[1] The museum presents focus and major monographic and group exhibitions of national and international contemporary artists as well as artwork by University of Houston School of Art students.

The current exhibition policy, adopted by the Advisory Board and University Regents in 1986, focuses upon art of the past 100 years and its artistic, cultural and intellectual antecedents.

The museum frequently forges collaborative partnerships from among Houston's wealth of cultural organizations and educational institutions.

Exhibition-related public programs and activities complement and elucidate each exhibition, from casual Brown Bag Lunch Tours to lively audience interaction during their "Contemporary Salons."

Recent major exhibitions of artists include Radcliffe Bailey (2001); Fred Wilson: Objects & Installations, 1979-2000 (2003); Chuck Close (2003); Jessica Stockholder: Kissing the Wall, 1988-2003 (2004); Urs Fischer: Mary Poppins (2006); Amy Sillman (2007); Jean-Luc Mylayne (2007); Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space (2008); Existed: Leonardo Drew (2009); Jon Pylypchuk (2009); Josephine Meckseper (2009); Gabriel Kuri (2010); Tony Feher (2012); Andy Coolquitt (2013); Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art (2013); Zineb Sedira (2013); Candice Breitz (2014); Miguel Amat (2014); Mel Chin (2015); Janet Biggs (2015); Hubbard/Birchler (2015); Zina Saro-Wiwa (2015); Matthew Ronay (2016); Hilary Lloyd (2016); Slavs and Tatars: Mirrors for Princes (2016); Analia Saban (2017); Blake Rayne (2017); The Propeller Group (2017); Sergio Prego (2017); Anton Vidokle (2018); Richard Rezac (2018); Alfred Leslie (2018–19); Rebecca Morris (2019); Amie Siegel (2019); Paul Mpagi Sepuya (2019-20); Mariam Ghani (2020); Rodney McMillian (2020); Simon Fujiwara (2020); Stephanie Syjuco (2020); Martine Gutierrez (2021); Jamal Cyrus (2021); Molly Zuckerman-Hartung (2021); and Monira Al Qadiri (2022).

By extending the educational and scholarly programs of the University to the community, the museum promotes learning as a continuous process, linking contemporary ideas and people.

Through a broad range of programs, Blaffer presents enriching museum experiences while providing arts education opportunities for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.