Detroit. Demolition. Disneyland.

speaking of detroit...interesting project i heard about from liz today.

call for artists+architects

in my inbox from a.manda a while ago...ment to post:


"Call for Artists: SHELTER"
2006-01-30 until 2006-04-08
Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
Detroit, MI, USA United States of America


The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) is soliciting proposals for its all media, Interdisciplinary exhibition SHELTER, to be held in September, 2006. The exhibition will be juried by artist and CAID board member Hugh Timlin. Artists (of any discipline) Architects, Community Workers, Researchers and others are invited to submit proposals or work specifically related to homelessness as a chronic or emergency condition, or shelter needs resulting from catastrophic events. Areas of investigation might include makeshift housing, abandoned buildings as shelter, design of practical and inexpensive housing for emergency and chronic conditions, the homeless experience and who is affected and more.


Proposals could include, but are not limited to, designs for temporary, emergency, or low income shelter; documentation of innovative shelter programs; expressions of the experience of the loss of shelter and its impact (emotional, cultural, and economic) on communities.

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit is a community based non-profit organization. CAID fosters and promotes the essential link between contemporary arts and contemporary society through its exhibitions, performances, critical and public discourse, and the funding of contemporary arts and art related activities. For the history of CAID or other information please visit the website at www.thecaid.org.

Hugh Timlin, Juror

In a more than thirty five year career as a sculptor, Hugh Timlin has become a well recognized and highly respected presence in the metropolitan Detroit Art community. He has exhibited extensively throughout the state and nationally including the Art Exhibit for the National Conference on Religious Architecture in Washington D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts. His public commissions include work for the City of Battle Creek, Michigan, Hutzel Hospital in Detroit, Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Detroit, Temple Beth Israel in Flint, Lansing General Hospital, Lansing Michigan and Georgetown University Washington D.C. He has taught at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and held adjunct positions at Mercy College and Wayne State University in Detroit. Timlin was the first Barstow Foundation Artist in Residence at Central Michigan University.

Timlin's life and work were the subject of a cover story for the Detroit Metro Times in March of 2000. His poetry, essays and sculptures have been featured in The Metro Times as well as TheDetroiter.com and markszine.com.

Hugh Timlin lives in a house that he built and works in a studio he built on his small farm in the central Michigan area. He is currently working on a collection of essays and poetry which he plans to publish in 2006

-P-A-T-H-

interesting org. in nyc

"P-A-T-H is a voluntary group of individuals and organizations
coming together, simply, to provide support to the community."

"Architects, Artists, Designers, Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Planners, Students and many who feel they could make a difference in the community beyond their day jobs take up P-A-T-H and over the years becoming involved in participatory processes, research and training to empower communities
to improve their own habitat."

Faith at Large: Creating dignity by design

an article about dan pitera self proclaimed, "politcal activist, masquerading as an architect". Pitera directs the Detroit Center for Collaborative Design, an architectural firm housed at the University of Detroit Mercy, a university sponsored by the Jesuits and the Sisters of Mercy that serves 5,600 students. The center provides design services solely to nonprofit organizations. During the past five years, the center, staffed by Pitera, two fellows and two students, has designed, among other things, a job training center, an educational facility for women and girls, a portable AIDS treatment station, and a gymnasium for children with physical disabilities.

Beyond Green - Museum of Arts & Design NY

a link from dwell via my friend juli...

Beyond Green:
Toward a Sustainable Art

February 2 – May 7, 2006

Sustainable design, which balances environmental, social, economic and aesthetic concerns, has the potential to transform everyday life and is already reshaping the fields of architecture and product design. Beyond Green explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination and display of art. While "green" architecture has been widely explored, this is one of the first exhibitions to focus exclusively on sustainability in art and design.

