The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami has had its galleries closed since Oct. 5 to install its next show, and the reason opens on Thursday, Nov. 12: Geoffrey Holder: Black Magic, which the museum describes as the first museum survey to center the visual art of Geoffrey Holder. Holder is known internationally for his work in dance, theater and film. This exhibition is about his painting, and it runs through April 4, 2027.

More than 60 works, many never shown

According to MOCA, the exhibition brings together more than 60 works in painting, drawing, collage and sculpture, and many of them have never been shown publicly. The museum's framing is that Holder's visual art was the foundation of the rest of his creative life rather than a side practice to it.

The show is organized by theme into five sections: Portraits, Epistles, The Sacred and the Profane, Genre, and Figure Studies. MOCA lists biblical scenes restaged in a modern setting, portraits painted from memory, landscapes and still lifes among the subjects, and notes that the human body appears throughout, seen through the eye of someone who also choreographed it. One work the museum is using to introduce the show is Man in Black, an oil on board from 1991, lent by Judy Robins.

The exhibition is guest curated by Erica Moiah James, PhD.

Timed to Miami Art Week

MOCA is opening the exhibition during Miami Art Week 2026, which runs the first week of December. With a Nov. 12 opening and a run into April, it is on view for Art Week and for nearly five months after it.

Before it opens: Jazz at MOCA on Oct. 30

While the galleries are closed, the museum's events calendar continues. The next Jazz at MOCA, featuring the Mike Gerber Quartet, is on Friday, Oct. 30, on the museum's events calendar.

Hours and admission

MOCA North Miami is in the Joan Lehman Building at 770 NE 125th Street. The museum and its shop are open Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m. and Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and are closed Monday and Tuesday. Holiday and Art Week hours vary, so check the museum's visit page before a December trip.

Admission is free for MOCA members at every level, children under 12, North Miami residents and city employees with proper identification, and veterans. Other visitors buy tickets through the museum's website.

How to go

Geoffrey Holder: Black Magic opens Thursday, Nov. 12, and runs through April 4, 2027, at MOCA North Miami, 770 NE 125th Street, North Miami. The museum can be reached at 305-893-6211, and tickets and exhibition details are at mocanomi.org.

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