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Kemper Museum is a free art museum in Kansas City, Missouri that presents global contemporary art.

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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art acknowledges it resides on the ancestral territory of the Osage, Kaw, and Otoe-Missouria, among other tribal nations forcibly moved to the region such as the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) nations. We recognize and support the continued vibrancy of Native communities and cultures today who continue to thrive, as well as the inherent sovereignty of tribal nations. We are compelled to serve and advocate for these communities in accordance with our public mission.

Kemper Museum acknowledges and respects the diversity of Native people connected to this land today. Many recognize the land and all beings who live within it as relatives. We acknowledge the earth we inhabit, the waters of the Blue River, the Kansas River, the Missouri River, and the plants, animals, and people supported by them. 

We acknowledge our responsibility to be good caretakers of the land we occupy. 

Click here to learn more about our land acknowledgment process.

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Show will travel to Kemper Museum in June 2022, with additional venues to be announced

Cleveland and Cincinnati, OH and Kansas City, MO—May 7, 2021—The Regional, the first major multi-museum survey dedicated to contemporary artists working throughout the Midwest, will now premiere at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Cincinnati in December 2021. The show was originally co-organized by the CAC, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (Kemper Museum) in Kansas City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (moCa). The exhibition will be on view at the CAC December 10, 2021 through May 1, 2022 and will travel to Kemper Museum from June 2, 2022 through September 11, 2022.

The Regional was originally scheduled to open in Cleveland, but moCa has stepped back from the project at this time to continue developing an equity-centered culture at the Museum. “Our goal is to keep the spotlight on the artists presented in this exceptional exhibition,” said moCa Interim Executive Director Megan Lykins Reich. “moCa remains committed to demonstrating to our community, artists, and supporters the ways in which we can embody and advance the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. It has been our privilege to collaborate with these partners in conceptualizing this project and we look forward to seeing its realization at CAC in December.”

Featuring new and recent work, including several site-responsive commissions, by more than 20 artists working across painting, photography, installation, and performance, The Regional celebrates the artistic and cultural complexity of the Midwest, offering audiences a more comprehensive understanding of this moment in America’s heartland.

“The Regional is a testament to the range of creative practices and rich cultural heritage alive in the Midwest,” said Raphaela Platow, the CAC’s Alice & Harris Weston Director and Sean O’Harrow, Executive Director of Kemper Museum. “The focus of The Regional needs to remain on our creative communities and the artists in the exhibition, and we therefore endorse moCa stepping back at this time. This exhibition is an incredible opportunity to collectively uplift and amplify some of our region’s most talented artists, and we look forward to providing a compelling platform to tell their stories.”

Reflecting and responding to a range of social and historical contexts, The Regional scans the diverse cultural landscape of the region and provides a snapshot of the creative ecology blooming within it. The exhibition brings together new and recent work by artists from a variety of backgrounds who are currently based in Detroit, Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Kansas City, Madison, Minneapolis, and St. Louis, among other locales throughout the Midwest. The Regional celebrates the range of cultural origins and creative approaches in the middle section of America by uniting artists working across creative disciplines to explore some of the most pressing issues of our time.

The Contemporary Arts Center is a catalyst for dialogue and discovery, driven by the art, artists and ideas of our time. Through an innovative slate of exhibitions, performances, educational and community programs and partnerships, the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) provides opportunities for encounter: with trailblazing artists both local and global, with cultural thought leaders, and with one’s own creative potential. Embedded in the fabric of its community and committed to lifelong learning, the CAC serves as an integral forum where people can reflect, create, collaborate, and connect around a more inclusive and sustainable culture of tomorrow.

Since its founding in 1939, the CAC has been a champion of emerging ideas in contemporary art, hosting one of the first Midwest exhibitions of Picasso’s Guernica in 1939; mounting an early exhibition of Pop Art in 1963; representing the United States at the São Paulo Biennial in 1975; and presenting— and successfully defending—the 1990 Mapplethorpe retrospective that became a lightning rod in the era’s culture wars and propelled the CAC into the national spotlight. Today, the CAC occupies the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, the first museum designed by architect Zaha Hadid and the first U.S. museum designed by a woman.

About Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (Kemper Museum)

Located in Kansas City, MO, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art exhibits, collects, and educates in a free and welcoming environment for all. The museum’s growing Permanent Collection aims to reflect the vitality, complexity, and unfolding patterns within modern and contemporary art and culture. Special exhibitions, installations, lectures, and workshops, as well as youth, teen, and intergenerational programs provide resources for communities to engage with the issues of our time, derive inspiration, discover outlets for self-expression and dialogue, learn directly from living artists, and bring deeper meaning to their lives through modern and contemporary art. Admission, programs, and parking are always free. Find out more at www.kemperart.org | @kempermuseum.

About the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (moCa)

Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art (moCa) plays an exciting role in the city’s cultural landscape. As a non-collecting institution, moCa is ever-changing, introducing new exhibitions throughout the year to create fresh experiences for visitors each season. Since its founding in 1968, moCa has presented the works of more than 2,000 artists, often through artists’ first solo shows. For more than 50 years, moCa has been both conduit and catalyst for anyone seeking creativity and inspiration, bringing the art and ideas of our time to Cleveland and the region at large. moCa was the first in the area to exhibit the works of vanguard artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. We continue in that tradition, featuring the work of emerging and established regional, national, and international artists.

National Media:
 Destanie Martin-Johnson / Delaney Smith
 Resnicow and Associates
 212-671-5172 / 212-671-5160
 dmartin-johnson@resnicow.com / dsmith@resnicow.com

Local/Regional Media:
 Jennifer Cox | Director of Communications
 Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
 jcox@cincycac.org

Louise Forster | Communications Manager
 Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
 816.457.6132
 lforster@kemperart.org

Tom Poole | Creative Director
 Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland
 tpoole@moCacleveland.org

The Regional, the First Major Multi-Museum Survey Dedicated to Midwestern Contemporary Artists to Premiere At CAC Cincinnati in December 2021