Detroit |

DLECTRICITY Site #5: The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit

Since its doors opened in 2006, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) has been a point of intersection in the contemporary arts. At the core of the museum’s mission is to educate, embolden and invigorate the Detroit community through contemporary arts. As a hub for artists and thinkers, MOCAD exhibits and collaborates with local Detroit artists, and often brings internationally acclaimed artists into the city to learn and experience it, typically resulting in a moment of convergence between that artist’s practice and the essence of Detroit. For each DLECTRICITY, MOCAD’s offerings make it one of the most vibrant sites of the festival.

The outdoor campus of the museum is spacious with a lot of wall space. Its West-facing facade sites directly on Woodward Avenue, and its East façade welcomes visitors in the parking lot. Both spots are large and have before showcased neon lights, as in the case of Martin Creed’s Work No. 790: Everything is Going to Be Alright on the West façade (2017), or video projections, like Zeynep Dagli on the East façade (also 2017). The front façade also provides plenty of wall space, and in 2017 it hosted E.S.P. TV’s You Don’t Say Much, Do You?

The Mike Kelley Mobile Homestead is a landmark for the Midtown arts community, and it is MOCAD’s only permanent installation. Conceived as a work of art by the artist Mike Kelley himself, the installation is a life-size replica of his childhood home in Westland, Michigan. The interior space maps out exactly as Kelly’s Westland home, and it generously offers additional spacing for public programming at the Museum, and often houses smaller exhibitions. Like what most homes have, the Homestead has a large, spacious and green front lawn that can accommodate sculptural works or even outdoor performances. DLECTRICITY artists in the past have incorporated the Mobile Homestead into their projects, like the Munich-based duo, Mayer + Empl had done in 2017.

Other artists that have displayed works around and inside MOCAD for DLECTRICITY include Shaun Gladwell, Nicola Kuperus, Adam Lee Miller, Mikki Olson, and Sameer Reddy. We look forward to another DLECTRICITY at MOCAD!

Mayer + Empl at the Mike Kelley Mobile Homestead, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit for DLECTRICITY 2017

Mikki Oslon’s “Let’s Dance” at MOCAD, DLECTRICITY 2012

DLECTRICITY Sites #3 and 4: The Wayne State Welcome Center and Woodward | Warren Greenspace

The cultural center of Detroit is the heart of DLECTRICITY. Through light, art, and imagination, the festival brings together the renowned institutions that congregate in Midtown. Wayne State University—the city’s primary public research university—is one of our integral partners to this connection. For each DLECTRICITY festival, the university offers up its architecture for creative transformation and its open spaces for artful conception. The Wayne State Welcome Center and the Woodward | Warren Greenspace have never failed to provide DLECTRICITY installations with room for interaction and potential.

Wayne State University embraces the fact that its Detroit campus gives students and faculty a college experience like no other. Its location in Midtown fosters connections among community organizations, institutions, local businesses, and long-time residents. The university’s commitment to arts and culture in the city has been “Warrior Strong” since 1968. We are happy to have Wayne State’s support in transforming the Midtown landscape into a light-art wonderland!

The Wayne State Welcome Center is situated on the corner of Woodward and Warren Avenue, and the Woodward | Warren Greenspace sits directly across from it to the south. The Welcome Center’s inviting indoor space has in the past hosted a sculptural media work by Polish-based nieDAsie Art Group. The audience could sit inside for an intimate experience with the installation, or view from the sidewalk thanks to the building’s sleek, mostly-glass design. So much can be done with the architecture and space of the Welcome Center building—vellum can cover the windows, projections can display on the glass panels, or a light-based performance can take place indoors!

The Woodward | Warren Greenspace has provided some of the most animating moments of past DLECTRICITY festivals. From Star Wars reenactments to immersive architectural structures, the park has been able to accommodate multiple large-scale projects at once or make room for scheduled programming. Past artists and groups that have exhibited here include DMet Design; Nicola Kuperus and Adam Miller; Bluewater Technologies, and the artist duo, Cuppetelli and Mendoza. In addition to the open space, DLECTRICITY artists can also use components of surrounding structures. The photo banner that typically shows Wayne State promotional imagery can for the festival be reversed and projected onto, making for an excellent and fairly large screen on Woodward Avenue.

We’re excited to see how artists and creators will light up these two spaces for DLCTRICITY 2020!

DLECTRICITY Site #1: Legends Plaza at the Detroit Historical Museum

One of our most favorite locations for showcasing large-scale projections is Legends Plaza at the Detroit Historical Museum, but the best part about collaborating with artists on DLECTRCITY is witnessing the unexpected ways they illuminate a space like this!

The Detroit Historical Museum is the city’s premier destination for time traveling. You can walk the winding streets of Old Detroit, follow the Underground Railroad or make your way through an automotive factory—these are just few of the many things that the museum has to offer! Their permanent and temporary exhibitions never neglect to give visitors valuable take-aways: insight into Detroit milestones and hardships, and a deeper appreciation for where our city stands today.

The Detroit Historical Museum is operated by the Detroit Historical Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Detroit history and artifacts, founded in 1921. It also oversees the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle State Park. The Detroit Historical Museum was founded in 1928. It was then a small museum, occupying only a suite on the 23^rd floor of what is now the Cadillac Tower in Downtown Detroit. Today, the museum is located in the cultural center of the city.

On the corner of Woodward Avenue and Kirby Street is Legends Plaza, a public memorial site dedicated to the cultural groundbreakers that hail from Detroit. Handprints of legends like Juan Atkins and Barry Sanders trim the perimeter of the plaza, making for an inspiring welcome to the Detroit Historical Museum and the perfect entryway to DLECTRICITY. The museum’s light-colored walls have previously allowed artists to transform the site into a theater, and the open space is large enough for a performance of any kind. In the past, DLECTRICITY has showcased artists such as Pope.L and Sue De Beer in the plaza, and we can’t wait to see who and what will be reimagining the exterior of the museum this coming September! Huge thanks to the Detroit Historical Society for providing another great site for art!