Inaugurated in 2002, the Mata Gallery was one of the first exhibition buildings of the Inhotim Institute, and was initially internally called a "museum". The project was designed by architect Paulo Orsini, who proposed a simple and light design for the building, with glass connecting the exterior to the interior of the gallery. Periodically, it hosts new temporary exhibitions with works from the Inhotim collection, Olafur Eliasson, Viewing machine, 2001, for example, already occupied the first room in Mata, in 2008, before gaining the permanent space, now outdoors.