MSU Broad Art Museum

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University stands as a striking architectural and cultural landmark, uniting contemporary vision with academic heritage. Designed by the renowned Zaha Hadid, its angular structure reflects the museum’s forward-thinking mission—to engage visitors with art that challenges, questions, and inspires. Opened in 2012, the museum continues the legacy of the Kresge Art Gallery, expanding its reach to become a dynamic center for artistic and intellectual exploration within both the university and the Greater Lansing community.

At the heart of the MSU Broad Art Museum is a commitment to photography as a medium of innovation and reflection. The museum’s growing photography collection spans historic and contemporary works, offering insight into how artists use the camera to interpret the world around them. From early documentary images that chronicle social change to experimental approaches exploring abstraction, identity, and technology, the collection underscores photography’s unique role in shaping cultural discourse.

Exhibitions at the museum frequently highlight the photographic arts, presenting both established figures and emerging voices from around the world. These exhibitions encourage dialogue between photography and other disciplines, emphasizing how visual storytelling intersects with politics, science, and human experience. The museum’s educational programs, artist talks, and workshops further enrich this engagement, providing students and visitors opportunities to examine photography’s evolving language and its power to convey truth and emotion.

Rooted in the academic spirit of Michigan State University, the Broad Art Museum treats photography not just as an art form, but as a tool for inquiry and connection. By situating contemporary photographic practice within a broader historical and social context, the museum invites its audience to see how the lens continues to shape the ways we understand art, culture, and the changing world around us.