The Artist, The Collection, The Foundation
The Modern Ancient Brown Foundation (MABF), founded by artist McArthur Binion, utilizes Binion’s legacy to cultivate a lasting ecosystem for future generations of artists and writers in the City of Detroit. Through its Core Programs––residencies, fellowships and public convening––MABF provides artists and writers the material stability that rigorous, sustained, creative practice requires. Our work celebrates the hidden aspects of creative labor; the periods of artistic practice that require private reflection and recurring incubation. This invisibilized working is essential to what eventually becomes visible: artworks, performances, research projects, articles, films and more. Critical Studies is the scaffolding for all of the work that we do. It is the method and the container by which we engage artists and writers for our programs, challenging them to think critically and stretch the bounds of their own conceptual and formal preconceived limitations. We encourage critical study through consistent individual inquiry and collective exchange.
The Fellowship
The Modern Ancient Brown Foundation Visiting Fellowship supports emerging scholars and writers with rigorous research practices who want to explore how their scholarship might expand across genre and form
The Residency
The Modern Ancient Brown Foundation Artist Residency supports studio practitioners seeking dedicated time, space, and material resources to develop their work in dialogue with Critical Studies.
Modern Ancient Brown Foundation invests in the conditions artists and writers need to develop impactful work: time, space, material support, sustained inquiry, and the freedom to experiment without a predetermined outcome.
“I want it to be modern. I want the work to be ancient. And I want it to be brown.”