“We don’t really consider MOCAD a museum.
We consider it a laboratory for public
engagement with the arts.”

— Elyse Foltyn

ABOVE: Untitled (woman with
spotted scarf) by Kay Harwood
was part of of the 2007
exhibit “Stuff: International
Contemporary Art from the
Collection of Burt Aaron.”
LEFT: A call-for-artists poster for
“Shrinking Cities,” exhibited in
2007

50 Cent, Alex Melamid

dance, many Jewish artists spot-
lighted their work. They reach
from internationally known
graphic novelist Art Spiegelman
to local filmmaker Oren
Goldenberg.
Alex Melamid, who has lived
in Israel and whose works have
become part of the collections
of New York’s Metropolitan
Museum of Art and Museum of
Modern Art, had his first solo
showing at MOCAD with paint-
ings of African American rap-
pers. Two had Detroit ties — 50
Cent (Curtis James Jackson III),
who was discovered by Motown’s
Eminem, and Common (Lonnie

Rashid Lynn Jr.), who has collab-
orated with the city’s MC J. Dilla.
“I try to explain that even
people like me, at 62, can discover
new things, especially if they rely
on their children,” Melamid told
the Jewish News in 2008, when his
exhibit was shown and in keeping
with a MOCAD outlook that set
up a Teen Council.
Jens Hoffmann, who serves as
the Susanne Feld Hilberry senior
curator-at-large for MOCAD,
is deputy director of the Jewish
Museum in New York. He works
closely with Elysia Borowy-
Reeder, also of Jewish heritage
and MOCAD executive director

details

for three years.
“I’m enjoying a nice balance
between the two museums,”
Hoffmann has told the JN. “The
Jewish Museum is more set and
can mount very ambitious exhi-
bitions, while MOCAD is much
more fluid with a smaller team
that works very collaboratively.”
Hoffmann connected with
MOCAD because of curating an
exhibit in California that traveled
to Michigan.
“I was fascinated with Detroit
after reading Making the Modern
by Terry Smith,” he says. “That
was like an introduction to the
city about five years ago, before I

ever went there, and I found the
city very welcoming.”
Hoffmann’s most recent project
for the contemporary art center,
curating Detroit City/Detroit
Affinities by Matthew Angelo
Harrison, will be on view through
Jan. 1. It showcases sculpture
made with 3-D printing.
Elyse Foltyn, a member of
Temple Beth El and founding
trustee of the Jewish Women’s
Foundation, is co-chair of the
MOCAD board. She visited
MOCAD for five years before
making a commitment to partici-
pate by using her skills as a long-
time investment professional.
“I recently worked on writing
the MOCAD strategic plan for the
next five years,” says Foltyn, who
maintains a personal blog that
covers survival and includes com-
mentary about the Holocaust and
its effects on her family. “We’re
trying to deliver great experiences

with visual, performance and lit-
erary arts.
“We don’t really consider
MOCAD a museum. We consider
it a laboratory for public engage-
ment with the arts. It’s very free-
ing to present programming that
fuels discussion, provides oppor-
tunities for local talent and main-
tains a platform for those holding
international attention.”
Ellen Cantor, who grew up in
Michigan and studied at Brandeis
University, developed an interna-
tional career as a filmmaker and
showcased her work at MOCAD.
Miro paid tribute to Cantor and
her projects at a memorial service
for the artist in 2013.
“We have exceeded our early
goals for MOCAD,” Miro says.
“By covering different media and
presenting educational programs,
we have opened the city to con-
temporary art, and I believe that
is helpful to the rebirth of Detroit.
“In the future, I’d like to bring
in more craft media and estab-
lish an endowment to secure the
future of MOCAD.”

*

The MOCAD Gala & Art Auction will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, at the museum; tickets start at $1,000. The afterglow starts
at 10 p.m.; tickets begin at $15. (313) 832-6622; mocadetroit.org.

October 6 • 2016

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