Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal

Great place for art lovers !! But you should come alone to spend some time with art alone !! I was with my college group with the guide as well but next time I would go alone !!

Not a particularly large museum, but definitely worth a visit. Very easy to access in the Underground City (PVM).

Everything is cool, but we got only a small part of the works of art, they said the restoration is underway now And you can also take a cool picture😜😅

Since my original review three years ago, the museum has temporarily moved to a new location a few minutes on foot from its permanent location in the entertainment district. It's now situated in a much smaller space inside Place Ville Marie. The original location is undergoing extensive renovations that were originally scheduled to finish in 2024, but that will probably last much longer. The temporary location doesn't display any of the museum's permanent collection, but is still worth a look. Original review: This is not a large museum by any measure. I was expecting it to be bigger because of its location in the heart of the city's entertainment district. What it lacks in size, it makes up in originality, playfulness and quirkiness. The exhibits are visually striking, engaging and well displayed. Go there only if you are willing to play along and let yourself become temporarily part of the exhibits.

I’ve visited it in temporary location but well worth it. A bit pricey though for the current content. The “talking tree” Installation - marvelous!

Right now its only a small exhibition in a mall, but its a great exhibition. There are multiple rooms and sections to walk through, with different forms of content in a vaguely chronological order. If you take the time to read, watch, and understand everything you will be there for a while. I loved the format, it almost felt like a documentary with an artistic twist, and it was as informative as it was enjoyable to walk through.

This was my favorite museum that I saw in Montreal. There were a lot of thought-provoking exhibits. You could spend a good part of the day there. I would definately return and recommend it to others. Lots of bathrooms throughout the museum as well which was very nice.

Rich collection, nicely displayed art, great architectural solutions. 100% worth it!

It will be my pleasure to update this review at some future date, several years from now. As a fan of contemporary art I was looking forward to this museum only to learn - too late - that it's under renovation for the next couple of years. The site I was directed to (in Montreal's underground mall) is a tiny sample of their usual offering, so small in fact, that paying anything to enter struck me as an utter money grab. (My entry fee was waived as I had the Passport MTL). Even with essentially free admission for me, what was on view here was less than compelling and I had to work hard to engage my interest. My recommendation is to wait until they're back in their permanent home. Finding this place wasn't worth the time it took but, of course, I thought I was headed to the real deal, not a temporary exhibit.

Fun to explore, if you connect with this type of art. I believe there's different exhibits and it's always being updated.

I guess it depends when you come to this museum. We came in May 2022 and because the museum was under renovation. There isn't much to see. There were a lot of videos showing at that time. We were not too into those. There were very limited things to see here. We might have to come back again in the future after they complete their renovation. Right now there are only three rooms with displays and most of them are just showing video slide shows.

This place is difficult to find first of all. I walked around the entire building and then happened to find the single wi dow with details on where it was located (underground, where I had already looked but didn't see any signs). Then noticed arrows on the floor underground directing to the MAC. Get there and it was just a video. Thats it. No exhibits. The only saving grace was that it was free. The website shows a bunch of different featured artists and a Leonard Cohen exhibit. I guess there no longer there but the website hasn't been updated. I blocked out an afternoon and walked across town for this so needless to say I'm more than a little bit miffed because I could have gone somewhere else and seen something cool rather than a MOVIE that I could just as easily stayed at the hotel and watched on my ipad.

You either hate or love contemporary art...I happen to be a lover of the new, bizarre and eccentric forms of modern art. You'll see colorful light projections from an Icelandic artist. Strange silent short films protesting conformity. Sculptures that are completely illogical but thought provoking. Taxidermy animals honoring the innocent deaths caused by vehicle accidents. And much more... Unfortunately half the museum was closed and going through updates, during my visit, so we didn't stay much more than an hour. Normally $19 for entry, but luckily is covered by the Montreal Passeport(get this if you're a tourist!). Enjoy!

