rootoftwo's 'Anyspace? Whatever.' at MOCAD

The artist duo rootoftwo, known for their civic and creative studio practice, have opened the exhibition 'Anyspace? Whatever.' at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), on view until 20 September 2026. The exhibition transforms the museum into a participatory space where visitors are invited to imagine alternative civic futures through games, speculative design, architectural propositions, and AI-mediated dialogue. Central to the show is 'The Rotunda', an AI system that engages visitors in conversations about civic life, positioned not as a neutral tool but as a platform for deliberative democracy. The duo, who moved to Detroit in 2008, emphasize the importance of civic imagination in countering 'under-imagined futures' and the sense of inevitability that dominates contemporary thinking on technology. They critique the embedded biases in technological systems and aim to make invisible infrastructures of surveillance and data capitalism legible. The exhibition includes works such as '463NCY', a game that allows players to rehearse resistance against surveillance and data harvesting, developed with communities in Detroit, Los Angeles, and Paris. In an interview with ART AFRICA, rootoftwo discuss their approach, the politics of participation, and the role of art in exposing power structures. They stress that artists alone cannot shape the future but can act as catalysts for collective action. The exhibition features installation views photographed by Timothy Johnson.