The "MAR" is installed in Praça Mauá, in two buildings with heterogeneous and interconnected profiles: the Dom João VI Palace, listed and eclectic, and the neighboring building, in a modernist style - originally a bus terminal. The old palace houses the exhibition halls of the museum. The neighboring building is the space of the School of Look, which is an environment for the production and provocation of collective and personal experiences, with a primary focus on the training of educators in the public school system.

An initiative of the City Hall of Rio in partnership with the Roberto Marinho Foundation, MAR has activities that involve collection, registration, research, preservation and return to the community of cultural goods. Proactive space to support education and culture, the museum was born with a school - the School of the Look -, whose museological proposal is innovative: to foster the development of an educational program of reference for actions in Brazil and abroad, combining art and education based on the curatorial program that guides the institution.