Musée d'Art Contemporain (Museum of Contemporary Art) is less about "art" and more about political statements by artists. I guess that's what art really is, but is it always so obvious? One artist has pictures of transgender people taken on the dance floor or a bull-dozed nightclub in Mexico. I guess that's art, but at a deeper (higher?) level than I'm going to understand. How about a two-foot high wall that's made from the materials of a house that was carefully taken apart over the course of a week? Here's the caption that accompanies a large bubble machine. "Installation with machines that produce soap bubbles made with a mixture of (uncontaminated) water and other substances that touched the bodies of victims of violent deaths. Pieces of cloths were moistened with the water used to wash corpses after their autopsies, then were placed at the sides in the desert of Juarez where the remains of murdered women had been discovered." The one piece I really liked, a series of vertical parallel lines in various colors, "These bands can be seen as recurring planes that create a vibratory space energized by the multiple potentialities of the placement (and permutation) of the colours." Above my paygrade, but neat to look at.

The Musée d'Art Contemporain is located in the Quartier des Spectacles, near the Place des Arts metro station. Although it looks quite big from the outside, there's not much space inside. I have been many times to the MAC and I've never really been impressed by their exhibitions, but this week I have tried for the first time "Les Nocturnes du MAC": throughout the evening I was able to visit two temporary exhibitions, Emanuel Licha's "Now Have a Look at This Machine" and Teresa Margolles' "Mundos". I really loved Teresa Margolles' exhibition which is about the violence that ravages her country and notably the mystery of the women homicides in Ciudad Juárez. Kudos for the shower of bubbles, I had too much fun watching it. The MAC exhibition was also very interesting. There was a DJ, people were able to take part in art workshops, UBISOFT were showcasing some of their work and of course, there was a bar. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and will probably go to the next one in May.

This is probably the best Contemporary Museum I've visited. My friends and I have a tradition that every year during the Jazz Festival we would travel down to Montreal. We've been doing this for about 5 years and this year we decided to go to this museum. I've been to many museums in Boston, NYC, and LA. However, besides the Broad in LA- this museum is very well curated. What I love the most is that many of them are interactive and keeps you curious. I highly suggest you visit museum when you have a chance!

I am a fan of contemporary art and enjoy these spaces more than eurocentric themed museums. I think spaces like this should be able to exist with the same merit as traditional museum institutions. If you are not open minded to contemporary art - I would suggest you not to come here. If you are but not sure, do your research on the artist and exhibitions on the museum's website before coming to ensure you're not wasting your money/time. That being said, I came to see Rafael Lozano-hemmer's exhibition. He's an artist from Mexico City and identifies as a Mexican-Canadian artist. The works were centered around this idea of an unstable presence and he used a lot of interesting technologies, played around with light, sound, and space. The museum itself was a bit spotty in terms of flow TBH. However I'm giving it five because of the exhibition. Museum shop was lovely and in the middle of downtown.

Spent great times with my best friend Donna here back in the day we would go Wednesday nights because it was free and we were university students in a limited budget! We would spend hours analyzing pieces of art and it was a way to learn more about how each of us thought or analyzed things and our vision towards the artist shown! Now it's half price and no longer free, I didn't give it five stars because I wish it had many more pieces and things to look at and diversity way more Media and more fun events too! More Quebec and Canadian artist shown that are less known to the public but also international those would be my suggestions to the Museum! But everyone should at least go once! First Sunday free with proof of Quebec residence! See pics

Good news - we got a 50 % discount with our AAA cards ! This is a rather comical museum .To put it simply , most of the art here is pretty bad but it's useful to see.What you see is the exaltation of message over medium.Apparently the visual embrace of an acceptable agenda or the embrace of ironic banality is worthy of exhibition.Forget all that truth is beauty, beauty truth stuff.Some of the works are quite funny.More evidence of the infantilization of our culture , hence quite worthwhile.

