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Detroit gets a contemporary art museum
Art in America, Jan, 2007 by Raphael Rubinstein
The latest addition to the roster of U.S. institutions devoted to contemporary art is the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (MOCAD). Housed in a former auto dealership in midtown near the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), MOCAD opened its doors on Oct. 26 with an exhibition titled "Meditations in an Emergency" Organized by guest curator Klaus Kertess, the show presents work by nine artists, among them Mark Bradford, Roxy Paine, Kara Walker and Detroit sound artist Christopher Fachini. San Francisco artist Barry McGee's contribution is an immense graffiti design painted on the facade of the museum. Borrowing its title from a Frank O'Hara poem, the show aims to, in the curator's words, "explore this dark moment."
Originally built in the 1930s, the museum's 21,000-square-foot structure has undergone a limited renovation by Andrew Zago, a Detroit-born architect who directs the City College of New York's architecture master's program. With its peeling paint, unconcealed mechanical system, and exposed brick walls and steel beams, the space has been left intentionally raw-looking, a design decision that reflects both the fledgling institution's limited resources and the gritty nature of Detroit's urban landscape. Zago has drawn up plans for further renovation that the museum hopes to undertake within four years. Although it calls for a series of skylights, this second phase will retain the present rawness.
The inauguration of the non-collecting museum follows years of discussions within the local art community and an abandoned plan for MOCAD to operate in partnership with the DIA. The building was purchased for MOCAD's use by a foundation created by local art patrons Richard and Jane Manoogian (the former is the chair of the DIA's board of trustees). Against a background of reduced state and city arts funding--Michigan voters have twice rejected tax initiatives for art and culture in recent years--and Detroit's ongoing economic struggles, the museum relies exclusively on private support. At present, MOCAD has only two full-time employees, but now that the museum is open, there are plans to expand the staff. Following the model of New York's P.S. I, the museum's director, Marsha Miro, also plans to give local high school students an opportunity to intern at the museum.
MOCAD's next exhibition will be "Shrinking Cities" [opens Feb. 3], a multidisciplinary show that has been touring Europe and the U.S. (a portion of the exhibition is currently on view in New York at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery and the Van Alen Institute).The show examines the economic, social and cultural challenges of dramatic population losses in four former industrial centers--Detroit, Manchester/Liverpool, Halle-Leipzig and Ivanovo, Russia. MOCAD will present "Shrinking Cities" in collaboration with the Cranbrook Art Museum, located in the suburbs of Detroit. MOCAD has also launched a journal, Detroit, i.e., edited by Lynn Crawford and Mitch Cope. The inaugural issue, subtitled "Infrastructure," includes interviews with Kertess and Zago, along with contributions by Detroit artists and writers. In his interview Zago observes that "Detroit culture--from car design to music--has transformed world culture. At the same time it's odd, and perhaps a bit tragic, that part of Detroit's strong presence is created by vacancy and abandonment--but it's Detroit's reality. Any constructive future needs to frankly acknowledge and account for that reality as well."
COPYRIGHT 2007 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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