Museum of Contemporary Photography

What is Museum of Contemporary Photography?

Known by the short name MoCP, this is a museum dedicated entirely to photography. Its permanent holdings have grown past 15,000 pieces by roughly 1,500 different artists, so there is far more in storage than any one show can hang.

A separate part of the collection, the Midwest Photographers Project, keeps portfolios by photographers and artists who live in the Midwestern states. That makes the museum a good place to see how people in the region picture their own towns, farms and cities, a fitting warm-up for a drive across the heartland. The museum holds accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, a mark of professional standards.

History of Museum of Contemporary Photography

Columbia College Chicago founded the museum in 1976. It took over from an earlier group called Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography, which had shown photography in the city before it. Collecting began in the early 1980s, and the holdings have grown steadily since then.

Visiting Museum of Contemporary Photography: tips

The museum is free to visit, has restrooms on site and is listed as wheelchair accessible. A walk through the galleries usually takes under an hour, so it fits between bigger stops. The Art Institute of Chicago and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library are both about 0.4 mile away, and the Field Museum of Natural History is about 0.7 mile away. Exhibitions change, so it is worth checking what is on before you go. A hotel stands about 0.1 mile away and EV charging about 0.4 mile away.