DETROIT — Like the aisles of a discount shop, the gallery space is overstocked. The goods on view appear similar, too: kitchen gadgets, balloons, toys, office supplies, small electronics, and packaging marked by logos, some belonging to familiar brands. Taking on the subject of the 99-cent shop, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, known as MOCAD, has begun to resemble one. And, as if dictated by some retail merchandising strategy, the abundance and jumble of artworks on display is overwhelming.

MOCAD’s summer exhibition, “99 Cents or Less,” asked more than 100 artists based in the United States to make new works from materials purchased only at dollar stores, with a total budget of $99 each. The museum’s senior curator at large, Jens Hoffmann, invited participants to consider the dollar store — and its proliferation since the Great Recession — as an emblem of widening economic inequality, globalization, complex supply chains and rampant consumerism.