I wished there was more to see but most exhibits were curtained off or in the process of switching out. I was visiting Montreal during Memorial weekend, which happened to be the same weekend the city was offering free entrance to select museums on Sunday. Since we were from out of town, we took advantage of the deal. Normal admission was roughly $20, but it was waived on that day. Thank goodness since we basically walked in and out in less than an hour! Probably closer to 30 minutes even. It was way smaller than we anticipated and there wasn't much to see. When we first walked in, the room on the main floor had an arts and craft activity for kids, so there was a lot of people near the entrance. As you walk toward the stairs, there was a small room filled to the brim with people trying to watch a film. Since there were too many bodies in a small room, we decided to skip it. Walking up the stairs, the rooms had a nice flow of movement from one exhibit to another, but space was definitely not in abundance. It was a waiting game if you wanted to get a clear shot of a painting. Since it was just so much work just aimlessly waiting around, I just kept moving forward since there was really no way to backtrack. I guess the most memorable exhibit was the sounds. The motion of wires combined with the sound effects they created was rhythmic, soothing even. However, the crowds made it hard to see or absorb what was going on haha. If there was more to see, I probably would not have regretted visiting. For what I saw with free admission, it was nice to see, but I felt the surrounding artwork and buildings were more interesting than the contemporary arts museum itself.

It's a small museum and on my visit, it was a lot smaller because they were renovating some of the spaces. So they gave a discounted price. Free wi-fi though. Nothing worth writing to mom about. But if you need to just kill some time, you can come here and learn a little bit too.

When I visited (Jan 2019) the permanent collection was not being displayed. There were three exhibitions that I did not find very enjoyable, so was definitely not worth the $17. I gave the Manifesto/Julian Rosefeldt a shot, but found it kind of boring. The videos are not timed, so you kind of have to stand around waiting for one to finish, which seems like it wouldn't be that hard when there are around 7 videos playing at once, but it was. Also, you couldn't hear some of the dialogue because other videos were too loud. I really hate giving bad reviews to museums, but this one was a really disappointment. Ive been to a lot of museums all over the world, so was really surprised at finding this one so subpar. I'm guessing it's because the perm collection wasn't available. The fine arts museum is a much better choice.

Definitely worth stopping by. As others have pointed out, it's modest in size, but not content. I didn't sit through the entirety of every video installation (I think one was like 6 hours long ), but I did take enough time for me. There's a wonderful diversity amongst the artists and works featured, and it's doable in a couple hours. Photography is allowed, just no flash. The folks working there are nice, the admission is fair, and there's WiFi for the guests (get the password at the front desk ). Oh, and definitely go to the shop!

Small and dependent on temporary exhibitions Like many of the other reviewers when I first visited this museum back in November I was expecting much, much more given the size of the building and my experiences visiting other contemporary art museums around the world. However, I was quite impressed with the exhibition of the works of Patrick Bernatchez. And so on my latest visit to Montreal I thought I would try again. On the positive side they offered a discounted entrance fee due to the scarcity of exhibits. On the negative side the video installation was just sort of good-ish and worth about 45-60 minutes of your time. So my advice would be to plan on visiting...but to look on the web (or phoning ahead) to see if you feel it is worth your while. Also, note that on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the museum has odd hours - 11AM to 9PM.

While the collection is quite small, what was being shown was very interesting and thought-provoking. The current exhibitions are Chloë Lum & Yannick Desranleau, Nadia Myre, Ragnar Kjartannson and Rebecca Belmore. This is a VERY contemporary museum so prepare yourself for some very unique artwork and installations. We were lucky enough to come on a day where it was free. At one point, after looking incredulously at part of the Chloe Lum & Yannick Desranleau exhibition, my father said "they should be paying me". The actually museum building is so beautiful, it's a shame that they don't make much use of the gorgeous space. Definitely recommend this museum if you appreciate art as it is truly a contemporary perspective.

I don't know art, but I know what I like. Sure, it's a cliché (look, Ma, I'm speaking French in Montreal!), but it's true. I liked what I saw. I didn't understand a lot of what I saw, but luckily there's explanations for most of it on the wall. We were in there for a good couple hours. Was that long enough? I hope that was long enough. I wanted to be in long enough to to not be judged for leaving too early, but not so long that I'd resent the place out of boredom. Definitely accomplished the second, I hope I accomplished the first. We were there for Exposition 67. I'm really glad we got a chance to experience it.

