ACME Lab: The Art of Play

On View: November 1, 2025 – May 17, 2026
Exhibition Type: ACME Lab

This ACME Lab brings together works of art from the UMFA’s permanent collection that depict play – from a quiet match of backgammon to a lively pick-up game of neighborhood sports. Play is creative and imaginative; it is an impulse shared across humanity that enriches our experience of the world. With board games, card games, hide-and-seek, crossword puzzles, and unorganized sports, people come together over a shared moment of laughter and friendly competition. Spend some time in this gallery to reflect on the artworks and play some games of your own. What are your favorite games? Who do you play them with? 

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The Art of Play was organized by a small team of UMFA staff members representing every department in the Museum. It also features perspectives from colleagues in the Utah Division of Games, the Department of Art & Art History, and the Department of English at the University of Utah.  

Jane Freilicher, American, 1924-2014, Backgammon, 1976, oil on canvas, Gift of Marilyn Cole Fischbach and A. Aladar Marberger, UMFA1979.008