Karon Davis and Kahlil Joseph. | Image: Still from Artbound episode MOCA: Beyond The Museum Walls.
Artbound episode MOCA: Beyond The Museum Walls explores the programming of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, investigating new programming and curatorial methods that are redefining what it means to be a 21st century museum. This documentary features the The Underground Museum, Wolvesmouth, and Public Fiction. Watch the episodes debut Tuesday, May 31 at 9 p.m., or check for rebroadcasts here.
When late artist Noah Davis opened the doors to the Underground Museum in 2012, he set out to offer an alternative art space that could showcase museum-quality art to diverse communities for free. And in 2015, the Arlington Heights creative space entered a long-term partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, to display MOCA's dormant permanent collections and bring them back to life in a multi-exhibition series.
Today, with a bookstore, garden, workshops, and exhibition galleries, the Underground Museum continues to push the boundaries of a traditional museum. In a recent interview for our upcoming episode, Karon Davis, co-founder of the Underground Museum/wife of Noah Davis discussed his vision of providing low-income neighboring communities access to art, and how the space is defining itself as the 21st century museum.
Inside the Underground Museum. | Image: Still from Artbound episode MOCA: Beyond The Museum Walls.
--
--
What were the early beginnings of the Underground Museum?
When we started the museum, people thought we were crazy. Theyre like, You want to borrow our works, what? We asked collectors. We asked museums. We asked galleries. Everyone said no. Noah was like, Okay, this is what were going to do. Were going to make it ourselves. Our first show was Imitation of Wealth, where he took these ugly fluorescent lights and he ripped them down -- we made Dan Flavins. We found an old vacuum and we made a Jeff Koons' vacuum cleaner. He wanted to show that you could just take anything mundane and make it beautiful or create your own work of art. People thought they were real. They would come in the space. They were like, How did you get this in the hood?
Everythings come full circle once MOCA came into the picture. It really is a testimony of dreams come true. I know that sounds clich but we had this dream. We thought we would never be able to have museum quality art in this space, in this location, and now we do.
Installation view of storefront: Noah Davis: Imitation of Wealth, August 29, 2015 - February 29, 2016 at MOCA Grand Avenue. | Photo: Fredrik Nilsen, courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Why did you choose a storefront as your location?
I think the nature of a storefront is to lure people in and be inviting and I think weve accomplished that. So 2012 is when we moved into this space, it was soon after Kevin Davis, Noah and Kahlils father, passed away. And Noah had the vision to take four storefronts, gut them out, and create the Underground Museum. We lived here for about a year I would say, with a three-year-old, Moses, and [Noah] painted in this room that were shooting in right now. We slowly knocked down each wall and eventually it became this beautiful work of art.
When people step into the bookstore library, theyre curious and they want to go all the way to the garden, and people stay for a long time. They want to be in here, they want to meet other people, they want to engage in conversation and exchange ideas. I think that weve done a good job in laying the foundation for that and creating a space of freedom and refuge.
Noah Davis. | Image: Still from Artbound episode MOCA: Beyond The Museum Walls.
What was Noah Davis' mission for the Underground Museum?
When we first started nobody would lend us work. His mission was to bring museum quality [work] to this neighborhood that was basically an art desert, and also to [give] people from the neighborhood access to this work that they wouldnt go see. They wouldnt go to MOCA or a lot of people who came into the space had never been to those spaces. Noah always talked about how the museum could be very intimidating and its true -- the language used, the buildings itself. Here people are free to explore the spaces and the garden.
How do you see the Underground Museum as a 21st century museum?
I will say that whats mercurial about the Underground Museum is although its called a museum technically it actually functions as more of a work of art in that its a Noah creation, as opposed to a group of wealthy people coming together who arent artists. It also defies a traditional museum on a lot of levels. Its not just a museum, it is not really a museum, and its not really a gallery, and its really a studio, and its not really a garden, and its not really a bookstore. Thats whats so great to me about the Underground Museum is it defies -- its slippery.
David Hammons, In the Hood, 1993. | Image: Still from Artbound episode MOCA: Beyond The Museum Walls.
How is the Underground Museum an artist's project, and not just an exhibition space?
Theres definitely a lot of artists that anytime artists move into a neighborhood, scenes change and shift, and there are a lot of artists like Theaster Gates and Rick Lowe that have gone into communities and sculpted them and created this environment that attracts people and lifts up the neighborhood. Its exciting to be a part of that, and thats a work of art: taking something thats so mundane or concrete and making a beautiful building, making a purple garden in the back that the community can enjoy.
Can you discuss the exhibition Non-Fiction and what it meant to Noah Davis?
Non-Fiction is the second of the series of shows Noah put together with MOCA. He left about 18 shows for us to complete for him. Non-Fiction
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
27/10/2025
Reid Davenport attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Life After at The Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marsha...
27/10/2025
As the days grow shorter and the nights get darker, there's nothing like getting swept up in a story that sends shivers down your spine. In honor of spooky ...
27/10/2025
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a new carriage agreement....
27/10/2025
LONDON As Hollywood jumps into the production of mini-dramas, a new study from Ampere Analysis finds that more than one in 10 internet users have watched drama ...
27/10/2025
LONDON Yealink, a provider of unified communication and collaboration solutions, has joined the NDI ecosystem with the availability of its SmartVision 80 premiu...
27/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outl...
27/10/2025
ESPOO, Finland European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive ...
27/10/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast has expanded NOW TV Latino, its Spanish-language live TV and streaming offering, adding five more channels from Univision, ViX Premium with...
27/10/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present its latest products and solutions at InterBEE 2025 (Hall 5, Booth 5218) Makuhari Messe in Chiba, ...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the New Netflix Thriller Arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
Karon Davis and Kahlil Joseph. | Image: Still from Artbound episode MOCA: Beyond The Museum Walls. 