Tiny museum with no permanent collection. When we visited in November 2017 they had one exhibit on the life and works of Leonard Cohen, who's from Montreal. The one exhibit cost $20 CAD, and we overheard the cashier next to the one we paid explaining to a couple that there was no permanent collection. We didn't get the same warning, and had unfortunately already paid. If we didn't, we would have turned around and left. The collection was mostly movies. Leonard Cohen is obviously a national treasure if you're native to the area, but for a casual fan the exhibit was a bust.

This place is no Tate Modern but it's a great way to kill part of an afternoon or night. The area that it's in is great with all the things around it that you can do before or after and it's a quick few minute walk back to the really busy part of St Catherine St or to St Laurent and St Denis in the other direction. The place is small but like I said it's a great way to kill part of an afternoon or night. Why spend part of a night here? Well it's free on Wednesday nights or $10+ at other times. With most art exhibits there are things you'll like and other things were you ask WTF? Regardless come here to get your culture on :)

Very nice museum, although they neglected to tell us that the sculpture garden was closed. Great exhibits though, but certainly a lot less than I thought there would be. It's basically just one floor.

I have been living in Montreal for three years and decided to finally try the MAC . The exhibits are very small ( lot of space with no content) so you can walk in and out in approximately one hour . The woman who sold us the ticket absolutely refused to give my friend a student discount because he didn't have his student ID but could only access his online McGill platform ... Such a professional way to encourage students to go to museums ...

Was tripping p hard here. Great spot ; can't speak or read French for my life but it's a easy spot for a native English speaker. the exhibits are on the 2nd floor, the 3rd floor was closed when I went. lots of cool stuff to watch and interact with, makes for great pics. had a blast losing my mind in there. definitely check out the flashing water fountain. 10/10 would do again

Small museum with only 4 exhibits. We absolutely loved the Jean-Pierre Gauthiere exhibit but the other 3 were less than exciting. I think we paid $15 or so per ticket and were out of there in less than an hour. There are so many amazing (free) galleries in Montreal I wouldn't recommend this one.

Went first time winter 2018, thought it'll be boring since it's only contemporary art and the permanent exhibition is closed down for constructions. Turns out 2/3 of the exhibit was very interesting!

A small museum with a lot of uninspiring works. If you must visit, try going when the price is reduced (or free). The building is nice and easily accessible via the Metro, but the quality of the exhibits when I visited was lacking.

If you can get here before the digital art exhibit goes away, do it. There are two pieces that really stuck out in my mind--one, the blind robot. It was amazing and enlightening and I want one in my house. Two, the jellyfish exhibit. I love pieces that are interactive. The video that we watching, C4I, was interesting and neat to see, but a bit long for my tastes. I did like watching others come into the extraordinarily dark room and seeing them navigate the darkness. The permanent exhibits were a little weak and fairly small, so I would make sure that there was a temporary exhibit there that I wanted to see if I was deciding to go.

Wow! Really exceeded my expectations. Go see Manifesto featuring Cate Blanchett. German Artist Julian Rosefeldt has a magnificent take on the concept of "Art". Very well done.

One of my favorite museums in the city, since it has strong ties with the local community. First of all, student rate is really cheap ($10), and admission is even more affordable with the fidelity card MACarte ($35/year, while GA is $14). If you're not familiar contemporary art, this museum might not be your first stop in our beautiful city: many of the curated expositions feature up and coming artists. There is a permanent and a few rotating expositions at any time of the year, and featured artists can as well be big names as newcomers, which makes an interesting mix of artwork to appreciate. As usual, mediums range from photography to paintings to installations, and sometimes there is even AV artwork displayed. Since the MACM is a small museum, it shouldn't take more than half of a day to cover the entirety of the expositions and the collection--also make sure to drop by the boutique that carries items and crafts from local artists. Many of the items also constitute great travel memorabilia, since there is a strong Montreal/Canada theme to the items selected. Just like any trendy museum, the MACM holds Nocturnes every few months, which are nights at the museum animated by DJs, musicians and performing artists. All exhibitions can be visited with the same admittance fare, and creative activities are also organized in the rotunda (open space) in the middle of the museum. Also make sure to walk around the area once your visit is done: the MACM is located in the Quartier des spectacles, which is the main arts neighborhood in Montreal. Accessible by public transit (metro Place-des-Arts). For the budget-wise traveler, museum fares are half-price every Wednesday evening.

