Time to Contemplate: UMOCA’s 2026 Fall Season is Here — “Time, Truth, and Other Immeasurables”

Rolling up your spine with excitement, the truth is here: autumn has come. And with this melting mix of emotions that the change of time often brings, it also asks us to slow. With this rest, autumn asks us to ponder. To ease the inevitable introspection of a new year now nearing its end, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) is here to guide our hands through further exploration of self, of society, and what is forever on the tip of our tongue.

“Time, Truth, and Other Immeasurables” is UMOCA’s fall opening of its newest exhibitions, with the opening reception on Friday, Sept. 11 from 6-9PM. After years in the making, the timing for the unveiling is truly providential. Whether it’s the rise of AI and its challenge to what is real and what is truth, or white-knuckling our way toward 2028 and an uncertain future, this showcase at UMOCA offers a place to contemplate—reassuring its guests that uncertainty is the only thing we can trust.

And perhaps the passing of time bled through the curators, because UMOCA, too, faces an expiration date. Or more so, the building it currently resides in. “I think I was probably directly affected by this idea of time, mostly because of the timeline that we as an organization are in,” says Jared Steffensen, UMOCA’s curator of exhibitions.

Set for Feb. 2027, the museum’s building is expected to be demolished as our ever-growing city continues to expand. Although this is an opportunity to push the limits of architecture fitting for a contemporary art museum, uncertainty looms ahead as their new home is constructed. UMOCA is not going away, but instead will be finding temporary homes throughout Salt Lake City.

While UMOCA brings national and international artists into its exhibitions, Steffensen emphasizes the importance of placing Utah artists in that same conversation. “We all really believe in local artists and the importance of having local artists in conversation with international artists.” UMOCA maintains dedicated spaces for local work, including Projects Gallery, while its broader exhibitions allow those artists to exist alongside a larger contemporary art conversation, offering local artists the credibility to be seen outside of Utah.

The exhibition itself came together as a merging of two shows. “I was putting together a show about time, and the director was putting together a show about truth,” says Steffensen. The two ideas eventually collided into something larger: questions of spirituality, deep time, Utah land, the sublime and the systems we create to understand what may not be meant to be measured. “I think truth and time are these systems or structures that we’ve kind of created to help us understand these things we exist within, that we embody or that we feel,” Steffensen says.

An invitation to go as deeply as one would like; sometimes the best museum experience is to split into multiple trips. With UMOCA having no mandatory entry fee and a recommended donation range landing around $10, a visit to the museum is the cost-effective option for a treat-yourself day. Be it an opening reception with cheese and wine or visits throughout the cozy seasons with a friend at your side, UMOCA differs from other art establishments and narratives some may associate with. Unlike private galleries where the artwork is ultimately a commodity, UMOCA does not sell the work it exhibits. “That’s not a part of what we do because we don’t want to only show artwork we think we could sell,” Steffensen says with conviction.

The museum serves as a platform. It is an opportunity for artists, fellow humans who have experienced life, to communicate that experience to others. Be it to question or commiserate, UMOCA (and museums like it) are critical to maintaining our freedom of expression. In a world where art is rebellion, UMOCA allows the container to respond to the circumstances we exist in. As curator, Steffensen takes this to heart. “Hopefully, I am creating conditions for people to understand what the artist is trying to say.” He continues, “I think I’m doing my job the best when I am presenting the artist’s work in a way that’s true to what the artist is trying to say.”

Ultimately, there’s an opportunity to allow the mind to wander. On any given gray day, take a trip to the gray and liminal. Chew on questions like a treat to your mind. Is time circular and nonlinear? What is truth when truth itself is relative? Are some things not meant for us to understand?

Or, you know, come with a warm bevvie in hand and enjoy the beautiful environment with what it means to be present. With new people, smiling faces and effigies of passion to spark your own, inspiration is plentiful.

You may find UMOCA in Downtown Salt Lake City, with “Time, Truth, and Other Immeasurables” open to the public Sept. 11, 2026 – June 5, 2027.

Read more about SLC’s art museums and galleries:
“Growth Requires Sacrifice:” Bianca Velasquez’s “Prescribed Burn”
Communal Grief and Joy in Trying Times: Molly Heller’s Story of Curation

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