MOCAD is housed in a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) building, a converted former auto dealership designed by Albert Kahn.

It was curated by Klaus Kertess, and included work by Tabaimo, Kara Walker, Nari Ward, and others.

Their third exhibition, which ran until July 2007 was titled "Stuff: The International Collection of Burt Aaron."

[citation needed] In 2013, the museum exhibited Mike Kelley's "Mobile Homestead".

Artists and musicians such as Roy Ayers, Amp Fiddler, Dan Deacon's Round Robin, Michael Yonkers, Marlon Magas, Pink Reason, and Roscoe Mitchell; writers like John Giorno and Bill Berkson; and performance artists such as Jody Oberfelder, Will Power and Pat Oleszko have been featured at MOCAD.