The art smarts

Posted Wednesday, November 29, 2006, 8:46 PM by Lonely Planet

Cities rise and cities fall, and then sometimes they rise again. Rome, for example, or Berlin - both had their down times but both are seriously back. Detroit was one of those cities that rose and fell, but no one really ever expected to rise again. Race riots, the demise of the motor industry and white evacuation to the suburbs all played a part in leaving much of Detroit a burned out shell. The explosive impact of the late '90s Detroit music scene (The White Stripes, The Detroit Cobras, The Von Bondies, The Dirtbombs, The Come Ons and, um, Eminem) suggested there was life in Mo-Town yet, but a rock movement does not an urban renewal make.

From its musical exports alone you'd know that some of the best things about the city are its grit and its grunge. Of course, these are also among its worst things. So what's a Detroiter set on rejuvenating the city to do? Encourage Starbucks and Pottery Barn to set up shop and risk destroying the edge, or reject bland homogenity and embrace the slide into picturesque decay?

The new Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (aka Mocad) likes it both ways. Launched into the shell of an unrenovated abandoned car dealership in October, Mocad commissioned Barry McGee to slather its building with grafitti. Heat lamps hang from the ceiling and giant garage doors can be rolled up to let art meet street. Sure, there's a coffee shop, but it couldn't be further from the manufactured congeniality of Starbucks. Mocad is keeping it real - making Detroit liveable without giving up what makes Detroit Detroit. And one of their first exhibitions originated in that great fallen-city-come-good; Berlin's 'Shrinking Cities' exhibition investigates the decay of Detroit, Ivanovo, Manchester and Leipzig.

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