moco Museum Amsterdam

moco Museum Amsterdam, along with it’s two sibling institutions in London and Barcelona, curate works by modern and contemporary artists. The name of the museum combines the words MOdern and COntemporary to create the name, and is always in lower case letters…how edgy! At moco Amsterdam you will find a relatively small museum with works by Banksy, Basquialt, a piece or two by Warhol, and limited representation by several other artists from around the world. The Banksy room was the largest space with the most works in this gallery.

The gallery itself has four small floors, each divided into multiple rooms. The lighting varies quite a bit from space to space, with some illuminated by sunlight flowing in through curtainless windows while others are dim spaces with pinpoint spotlights directing your eye to various works. Yet other spaces make the lighting itself a part of the exhibit experience. A very calm, new age soundtrack plays throughout the entire museum.

There are a few extremely cool pieces in this small museum’s collection. For me, the commanding presence of untitled_Sexy Robot type II floating by Hajime Sorayama was undeniable, and the way it is displayed only adds to the futuristic quality of this piece. I also enjoyed the flourescent geometry of Yayoi Kusama and her favorite subject – pumpkins!

For an additional charge, visitors gain access to the Pink Cloud Room – a VIP room decked out in baby pink everything. I didn’t need to go sit in a comfortable pink room so I declined, but it’s there if you are interested. In addition the museum includes one gallery space dedicated to shorter term exhibits by prominent contemporary artists. A Symphony of Nature, a digital immersive experience by Six N. Five, will be displayed Sept 2024-March 2025 here.

After viewing the works in the galleries, it’s time to head downstairs for a completely different, and by far my favorite experience. Studio Irma has create a series of five immersive rooms, including Kaleidoscope Room and Diamond Matrix. What a cool, trippy experience! It would be easy to spend hours inside these five rooms, losing all sense of time as you take in the lights and colors around you. If it’s wet, hot, or otherwise nasty outside, I can’t think of a better place to just hang out for awhile!

Of course the exit is through the gift shop! But after you leave the building you’ll enter the moco sculpture garden. Make sure you check out the illuminated geodesic sculpture – peer into it from different angles. It’s another place to get lost in the geometry for a few moments. Yes you can explore the sculpture garden and then go back inside, but exactly how one does this is not super clear.

moco is a small museum with limited capacity. Entry is based on time slots and it does sell out during the middle of the day. If you book ahead and plan to enter between 9AM – 10:30AM or 6:30PM – 8PM you can save $1 off the admission price. Also, buying your ticket at the door is $3-4 more than buying online in advance. When booking a ticket make sure you are booking for the correct museum as their website books all three moco Museums across western Europe.

Overall I found moco Museum Amsterdam a bit underwhelming and expensive, especially for the museum’s small size. Maybe its just that I’m not that cultured in the modern art world, but a lot of it was just ok for me. Many of the artists only had a few pieces on display. The immersive rooms in the basement were a sharp contrast to the rest of the gallery and were clearly the highlight of the museum for me. Personally I would have loved to hear specific music in each space meant to accompany the artworks there rather than the soft, homogenous soundtrack found throughout the museum – too often the music just did not fit and was a detraction. If you’re looking for a larger, less intimate museum featuring modern art, Stedelijk Museum is one block away. If you’re not a lover of the works of the specific artists included here then perhaps your limited time in Amsterdam is better spent elsewhere.