By Luis A. Croquer, Director + Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit

When I moved to Detroit in 2008 to head the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), I was fascinated by the potential of our building to be not only a place for display of challenging and world-class artwork, but also a space of dialogue for artists in the creation of new work and a platform for the community to learn about and connect to the art of our time. In its fifth anniversary year, and in my third year as Director and Chief Curator, I am confident that the institution is doing just that.

Since its inception, the Museum has featured the work of artists from over 40 countries, including, of course, the United States. Growing up as the son of a diplomat, I have always been suspicious of borders, both real and conceptual, and continue working to productively erase them in order to create new conversations about the global, national and local contemporary art scenes.

In the last two and half years we have produced solo shows of emerging talent as diverse in their practice as Alexander Gutke, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Martha Friedman. We have also featured artists who command critical attention such as Art Spiegelman and Christian Marclay, both artists whose work I deeply admire. Solo presentations of rising stars of undeniable importance have included Jesper Just; Ann Lislegaard’s 2062, a project curated by Elizabeth Brown and first presented at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle and, most recently, Edgar Arceneaux, whom we commissioned to create a new suite of drawings titled Miracles and Jokes as part of a larger exhibition.

Group exhibitions have allowed us to explore the limits of curatorial practice and to infuse our program with the perspectives of guest curators that introduce the work of many diverse artists. Especially worth mentioning is Spatial City: An Architecture of Idealism, the first-ever US presentation of the French Regional Contemporary Art Funds (Frac), a collaboration between the Frac and three Midwestern institutions (INOVA, Milwaukee; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; and MOCAD); the French Culture Ministry; the French Embassy in the United States; Platform (the association of the Fracs); and the French American Cultural Exchange (FACE).

Two milestones for me have been the opportunities to present the exceptional–yet under-recognized–work of two of my favorite progressive thinkers, Jef Geys and Yona Friedman. Their commitment to exploring the boundaries of their practice and their incisive and innovative thoughts on what constitutes a community are quiet, yet powerful and tangible examples of art’s power as a transformational force.

Dennis Scholl, VP for Arts of the Knight Foundation picked Detroit and MOCAD’s program as one of his “Top 8 for 2011.” With Mr. Scholl and the Knight Foundation’s focus on innovation and quality, we are especially proud of being on that list. The Knight Foundation’s pointed recognition of the unique and exploratory quality of our programs is allowing us to pursue our goals with zeal, excellence and most importantly, independence.