San Diego has a radiant new reason to visit La Jolla. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego presents Visiones Nocturnas: Queer Nightlife in Contemporary Art, on view from September 19, 2026 through January 17, 2027, an exhibition that celebrates the dance clubs, dive bars, backyards and gathering places where community, creativity and joy come together after dark.
The show brings together an intergenerational group of Latine and Latin American artists working from the 1990s to today, including Laura Aguilar, Martine Gutierrez, Jesús Hilario-Reyes, Xandra Ibarra, Teresa Margolles, Guadalupe Rosales and Joey Terrill. Across painting, performance, photography, sculpture, textile, collage, video and immersive installation, their work explores nightlife as a space of survival and play, collaboration and solidarity.
MCASD accompanies the exhibition with a guide, “Survival and Play within Visiones Nocturnas,” that invites visitors to follow those intertwining stories through the galleries. It is a thoughtful, uplifting visit: art that honors chosen families, shared music and the simple happiness of being together.
The museum is at 700 Prospect Street in La Jolla, a short stroll from the coast, so visitors can pair the galleries with ocean views and a walk through the village. For San Diego, Visiones Nocturnas is a bright celebration of creativity and belonging, right in the heart of the city’s museum scene.
Photo: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
