“ART Work/Detroit”
Detroit art exhibit a catalyst to affect change
Nick Tobier, a public performer, whose work is rooted in the social lives of public places, has organized “ART Work/Detroit” the exhibit which opens Saturday, September 11th at 6pm in the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID), located on Rosa Parks.
The exhibit is part of ArtWork: US: A National Conversation on Art, Labor & Politics http://www.artandwork.us, bringing in arts from Detroit and across the country.
The exhibition will feature a gallery exhibit, including site specific, performances and installation based work at the CAID and in public and private spaces throughout the city of Detroit.
“We are especially interested in projects that give tangible form to ideas of how art can serve as a catalyst to affect Detroit as service, social space, activism, and interactions that overlap with questions of urban planning, sustainability, political and economic development.”
Tobier, organizer of the ART Work/Detroit exhibition studied landscape architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
The ART Work/Detroit exhibition asked artists several thought provoking questions, “We are looking for exhibition pieces and projects that create a public opportunity for and in Detroit,” says Tobier. The exhibition will include responses to Tobier’s question, from artist’s in Detroit and around the country, including: Paul Draus, Mary Duran, Lolita Hernandez, Stacey Malasky, Airea Dee Matthews, Chazz Miller and many more. With site-specific work from Mary Beth Carolan & Robert Reese, Vito Valdez, Hygienic Dress League, and Atelier SHOTGUN, and more.
Chazz Miller, an artist in the exhibition is the founder of PUBLIC ART WORKZ! a project that revitalizes Northwest Detroit into a world class Public Art Showcase using Murals as the catalyst for change.
Other artists who will be featured in the exhibit include Warren Quigley, Nate Mullen an artist educator and director of the after school programs at YArts Detroit; Airea Dee Matthews, a highly acclaimed performance poet and writer who placed on the National Detroit Poetry Slam Team in 2004 and won the 2008 Detroit Grand Slam Champion title besting some of the top performance poets; Haleem Rasul founder of the break dance crew Hardcore Detroit; Lolita Hernandez a born and bred Detroit writer; and,Marcus Bowcott who will be included in the visionary proposal component of the exhibit. Marcus is an alumnus of the Royal College of Art in London, England. He completed his undergraduate studies in Vancouver and Toronto.
