Changing Cities: Hartmut Austen, Jef Bourgeau, Mary Fortuna, Cyrus Karimipour and Alison Wong
Opening Reception: Friday, February 22, 6-9:00PM
On View: February 22-March 22, 2008
Sister cities in America’s Midwest, both historically and culturally,
Chicago and Detroit are swapping artists. In the last several decades,
Detroit has suffered a growing loss of cultural history with the
city’s art institutions debilitated by short-term memory and lack of
local interest. Artists have quickly been lost to time, either through
death or diaspora. While Detroit is famous for its music, it remains
perfectly unknown for its art. Yet, the city itself rages with
underground galleries and guerilla projects, and even boasts a renegade
museum. All of which tag Detroit as the last frontier for contemporary
art.
On the heels of its recent exhibition of Chicago artists in Michigan (curated by Paul Klein), the Museum of New Art (MONA) is launching their initiative in Chicago at ThreeWalls. CHANGING CITIES: Detroit is a bold response to forced entropy, an initial step in establishing a global art exchange that swaps Detroit artists and work with artists in other cities.
The range of medium and subject from these five Detroit artists infuses
this initial exchange with the diversity of that underground scene -
transplanted for a month to Chicago. With: Hartmut Austen, Jef
Bourgeau, Mary Fortuna, Cyrus Karimipour and Alison Wong.
Links:
MONA's Changing Cities: Detroit site
Changing Cities: Detroit on NewCity
Austen as part of the Telegraph Art Collective
