The Museum of Contemporary Art is a Sydney-based museum, dedicated to collecting contemporary art from Australia and around the world. It is housed in the Art Deco building of the former Naval Radiocommunications Service at the western end of Circular Quay. It is Sydney's youngest cultural institution.
The Museum of Contemporary Art was founded as part of the bequest of Australian Australian expatriate artist John Power (1881-1943), who donated his entire fortune to the Sydney University Organisation to provide educational programmes that would introduce Australians to contemporary visual art.
After the Naval Radio Service moved to new premises in 1989, the empty building was donated by the New South Wales State Government to the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 1990, extensive restoration work, sponsored by the University of Sydney and the Power Foundation, and a year later the museum was officially opened to the public.
Today, the 4 floors of this impressive building, which fronts onto the Sydney Harbour, houses several galleries dedicated to contemporary art from the 1970s to the present day.
