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.
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.