The most recent exhibit (based around technology) was creepy, thought-provoking, and interactive - it gave me Black Mirror vibes. I absolutely loved it and am definately going back.

Artwork seemed rather drab and not artistic. May be personal opinion, but I'd say not worth the hype.

A few nice pieces but the place is very small. If you are used to MoMA (NYC), you will be disappointed.

price is a little bit too much for such small place, but worth it! not many collections but astonished me visually and auditorily! A place I would love to visit again!

Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste... If you've been able to correctly identify that as the first line of the infamous Stone's song "Sympathy For The Devil," you're already asking yourself what on earth this has to do with contemporary art in Montreal. Quite by chance, our visit to Montreal and thus their sterile and sleek Contemporary Art Museum on Saint Catherine, coincided with their current exposition on the interaction, co-dependence and creative intertwining of the Art and Rock N Roll, aptly titled, "Sympathy For The Devil: Art and Rock & Roll Since 1967. From Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground to Richard Prince to Jim Lambie, the exhibition was comprehensive in scope (covering artists and musicians from all over the glboe) and visually stunning. One of my favorite components of the exhibit was a room with several floor-to-ceiling openings and a floor covered from wall to wall with records. The doors, Zepplin, Pink Floyd. It felt kind of sacrilege to be stepping on the greats of rock-n-roll like that, but so many people were doing it, crouching down and reading the names...everyone stepping oh-so-carefully. So.Awesome. Aside from this special installation (which only runs until January11), this wasn't one of my favorite museums. I've visited a few in NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Italy. I felt that the layout seemed confined, almost cold and unfinished. The staff wasn't as welcoming as other yelpers described. If they regularly do expositions as bad ass as Sympathy For The Devil, it's more of a reason to visit than for the aesthetics of the space.

I loved the Leonard Cohen exhibit. An amazing life story for the artist. Fantast mixt of films, installation, settings, documentaries and pictures.

My wife and I wandered in to see the free exhibit during Jazz Fest earlier this week. We liked what little we could see and would probably pay full admission to see the rest of this museum the next time we are in Montreal.

I found this museum to be inspiring, and for $8, I consider it a deal. The permanent collection was interesting but I really enjoyed Tricia Middleton's exhibition (it's over now). She created a little magical world for her installation--even my left-brained husband liked it. No photography is allowed and I really wished I had brought a sketchbook. There was some cute stuff in the gift shop (isn't there always great stuff in museum gift shops?) so be sure to check it out on your way out.

Not massive, but a space that manages to feel both wide open and labyrinthine. The curation is often provocative and touching - the website is bilingual so you can check what's showing before you show up. Don't plan to spend a day - Fresh breath of art and you're out. Free Wednesday evenings and open for live shows one Friday night a month showcasing musicians, dancers, vjs. The best thing about the MACM is that it feels integrated into local real life - lots of Montrealers come down weekly to walk through whatever is showing, and the outdoor space (when not chaotic with jazz or jfl fests) is curated with public art projects like big swings, dancing lights, glowing tents and orby things, and motion-censor fountains.

Fantastic museum! A wide variety of exhibits that are carefully presented and maintained. I never would have expected this museum to rival some of my favorites (Reina Sofia, The Metropolitan Musuem of Modern Art, the Louvre) but after 5 years it still holds a place in my heart. I'm a big fan of furniture and they had an amazing exhibit (when I went) of furniture that totally blew my mind.

Even with the permanent exhibitions being closed, this was still a great visit. In a good section of town and with a lot of fun fountains for the kids outside, they had a lot of good pieces up as well as films and installations. Both cafes looked very good as well although we did not try them.

Free admission on Wednesday nights from 17:00-21:00. And it's not too out there stuff! I caught the shortlist of the Sobey Art Awards so the 5 finalists' work was on display and the winner will be announced in November. It was a real treat to wander around the exhibits. I felt like I could really understand the minorities' work about identity (Chinese-style vases mixed with robot-looking pieces) and language (computer screen "totems" speaking something you're not going to understand). At the end was a video interviewing the artists about their works which was fun and inspiring. The plaza it's located on is lovely, too bad there's all the construction going on as the city is renovating the area, guaranteed to last through 2012. We ate at Brasserie T and looked around Eva B before arriving for the free admission.

