arts & life

museums

Adventures
In Art

(And Context)

MOCAD celebrates a decade of

pushing visitors to the edges of the

contemporary experience.

Suzanne Chessler | Contributing Writer

ABOVE: MOCAD Executive Director Elysia Borowy-Reed with board members Maggie Allesee and
Marsha Miro. RIGHT, TOP: Shatter, a production still by Sanford Biggers, is part of the exhibit
“Subjective Cosmology,” on display through Jan. 1, 2017. RIGHT, BOTTOM: Mobile Homestead is
a permanent art work by the late Mike Kelley, based on his childhood home in Westland, located
on the grounds of MOCAD.

40 October 6 • 2016

M

ike Kelley, the late and
famous multi-media artist
who grew up in the Metro
Detroit area, felt connected to the city
and wanted to make an enduring con-
tribution that would help draw artistic
experiences into it.
As the Museum of Contemporary
Art Detroit (MOCAD) was being
established, Kelley offered to create
and locate a replica of his childhood
home as an annex to the main build-
ing, what had been a car dealership
on Woodward transformed to hold
exhibitions, films, concerts and literary
presentations.
The replica would provide additional
space for artistic offerings that express
outlooks for today.
The idea for locating what would
be named the Mobile Homestead was
developed through conversations with
Marsha Miro, MOCAD founding direc-
tor and board president, who got to
know the artist by communicating with
and about him while writing for the
Free Press.
It’s been 20 years since the idea for
MOCAD began among friends and 10
years since it opened as a result of their
determination. MOCAD, which doesn’t
hold art but hosts changing projects,
will celebrate its achievements and

anniversary Oct. 7 with a dinner gala,
afterglow and a fundraising auction
spotlighting the kinds of works that
remain its focus.
“I love the way MOCAD has grown
and never been complacent,” says Miro,
who has been a member of Temple
Beth El and takes pride in the diversity
of artists and subjects that have been
featured at MOCAD. “The enthusiasm
of our board members, many from the
Jewish community, is an important
reason MOCAD has gained attention.”
The MOCAD building, renovated
with a grant from the Richard & Jane
Manoogian Foundation, developed into
a cultural center with financing from a
number of contributing organizations,
including the Knight Foundation,
Kresge Foundation and the Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
There have been 79 exhibitions and
close to 350,000 visitors.
“I didn’t want an admission price
to be a barrier, so people can view
our exhibitions and not pay a dollar,”
says Miro, who credits Julie Reyes
Taubman, author-photographer of
Detroit: 138 Square Miles, for being
a stronghold in launching the board.
“The organization has become more
stable than I ever dreamed.”
As MOCAD grew in visitor atten-