Author: dlectricity

The Dlectricity Light Bike Parade returns to Midtown on Saturday September 23^rd and is the official “Rolling Art Display” of the weekend event! It’s time to plan your bicycle light decorations and register to ride. There will be prizes for best decoration in the following categories:

• Most Creative Adult Bike Light Display
• Most Artistic Bike Light Display
• Most Creative Youth Bike Display (under 12)
• Most Unique Bicycle Helmet Decoration
• Best Team Themed Bike Light Exhibit (between 4-6 bikes)
• Most Original Family Bike Light Exhibit (Adult/Kids)

There are many options for decorating your bike with lights for the Dlectricity Light Bike Parade. The simplest is purchasing already constructed battery powered lights then securely attach them to your ride. There will be a limited number of light decorations onsite the night of the parade to help enhance your bike.

If you are a “Do It Yourself” creative type, you can convert any holiday light string to battery power. Here is a link to an article on how to convert lights to battery power for bike decorations:

http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/dc-christmas-lights.html

Have fun decorating your bike and see you on September 23^rd!

Click here to REGISTER for the Light Bike Parade.

Find additional information about the Dlectricity Light Bike Parade here:
https://test-dlectricity.pantheonsite.io/light-bike-parade/

It’s only fitting that a project at the intersection of technological creation and art will be presented at the Michigan Science Center, an institution whose mission is to inspire curious minds to discover, explore and appreciate science, technology, engineering and math.

Jennifer Steinkamp’s “Orbit” will be projected onto the facade. It highlights the cyclical nature of time through an animated, intricate digital projection of a tree.

Thank you so much to the Michigan Science Center for being an excellent partner on DLECTRICITY, and for everything you do to bring hands-on science and technology to the city of Detroit. And thanks to Jennifer and Brian Hermelin for their sponsorship of “Orbit”!

DLECTRICITY presents headlining artist Rashaad Newsome in conversation with Taylor Aldridge, assistant curator in the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) contemporary art department. The talk will take place:

Saturday, September 23
2:00 p.m.
Location:  The DIA Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall

Newsome and Aldridge will discuss the artist’s origins in New Orleans and the city’s influence on his participatory, community-driven performances; multiplicity within Black culture and identity; and Newsome’s use of collage as a core to his practice, among other topics.

The discussion will be followed by a short Q & A session.

Rashaad Newsome presents three projects at DLECTRICITY – King of Arms Procession, Shade Compositions performance, and “Phantasm” video projection in the DIA Great Hall.

For more information, times and locations, please visit here.

Join DLECTRICITY for live music at the Bluewater “Luminaria Magna” Lightbox at the corner of Woodward and Warren. DJs perform on the hour each night of the festival. We’re proud to showcase Willy Wompa, Ian Finkelstein, Mike Medow, Anthony Jasper, Pirahnahead, Haintso, SHIGETO, Charles Trees, and Ryan Dahl. Thanks to FaShon Vega for curating the music schedule!

Friday, September 22:

7:00 p.m. – Willy Wompa | Sponsored by Bluewater Technologies
8:00 p.m. – Ian Fink (Live Set_) | Sponsored by the The Carr Center with the The Yaffe Group
9:00 p.m. – Mike Medow with FaShon Vega’s Star Tours
10:00 p.m. – Anthony Jasper
11:00 p.m. – Pirahnahead

Saturday, September 23

7:00 p.m. – Haintso of the Seraphine Collectice
8:00 p.m. – Ian Fink (Live Set_) | Sponsored by the Carr Center with the Jaffe Group
9:00 p.m. – Shigeto with FaShon Vega’s Star Tours
10:00 p.m. – Charles Trees
11:00 p.m. – Ryan Dahl:

DLECTRICITY Light Bike Parade Staging Area:
6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Sophia Softky DJs
Location: Wayne State University Gullen Mall near the Undergraduate Library and the Student Center.

For more info about the DJ line-up, go here.

There’s no doubt that the Detroit Public Library Main Branch is often called the most beautiful building in Detroit. It was designed in the Italian-Renaissance style by Cass Gilbert—the same architect who designed the US Supreme Court Building in DC and the Woolworth Building in NYC, one of the country’s first skyscrapers.

Check out 7 wonders of the space here.

The Detroit Public Library system contains over 4.1 million items spread across 23 branches, the largest library system in the state. DPL hosts book clubs, offers career and employment assistance and computer skills classes, and houses a teen center at the main branch to provide an inspiring environment for learning.

We are so excited for Klip Collective’s 3D video mapping project, “The Librarian,” to illuminate the Woodward façade and highlight the essential work of librarians.

Thank you so much to the Detroit Public Library for your partnership in Dlectricity. We would not be here without you!

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is home to the largest single exhibition on African American history in existence in the world.

The Wright hosts over 300 public events annually and is one of the most integral sources of arts and culture programming in the city. The building itself is an impressive architectural feat; the glass dome is only one foot shy of the width of the US Capitol Dome.

