The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit began in 1995 when Detroit Free Press art critic Marsha Miro and the late Susanne Feld Hilberry, renowned owner of the former Susanne Hilberry Gallery, envisioned a new museum to expand Detroit’s contemporary art community. By connecting to the national and international art world, MOCAD is a nexus for educating the public about contemporary arts and music and plays a critical role in helping regenerate Detroit through the arts.

MOCAD’s Founding Director, Miro, began working with a small circle of contemporary art lovers and collectors to help realize the idea. Miro approached the Detroit Institute of Art’s Richard Manoogian, who immediately saw the project’s importance and agreed to support it. In January 2004, Miro and an advisory group of Masco Foundation and Manoogian Foundation directors—Lillian Bauder, Sharon Rothwell, and Melonie Colaianne–began envisioning the Museum with the help of the arts community. At their suggestion, Manoogian purchased and began renovating a former car dealership on Woodward Avenue and Garfield Street in Midtown Detroit for what would become the Museum’s home. Miro suggested that the 22,000-square-foot building designed by famed Detroit industrial architect Albert Kahn at the turn of the century be rethought using architect Andrew Zago. Rather than building the ubiquitous “white box,” Zago designed the structure to reflect the building’s evolution, making it an assemblage of periods old and new.

Learn more about MOCAD’s history.