Wow I've been to a lot of museums and have enjoyed many different types of art and expressions. I wasn't too impressed with the exhibits here. Many of them were video based. There was not much to see. Have had better experiences. Dont waste your time here - go to the Fine Arts museum in Montreal

On my visit they were in between exhibits, but they had a small exhibit of art films that I found to be interesting. The media was well presented. I was most struck by the building and the immediate outside surroundings. It is no surprise that this is a popular hang out during the warmer months. I'm sorry that I can't say much more since very little was happening while I was there, but what little I saw was worth going back. I would definitely return.

My first trip to this museum did not disappoint. I found the staff cordial and open to answering questions, the layout very open and carefully presented, and best of all, the works ranged from fearless to fanciful--in a word: inspiring. I was struck by the risk that the curators took in their selection of exhibits. As I walked into the main hall I was greeted by an enormous plush two-headed creature, an amusing and racy criticism of local politics. I moved on to a stunning video exhibit of a debauched Ronald McDonald figure, drowning in a car filling with water. The contrast and connections between the two mediums and pieces bouncing in my head as I moved on. As a native of Boston, I found many of the works provocative and rewarding in ways I think Boston ICA is, at times, lacking. Montreal's ICA is bold, forward-thinking, with a definite sense of humor paced throughout the exhibits, and an emphasis on public interaction with much of the artwork. Walking into a closed room, I was delighted to sing karaoke, seated comfortably among pillows as the main aria from Bizet's Carmen was sung in Mandarin on a television set. Such experiences of whimsy are instantly memorable. I highly recommend a visit a visit for those in the area.

Such an amazing art gallery. When I went, most of the exhibits were incredibly creative and some of them truly transformed the spaces they inhabited, which created an interactive and transfixing space for patrons. The curators seemed to take risks on the pieces they chose, although that's often true of many contemporary art galleries. They also usually have a film exhibit playing on a loop on their lower level next to the book store. It's not a huge gallery, so it usually takes no more than two hours to see everything. The admission is $8 for adults and $4 for students. You can also buy a MAC card for $10 that will give you unlimited admission to the gallery for a year. Admission is also free on Wednesday from 6pm-9pm. That's basically the only night they stay open late. Closing time is usually 6pm.

Eh, i'd pass if you only had a couple of days in Montreal. It was Very small (1 floor of exhibits) and although only $12, i didn't think it was worth it. We covered the entire museum in 40 mins...and we were taking our own sweet time

The front desk staff were gracious and helpful. The MACARTE is a great deal! I loved the Sophie Calle exhibit, "For the Last and First Time". It was moving and evocative. The MAC card made it easy to visit the show 3 times within 2 weeks, twice with friends visiting from out of town, and another time when I went to see a screening of the video "Sophie Calle:Conceptual Heart". I also enjoyed the Simon Starling exhibition and the exhibitions of work from the permanent collection. I am already looking forward to see what's up next.

This is a lovely art museum with a small sculpture garden and a really nice set of galleries. There were a pair of exhibits that were excellent: one on a Canadian artist whose name I failed to write down, and a second on photos of Chernobyl, post-Katrina New Orleans, Havana and Beruit. It was an awesome photography exhibit. There were also wonderful installations and video exhibits, including a series of slides featuring phrases projected on a screen of buttons. It was pretty awesome. They had a great exhibit of music videos on the bottom floor, featuring a lovely series of traqcks from folks like Arcade Fire, Grip and Radiohead. It's an amazing set-up. I'd say that the set-up was lovely, and the security group was actually nice and helpful. It's good stuff.

An excellent museum. Beautiful building and a great excuse to show guests Place des Arts. The free Wednesday nights (5pm-9pm) are great. I love how frequently the exhibits change. I like to get dinner, then arrive by about 7pm on Wednesday which leaves plenty of time before it closes.

When we went they were between exhibitions, they let us go in for free though, there was some cool stuff. I'd go back.