Museum of Modern Art

The **Museum of Modern Art** (or **MoMA**) is an art museum in Manhattan, New York City, established on November 7th 1929, primarily by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr., and two of her friends, Lillie P. Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan, who became known as "the Ladies" or "the adamantine ladies". The museum's current location, designed by modernist architects Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone, opened to the public on May 10th 1939.

MoMA is often described as one of the largest and most influential modern art museums in the world. It gained influence throughout the 1930s with notable exhibitions and retrospectives of artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. The museum's collection includes works of architecture and design, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, film and electronic media.

MoMA holds numerous Residents items in its permanent collection, such as their early music videos, and one of only two extant copies of the group's *Ultimate Box Set* (a refrigerator containing their entire catalog). In 2020, the museum hosted the first three American performances of The Residents' live adaptation of their concept album *God In Three Persons*.

## MoMA and The Residents

MoMA has had a long-standing relationship with The Residents and The Cryptic Corporation, and holds a number of their works in its permanent collection, including the group's first three short films and the 1974 *Meet The Residents Sampler* flexidisc. The museum first exhibited The Residents' videos in September and October 1985, in their exhibition *Music Video: The Industry and Its Fringes*.

Between August and September 2006, MoMA hosted a community video art project based on The Residents' serial crime drama *The River of Crime!*; winning entries were screened at the gallery's Residents retrospective *The Residents: Reviewed*, which premiered on October 19th, and were posted to MoMA's official website the following day.

Around 2013, Cryptic donated one of only two known copies of The Residents' Ultimate Box Set (a 28 cubic foot refrigerator containing the group's entire catalog) to MoMA; it remains in the museum's permanent collection. In 2020, the museum hosted the first three American performances of The Residents' theatrical adaptation of their concept album *God In Three Persons*.

In September 2023, publisher Melodic Virtue announced that the deluxe editions of their coffee table art books, *A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1* and *Vol. 2*, had been added to MoMA's permanent collection, also including the additional books *Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook* and *UWEB Newsletters 1988-1993*, the 7" singles "Nobody's Nos" and "That'll Be the Day (Baby Baby)", a Steven Cerio art print, and a poly-resin Cube-E Resident figurine. The museum's curator was quoted as saying that they were "proud to add these to the museum's collection where they will be available for scholars and exhibition far into the future."

## Residents works in the MoMA permanent collection

* *Meet The Residents Sampler* flexidisc (1974)
* *The Third Reich 'n Roll* short film (1977)
* "Hello Skinny" video (1980)
* *One Minute Movies* short film (1980)
* *Ultimate Box Set* (2012)
* *A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1* book - deluxe edition (2022)
	+ including *Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook* and "Nobody's Nos" 7" single
* *A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 2* book - super deluxe edition (2023)
	+ including *UWEB Newsletters 1988-1993*, "That'll Be the Day (Baby Baby)" 7" single, Cube-E eyeball poly-resin figurine and Steven Cerio art print

## List of MoMA exhibitions featuring The Residents

* *Music Video: The Industry and Its Fringes* (1985)
* *Volume: Bed of Sound* (2000)
* *The Residents: Reviewed* (2006)
* *Looking at Music* (2008-2009)
* *Looking at Music 3.0* (2011)
* *MoMA Media Lounge* (2012-2013)

## See also

* *The River of Crime!*
* God In 3 Persons Live

## External links and references

* Official website
* The Residents at MoMA's official website
* *The River of Crime!* community art project at MOMA's official website
* God in 3 Persons Live! at MoMA's official website
* Museum of Modern Art at Wikipedia