Be sure to check out the museum next weekend and then catch both projects they are hosting for DLECTRICITY: Jason Isaacs’ “The Black Love Project” and the 2016 and 2017 Fellows Photo Story Premiere from “Facing Change: Documenting Detroit.”

Thank you so much to the Wright Museum for being a fixture of art and culture in the city of Detroit and for hosting these two projects. We would not be here without your support!

The Dlectricity Light Bike Parade returns to Midtown on Saturday September 23^rd and is the official “Rolling Art Display” of the weekend festivities! It’s time to plan your bicycle light decorations and register to ride. There will be prizes for best decoration in the following categories:

• Most Creative Adult Bike Light Display
• Most Artistic Bike Light Display
• Most Creative Youth Bike Display (under 12)
• Most Unique Bicycle Helmet Decoration
• Best Team Themed Bike Light Exhibit (between 4-6 bikes)
• Most Original Family Bike Light Exhibit (Adult/Kids)

Where to get Bike Lights

You can purchase battery powered holiday light almost anywhere! Here are some popular items or simply search the Internet for Battery Powered LED Christmas Lights. You are sure to find something that fits your budget and style!

We will also have a limited number of light decorations onsite the night of the parade to help enhance your bike!

• http://www.homedepot.com/b/Holiday-Decorations-Christmas-Lights/Battery/N-5yc1vZc3tbZ1z0z3q1
• https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/battery-operated-string-lights
• https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/56292/S4-INVIS18MULBO.html
• https://thirdkindlights.com/product/bike-accessory-lights/

Always remember to think about safety when adding lights. You don’t want them to fall off and interfere with your wheels or steering! Here’s a link of how to add lights to your bike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnBh284xw2g

Have fun decorating your bike and see you on September 23^rd!

Since 1885, The Detroit Institute of Arts has been a fixture of art and culture in the city of Detroit.

The DIA’s collection is one of the top six in the country (out of over 35,000 museums nationwide). Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” frescoes and Vincent van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait,” the first van Gogh painting to enter a US museum collection, make the DIA one of the most impressive museums in America.

But it’s more than just the collection that makes the DIA one of the country’s greatest gems. Installed in its current location on Woodward Avenue in 1927, the DIA has continued its mission to bring art to everyone through its extensive community outreach and arts programming.  Check it out here!

We certainly could not have Dlectricity without the energy, dedication and support of the DIA. Thank you so much for hosting a remarkable 8 Dlectricity projects, including the Electric Park Family Friendly Zone presented by The Kresge Foundation, on your grounds! And for keeping parts of the museum open late during the festival.

In the true spirit of Dlectricity, be sure to enjoy this gem of Detroit at night!

DLECTRICITY is pleased to bring “FLORA” by Berlin-based artist Philipp Artus to Detroit Homecoming and Dlectricity 2017!

Artus is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker who explores the manifestation of life through experimental animations, light installations and drawings. Much of Artus’ work is digitally generated, but remains based in the natural world.

“FLORA” is an interactive installation of animation generated by overlapping sine waves that travel through a string of lines. The viewer can control the animation with a touchpad, thus each viewer has a unique experience. Originally inspired by the motion of his cat’s tail, Artus’ simple system of lines can create an endless combination of abstract shapes. Check it out on his website here!

Artus’ piece will also be on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Kresge Court as part of Detroit Homecoming on September 14—a little preview of what is to come at Dlectricity! If you are coming to Homecoming but will not make it to Dlectricity, we are excited to give you a taste of the festival.

Thanks to the William Davidson Foundation and the Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation for their support of this installation. Thanks to the Detroit Institute of Arts for hosting this project and to Detroit Homecoming for their partnership!

Artus won first prize at the Visual Music Awards in Frankfurt and his work has been shown at the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Check out a review of FLORA here, get to know Philipp Artus here. 

Dlectricity showcases work in many media, sculpture included! Australian artist Amanda Parer is bringing her project “Intrude,” an installation comprised of five light-up, enormous nylon inflatable rabbits to be placed in the College for Creative Studies Josephine F. Ford Sculpture Garden.

The title of “Intrude” is a reference to Australia’s struggle with rabbits, introduced by white settlers in 1788 and overrunning many of the country’s native flora and fauna. “Intrude” plays on the collective memory of the furry, innocent white rabbit of fairy tales, while simultaneously scaling them up to enormous size to address “the elephant in the room” of their destructive environmental impact.

Last year, “Intrude” toured 5 cities in the US. Most recently, “Intrude” was shown in August at Singapore’s first ever civic district light festival. The rabbits were also exhibited at the Wave Festival in Breckenridge, CO earlier this month. If you happen to be down under, Parer’s “Fantastic Planet” will be presented at the Brisbane Festival in Australia, September 9-30.

Parer was the recipient of the Blake Art Prize in Sydney, the Tattersalls Art Prize in Brisbane, and the Glover Art Prize in Tasmania in 2014.

Parer’s bunnies have traveled to over 50 cities in 4 continents—we are so excited to add Detroit to that list.

Thank you so much to Zekelman Industries for their generous support of this project. Thank you so much to the College for Creative Studies for hosting this project!

Check out a video about the installation of “Intrude” here!