About USF Contemporary Art Museum
Janaina Tschäpe, Blood, Sea, 2004. From the 2014 CAM@25 exhibition. photo: Will Lytch
The USF Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) opened its current facility in 1989, adjacent to the USF College of The Arts. The museum has presented numerous significant and investigative exhibitions of contemporary art from Florida, the United States and around the world, including Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Changing exhibitions are designed to introduce students, faculty and the community to current cultural trends. Exhibitions to date have included the work of Vito Acconci, Atelier van Lieshout (AVL ), Frances Barth, Bili Bidjocka, Jim Campbell, James Casebere, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Emily Cheng, Keith Edmier, Zhang Hongtu, Alfredo Jaar, Los Carpinteros, Allan McCollum, Lucy Orta, Pepón Osorio, James Rosenquist, and Ed Ruscha among numerous others.
USFCAM maintains the university’s art collection, comprised of more than 5,000 art works. There are exceptional holdings in graphics and sculpture multiples by internationally acclaimed artists, such as Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and James Rosenquist, who have worked at USF’s Graphicstudio. Contemporary photography and African art are also important areas of the collection.
The USF Institute for Research in Art is recognized by the State of Florida as a major cultural institution and receives funding through the Florida Department of State, the Florida Arts Council and the Division of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, as well as numerous private foundations on a project basis. The Contemporary Art Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
Our Mission
The primary mission of the USF Contemporary Art Museum is to bring to the University and the Tampa Bay community vital, investigative and scholarly contemporary exhibitions, while simultaneously contributing to the dialogue within the international arts community by organizing exhibitions, producing relevant catalogues, scheduling critically significant traveling exhibitions and by underwriting experimental projects of artists emerging on the national and the international fronts.
Los Carpinteros, Transportable City, 2000. From the 2014 CAM@25 exhibition. photo: Will Lytch
Parallel to this purpose is an ongoing commitment to provide the educational underpinnings necessary for the assimilation of issues at the core of contemporary art for an audience that includes community and corporate members, students, faculty, staff, administrators, scholars, critics, historians and artists.
The Museum's educational philosophy, consistent with the approach to exhibitions, is to contribute to the ongoing research of leading artists, critics, and historians by organizing symposia, conferences and lectures to discuss and analyze current issues in art and society. The museum is a laboratory for scholars, museum professionals, students, interns and artists. The USF Contemporary Art Museum collects and maintains a collection of contemporary art and makes it available as a visual library for students, and as an enrichment to a broad and varied constituency through loans and direct access. Museum Memberships, both Private and Corporate help subsidize the museum's operating and exhibition costs.
Interested in an internship at CAM or Graphicstudio? Find out how to apply and what deadlines you need to know.
Visitor Information
Graphicstudio Hours: M–F 10am–5pm
USFCAM Hours: Mon. to Fri. 10am–5pm; Sat. 1–4pm; CAM is Closed Sunday and all University and State of Florida holidays and occasionally between exhibitions.
Tours: Groups and organizations interested in tours of the exhibition should contact CAM to schedule at least two weeks in advance at (813) 974-4133.
Accessibility: The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (USFCAM) is fully accessible to visitors with disabilities. There are disabled parking spaces outsde of the museum, an accessible entrance, good lighting and accessible restrooms.
The museum follows USF guidelines regarding service animals.
USFCAM faculty and staff are pleased to work with organizations that provide cultural opportunities for disabled clients to tour the Museum. Please call (813) 974-4133 two weeks in advance to request specific tour information. For more accessibility information please call (813) 974-4133.
CAM Sponsors
National Endowment for the Arts
State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida Council on Arts and Culture
Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Board of County Commissioners
Carlton Fields Jorden Burt
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute
Knox Family Foundation
Lee & Victor Leavengood Trust
Raymond James Financial
The Tampa Tribune
Time Warner Communications
Time Customer Service, Inc.
Tower Realty Partners / Feldman Equities
The Wilson Company
Burr & Forman LLP
Bajo | Cuva | Cohen | Turkel
USFCAM Art for Community Engagement (ACE) Fund Patrons
Allison and Robby Adams
Frank E. Duckwall Foundation
Francesca and Richard Forsyth
Gobioff Foundation
Courtney and Jason Kuhn
Linda Saul-Sena and Mark Sena
Sharmila and Vivek Seth
Stanton Storer
Copyright and Reproduction
The electronic images available on this site are subject to copyright and may be covered by other restrictions as well. The images are made available to the general public for the sole purpose of representing the USF Contemporary Art Museum’s programs and collection. Copying or redistribution of the images in any manner without the express written permission of the University of South Florida Institute for Research in Art is strictly prohibited.