MOCA's 'Art in the Streets' Exhibit Racks Up Record-Breaking Attendance

Gregory Bojorquez, courtesy of MOCA

Installation of the "Art in the Streets" exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, way back when

MOCA's "Art in the Streets" exhibit, which ended two days ago, has turned out to be the biggest show in the museum's history, with an attendance of over 200,000 during its five-month-long showing.

It may not be as large as the Met's blockbuster success with their Alexander McQueen exhibit (which garnered a mind-boggling 660,000 attendees), but for MOCA, those are pretty solid numbers.

A significant contribution to that number came from the Free Mondays program sponsored by Banksy, UK street artist extraordinaire. Museum staff say that for many attendees, this was their first time going to see art in a museum -- hopefully, an event that will keep them coming again in the future. For now, MOCA expects its annual attendance to double and reach 400,000 by the end of the year.

Despite its status as a major museum, MOCA did not crack the Art Newspaper's international list of the top 100 museums by attendance (out of L.A. area museums, only the Getty and LACMA did). And 400,000 is still below #100 on this year's list. In an interview with the L.A. Times in March, when the list came out, MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch said, "We would like to bring our attendance to the 500,000 level, and we'd like to do it quickly."

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