Berkeley to Boston; five of the seven photographs depicted men in

sadomasochistic Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...

poses and were the basis of charges that the museum and its director had pandered obscenity. Much of the dispute over the Mapplethorpe photographs centered on whether federal money should be used to finance them, through the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

.Isabel Wilkerson (October 6, 1990)
Cincinnati Jury Acquits Museum In Mapplethorpe Obscenity Case
''The New York Times''. If convicted, the center would have faced fines of up to $10,000; Barrie could have faced a year in jail and fines up to $2,000. The trial was chronicled in the 2000

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

Dirty Pictures ''Dirty Pictures'' is a 2000 American docudrama television film directed by Frank Pierson, written by Ilene Chaiken, and starring James Woods, Craig T. Nelson, and Diana Scarwid. The film focuses on the 1990 trial of Cincinnati Contemporary Arts ...

''.

Location

44 East 6th Street (Corner of 6th & Walnut), Cincinnati, OH 45202 Across Walnut Street from the

for the Arts in downtown Cincinnati's cultural and entertainment area known as the Backstage District.

Architecture

In 2003, the CAC moved to its first free-standing home which was designed by

. The CAC chose to honor two of its major donors by naming the building the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art. The Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art was Zaha Hadid's first American project. Hailed by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' architecture critic Herbert Muschamp as "the most important American building to be completed since the cold war," the project was the brainchild of Director Charles Desmarais. (Desmarais left the CAC for the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

in early 2005.) The building's footprint is , with a total area of on seven floors. The project cost $34 million, with design features including "Urban Carpet", "Jigsaw Puzzle", and "Skin/Sculpture".

Awards

* 2004

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

(RIBA) Award * 2005 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum

References

External links

The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC)
Official Site {{authority control Contemporary art galleries in the United States Art museums and galleries in Ohio Arts in Cincinnati Museums in Cincinnati Modern art museums in the United States Art museums established in 1939 1939 establishments in Ohio Neo-futurism architecture Zaha Hadid buildings 2003 establishments in Ohio Buildings and structures completed in 2003 Art museums established in 2003 Postmodern architecture in Ohio Deconstructivism