FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: Sydney Ritter | [email protected] | 480-874-4663
SMoCA announces summer events in conjunction with new exhibitions
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It’s heating up in the Valley of the Sun, but the cool confines of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) will host an exciting mix of new exhibitions and entertaining programming this June.
The museum’s popular trivia nights return with two themed events, focused on 1980s and 2000s pop culture knowledge, respectively. And the Glow Up series continues with a gentle yoga class among the art.
Three new exhibitions will also open in June with associated programming. From Suburbia to Mars brings attendees along on engaging tours with the curators and artists of “Michael Asfa: Suburban Paradise” and “Life on Mars: Erika Lynne Hanson and Steven J. Yazzie,” while the Squidsoup Summer Celebration offers a chance to experience the collaborative’s new exhibition, “Infinite,” before it opens.
The following is a list of events and exhibitions at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA). For information, visit SMoCA.org.
EVENTS
Trivia Night @SMoCA: ’80s Edition
Friday, May 23, 2025, 7 p.m.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Tickets: $20
Comedian Anwar Newton returns to host a totally rad evening, filled with ’80s-themed movie, TV and music references to test your pop culture IQ.
Glow Up @SMoCA: Gentle Yoga
Thursday, June 5, 2025, 7 p.m.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Tickets: $25
This gentle yoga class, led by Melinda Milton inside a SMoCA exhibition, is open to all levels and encourages mindfulness and self-awareness through gentle movement and breathwork.
Trivia Night @SMoCA: 2000s Edition
Friday, June 13, 2025, 7 p.m.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Tickets: $20
Roll up looking fetch in your best 2000s threads for a super-sick evening filled with 2000s-themed movie, TV and music references to test your pop culture IQ.
From Suburbia to Mars
In Conversation with Artists Michael Afsa, Erika Lynne Hanson, and Steven J. Yazzie
Saturday, June 14, 2025, 3 p.m.
Tickets: Pay-what-you-wish
Join us in celebrating the opening day of two new exhibitions — “Michael Afsa: Suburban Paradise” and “Life on Mars: Erika Lynne Hanson and Steven J. Yazzie.”
Glow Up @SMoCA: Sound Bath at Sunset
Thursday, June 5, 2025, 7 p.m.
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Tickets: $25
Refresh your aura, get comfy and lose yourself in the serene beauty of sunset in the Turrell Skyspace during this unique summer solstice celebration.
Squidsoup Summer Celebration
Presented by SMoCA Alliance
Friday, June 27, 2025, 6 p.m.
Tickets: Free
Celebrate Squidsoup’s return to SMoCA, and be the first to experience the new exhibition before it opens to the public.
EXHIBITIONS
Life on Mars
June 14 through Sept. 14, 2025
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Admission: $10 to $16
Artists Erika Lynne Hanson and Steven J. Yazzie present works that link physical and metaphysical realities of nature, humanity, geology and cosmology to position Earth as the endgame.
Michael Asfa: Suburban Paradise
June 14 through Sept. 14, 2025
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Admission: $10 to $16
“Suburban Paradise” explores the quiet, contemplative beauty of the American Southwest through minimalist sculpture and photography by Michael Afsa in his first museum exhibition.
• Squidsoup • Infinite •
June 28, 2025, through Aug. 30, 2026
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Admission: $10 to $16
Enter “Infinite” and be surrounded by hundreds of illuminated spheres that form a symphony of notes.
Cybele Lyle: Floating Seeds Make Deep Forms
Aug. 24, 2024, through Aug. 3, 2025
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Admission: $10 to $16
“Floating Seeds Make Deep Forms” is a site-specific installation that responds to deserts in the North American Southwest as non-places — liminal expanses for ambiguity within a regenerative ecosystem.
SMoCA _____ space and Courtyard Installations
March 8 through Sept. 7, 2025
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Admission: Free
“Biophony” is a hand-coded generative synesthesia environment created by Berlin-based artist Alida Sun. And Shomit Barua’s “Hyperwilding” is an immersive installation that uses spatialized audio to produce a hybrid auditory experience.
SMoCA — named “Best Art Museum” in the Best of Phoenix awards — is located at 7374 E. Second St., Scottsdale, Arizona 85251. It is open Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit SMoCA.org for information.
Admission is $13–$16 for non-members; $10–$13 for students, seniors (65+) and veterans; and free for Scottsdale Arts ONE Members, healthcare workers, first responders, and patrons 18 and younger. Admission to the museum is pay-what-you-wish every Thursday and every second Saturday of the month. Save time and money by booking online at SMoCA.org.
Scottsdale Arts thanks the following sponsors and partners: City of Scottsdale, Billie Jo Herberger, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Buddy Taub Foundation, Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation, Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Bungalows, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Arizona Republic’s Season for Sharing, Airpark Signs & Graphics and Sueños Global Tequila.