These artists—working in cities such as Chicago, Copenhagen, London, New York, San Francisco, San Juan and Vienna—use sustainable design strategies for metaphoric, practical, critical or even playful ends. Beyond Green includes existing works, commissions and previously presented work that has been “recycled,” spotlighting ways in which artists are building paths to new forms of practice. The holistic approach of sustainability seeks to transform the ways people make, use and dispose of the stuff of everyday life. Beyond Green is co-organized by the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago and by iCI (Independent Curators International), New York, and circulated by iCI.

chi town let down?

soooo. its been about 2 weeks being back in chicago. i bitched and moaned to no end when we moved to seattle 3 years ago about how hopelessly suburban it was, how disgustingly idyllic it was and how i couldn't wait to get back to my life in chicago...to our family, friends, our professional network etc. etc. the truth is by the time we were leaving seattle my feelings had become quite mixed. i mean it is SO incredibly lush, beautiful topographically and sweet in its intimacy. and somehow in all my cynicism i managed to make some really good friends who will be sorely missed. its small enough to feel like you can make a mark...you know, "the big fish in the little pond" idea i guess.

being in chicago the first week i think was a serious let down. though we came here for an "opportunity". our apt. was "not quite right". the neighborhood, well we're on the "not yet" gentrified side (which is both good and bad, depending on how you look at it), the city in general..well, big, loud, cold and dirty. what the hell did i do. is this really what i want? i thought. but i was saying to my husband yesterday, as i've walked and driven around a bit more...i'm remembering, that that what i saw as idyllic in seattle bothered me so much because it became SO comfortable and safe which somehow scares me.

here its different, there's so much SHIT in this city that keeps you angry that it keeps you on your toes...wanting to do something about it. i don't mean, angry in a lets just walk around and be toxic way but in an inspiring way...a way that stirs your creative juices...makes you envision something new, and better and try to figure out how to make that happen. don't get me wrong...seattle has its certain grit to it...its by no means perfect...but its issues seem less glaring and on a much more minor level making for a totally different and in general "better" quality of life.

quality of life is an interesting concept though b/c for instance, culturally, man, it is a relief to be here. i forgot what its like to just SEE black and latino people EVERYWHERE...and not have to 'schedule in such encounters. that does something for your psyche. so our building is uncomfortably close to the adjacent ones, and our doorstep is littered with 30 flyers everyday, and being that its winter in chicago, it looks gray and barren...no leaves or grass and my black car is perpetually gray with salt and grime, oh and i have to travel 25 min. each way for my kid to have access to the bilingual montessori education that i seek...no walking around the corner to school anymore (or to the doctor/hospital, major grocery store or gym for that matter). BUT somehow, i think life is richer here. more complete. more "real". and in that sense i am happy to be home. i think its interesting that my son hasn't said boo about seattle. he's SO happy to be here, its like his intuition tells him the same thing i'm trying to analyze and decipher. its a complicated and mixed emotional puzzle and only time will tell if the pieces are in the right place.

"you are what you eat"

In a recent interview with a fairly "famous" architect who has changed the trajectory of his practice to be a lot more socially based in the last decade, he had some inspiring guidance. i asked him, if he thought he had the luxury of choosing to do more socially based work after a whole career of getting p-izz-aid on upscale projects. furthermore i told him that I’ve been told by some that it’s best to succeed by the status quo before you start shaking things up and breaking rules. i mean at 28 and as a woman of color is that a priveledge that i really have? would i really be taken seriously or will it be the, "she's doing that because she couldn't succeed at the traditional way" kind of thing...

He said to me, You never have to be a conformist. You don’t have to succeed by the status quo. If you want to design stuff in the middle of the street and disrupt shit in order to get people's attention and make change...Design stuff in the middle of the street! you'll ecome known for it. A very specific group will look at you as worth something. You will not get a lot of work in the traditional sense and it takes a great deal of courage. but its bullshit to “succeed” by the status quo. he went on to say, "you are what you eat…if you do shit work you will be known for shit work and people will come to you for that” you will become known for what you do. if you don't want to do the "traditional path" don't do it. you don't endure the shittiness of that path just to "say you did it" if you cave now, you will never be known for what you want to do. and people won't take you seriously. you have to do it NOW. Where is your strength of character if you don’t?

interesting question...we'll see how it gets answered later this year post graduation!