2021 Exhibition
8. Lantern Landscapes: The Past Spreads Out Before Us
Mask Required Within the Art Installation Zone (Regardless of Vaccination Status). Social Distancing Encouraged.
Artist Information
Lantern Landscapes: The Past Spreads Out Before Us uses hand-crafted, miniaturized buildings to recreate a landscape of 1910’s Detroit, depicting the quality of light when streetlights became common in the city. Artist Carrie Morris of Carrie Morris Arts Production (CMAP) created silhouette replicas of the buildings in that landscape at 1/20th scale, working with the Detroit Historical Society archives to research the DLECTRICITY festival area as it existed decades ago.
Each building is constructed from a wooden frame set with a matte lining, and installed with a hand-cut silhouette of the specific buildings that lined this section of Woodward Avenue in the 1910’s. The miniaturized buildings are installed with specialty light bulbs that cast a light similar to Detroit’s early street lights from the same time period.
CMAP’s installation includes video projection of interviews with contemporary community stakeholders who are creating the future of what light can be in Detroit.
The installation will also include a workshop station manned by CMAP staff for visitors to make their own take home transparency of a 1910’s Detroit building modeled from the buildings in this landscape.
Visit the Artwork on our map here: https://dlectricity.com/map/#8.
Sponsored by:
Carrie Morris/CMAP
Carrie Morris is the director of Carrie Morris Arts Production (CMAP) and a puppet designer who choreographs handmade objects to tell stories. Many of these stories are from Detroit, where Morris lives, or involve Detroit residents. Her works can be large scale (life-sized elephant puppets are not uncommon) or small scale (3” miniature silhouettes are also used), depending on the story being told. The pieces she stages with these objects are research-based, involve multiple participants and are typically designed for adult audiences.
Morris is inspired by hyper-local connections between timeless experiences and contemporary landscapes. Her creative practice reflects local stories around her told in a universal way. She renovated a vacant house to be a community puppet theater, and created puppet collaborations inspired by her neighborhood. She also designed shadow-puppet photo booths where Detroiters could pose as Dave Bing, Aretha Franklin and other local icons. For Morris, the use of staged objects in chosen spaces provides an opportunity for viewers to identify with both in a more resonant way. Morris believes we imbue these inanimate objects with our own emotions and histories, creating a depth of experience that can be overlooked as we dismiss objects in our everyday landscapes.
cmapdetroit.com