As Detroit’s primary contemporary art institution, MOCAD (or, more formally, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) has been pivotal in fostering cultural awareness and arts education in the city. At the heart of its grassroots mission is a commitment to amplifying diverse voices—engaging the community by presenting work that speaks directly to its lived realities, challenges and hopes. To learn more about the institution’s approach, Observer caught up with Jova Lynne and Marie Madison-Patton, the co-directors of MOCAD. “Detroit has a lot of diverse voices, but for the main part, our audience is 67 percent of the BIPOC community,” Madison-Patton said. “We always have to make sure that we are serving this diverse community with our programming.”
MOCAD’s exhibition program is similarly shaped by the cultural richness of Detroit. “We take inspiration from the city’s layered histories, traditions and creative movements—past and present—and think about how those cultural expressions can live and evolve within the museum,” Lynne told Observer. “Whether through visual art, music, performance or community-based projects, we aim to reflect the spirit of Detroit: its innovation, resilience and deep-rooted sense of place.” The main goal is to create a space where cultural storytelling is at the forefront and where people from all parts of the city can see their neighborhoods, values and lived experiences represented and celebrated. “Part of our mission is to position MOCAD as a hub for contemporary art so that we can amplify its voices and just be a center for dialogues around the important issues for the community,” Patton added. “This is not just through artistic reflection but also through social issues.”
MOCAD’s upcoming show, “The Gun Violence Memorial Project (GVMP),” which opens May 2, addresses the ongoing gun violence epidemic in the United States. It honors victims through art that pairs a moment of remembrance with critical reflection and education around one of the country’s most pressing issues.
At the heart of the project is a memorial or contemporary monument that resulted from a collaboration between Songha & Company, with artist Hank Willis Thomas serving as creative director, the Boston-based MASS Design Group and gun violence prevention organization Purpose Over Pain. The installation’s four glass pavilions, constructed with 700 transparent bricks, are a reference to the weekly average of gun-related deaths in the United States in 2019 when the memorial was first presented at the Chicago Architecture Biennale. Inside, the pavilions hold embedded remembrance objects donated by the families of victims of gun violence: baby shoes, graduation tassels and photographs. The installation refuses to let the trauma of gun violence become an abstract symbolic monument, rendering it instead physically and politically present. More importantly, the project engages communities through local collection events, allowing individuals to contribute objects to honor their lost loved ones.
Madison-Patton pointed out that MOCAD is a non-collecting institution, which allows it to be a little bit more experimental with the art it shows without being tied to displaying a certain collection. “We have autonomy, and we focus on amplifying its voices.” The institution provides a dynamic platform for local artists, spotlighting and showcasing local talents. “We are deeply committed to showcasing the incredible talent of Detroit’s local artists, providing them with a prominent platform to exhibit their work alongside national and international artists,” Lynne told Observer. “We want the artists here to feel seen, supported and celebrated—because the creative energy in this city is unmatched.” The aim is to amplify local artists’ voices and broaden the conversation surrounding contemporary art in Detroit. “We’re committed to making space for local voices while making sure they’re part of larger conversations in contemporary art.”
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Detroit is home to a vibrant community of visual artists, curators, collectors and cultural institutions. “Detroit’s art scene has grown so much since MOCAD opened its doors in 2006. Back then, there was already a strong creative pulse in the city, but it didn’t always get the recognition it deserved,” Lynne said, adding that over the years, they have seen more spaces open up, more artists stay and build careers here and more national attention on what’s happening in Detroit.
Since the metropolis filed for bankruptcy in 2013, the various plans for its revitalization created the space for new art and cultural initiatives, resulting in the emergence of artists’ studios and new galleries, largely downtown. Among the most dynamic and active is Library Street Collective, which acts both as a commercial art gallery operating from a recently renovated Romanesque-style deconsecrated church and a multi-site art center serving the entire community with high-quality art exhibitions and cultural programming, fostering connections between Detroit’s local creative scene and the international art world.
“What’s exciting is how expansive and layered the ecosystem has become—there are more voices in the mix, more stories being told and a real sense of community across disciplines,” said Lynne. “The transformation is not just in the quantity of art produced, but also in the increase of voices, narratives and perspectives being represented.”
Another upcoming show, also opening on May 2, promises a fresh look into artists of African descent, focusing on practices and research that confront and engage with the rapidly advancing new media practices. Titled “Code Switch: Distributing Blackness, Reprogramming Internet Art,” the multi-site exhibition will explore and redefine the history of ‘Black data.’ Produced in collaboration with The Kitchen and first presented in New York City, this second iteration of the exhibition builds on a historic archival timeline of radical visions from Black makers and thinkers, bringing together an intergenerational roster of contemporary artists, including some with ties to Detroit, to unpack the correlation between body and machine, informed further by the age of the internet.
Education and accessibility are other key aspects of MOCAD’s commitment to connecting and fostering the local community. The exhibition program is enhanced by regular curator and artist walkthroughs and talks. That said, Madison-Patton acknowledged that paying attention to the museum’s language has been an important part of ensuring it can be accessible to the broader Detroit community. “We make sure that in terms of length and tone, we are not writing at an academic level,” she said. “The standard is eighth-grade level so that everyone can understand the art that we’re showing.” MOCAD is similarly cognizant of language barriers. “Looking at the highest percentages in terms of cultural groups in our area, we are now looking to have Spanish and Arabic translations,” Madison-Patton added.
MOCAD’s educational department is now providing programming targeting different age and demographic ranges with tailored programs. One of the most remarkable initiatives is the fully funded field trips for Title 1 schools in Detroit, from kindergarten through grade 12. “They’re coming to the museum to tour the exhibitions, but we have art-making activities so that they can learn about the exhibitions on their level,” Madison-Patton said, noting that kids of different ages can spend half the day at the museum, during which time they get lunch, make and see art and can hopefully learn that the museum is a welcoming, inviting and accessible place they will want to come back to in the future. “Contemporary art is not friendly and accessible. Most of the time, this is because of the interpretation level of it, but we want to make sure that everyone of all ages and demographics can really enjoy what we show.”
As part of its efforts to strengthen its ties to the local community, both in terms of accessibility and engagement, the museum recently created an emerging patron’s council—a new, younger advisory board to ensure they’re able to talk to new generations of art enthusiasts and bring in a younger crowd of people. It has also explored innovative initiatives that connect art with urban agriculture, involve practical training around critical issues like hypothermia and Narcan use and shine a spotlight on Detroit-based food and art vendors. “We’re really just talking to our community. We’re talking to the people, and we’re doing more through partnerships with other local organizations,” Madison-Patton said. “It’s mainly just talking and listening.”
At a time when art institutions are being forced to reckon with their impact and their role in their communities, MOCAD has quietly built a case study on how to do it right. Over the past decade, the museum has modeled what it looks like to cultivate cultural awareness, critical engagement and creative thinking in a very diverse community like Detroit, responding to the realities of today while fostering its future.
“The Gun Violence Memorial Project (GVMP)” and “Code Switch: Distributing Blackness, Reprogramming Internet Art” open at MOCAD, Detroit on May 2, 2025.
