Artefacing diverts limited volunteer efforts to virtually useless art project

[majohnson]

Two webpages on the topic. The first is the article, the second is a photo-slide.
http://detnews.com/article/20110919/...with-neighbors
and
http://multimedia.detnews.com/pix/ph...y/091811spire/

I think those people should have been dispersed by the police.
They do not own the property.
I could imagine them questioning the common sense of dispersing them if they were actually boarding up windows, cutting grass, landscaping, and repainting the house.
The building is 'abandoned', meaning the owner does not reside there, but trust me all property has an owner. Perhaps they should buy the property and spend rennovate or demolish it.

Here is some questions:
Who is going to maintain this 'art installation'?
What will it look like after the first snow?
Will the materials get loose and become common wind-blown trash?

Detroit needs people to purchase and rennovate homes, thus reducing blight, creating economic density, and inspiring neighborhoods.
If that is not possible, at least board up and secure empty propertys, perhaps without permission.
But please, don't divert the little good will the city gets from outsiders to erecting tire heaps.

[SWMAP]

Right now there are Tibetin Prayer flags blowing in the wind over Junction Ave. have been there for years. Look great.Life, movement, color. I saw some similar flags in Eatern Market stalls Saturday.

These comments are just what some east-siders complain about the Guyton installations - and he is not an "outsider."

Do you think the real problem is that the artists were too white and the residents think they'll be displaced by those outsiders?

[Johnnny5]

It looks like the home of an enterprising squatter trying to make a quick buck selling used tires.

[DetroitPole]

I don't think there is an easy answer for this.

Look at Guyton. The city and some locals tried to destroy him with all their might. Most people, I think, would view the HP as a "success". It has become an international landmark and truly unique art. I may be mistaken, but did Tyree own at least some of the houses he dolled up?

Odkie is a pretty solid guy and I think he speaks for plenty of people that the city is not some sort of blank canvass. Some of us actually live here and are not just passing through. Try pulling this shit in the suburbs, or anywhere for that matter. Sure this is remotely tasteful, but the same mentality comes with all the grafitti "art" that appears on anything and everything, "in use" or not. And then we have to deal with it.

Nice to see some community groups speaking out and that actually exist in that zip. However I know too well the type of residents not involved in their community organizations who do absolutely nothing - nothing - for the community except bitch. Often they don't even maintain their own property. Sure it's your community, but what are you doing for it?

I think the tires are awful but the flags seem okay [[how is it that everyone under 30 except me is a Buddhist now all of a sudden?). There could be more sensitivity here. The group should do some PR work and go clean up some fucked up houses or something as a gesture of goodwill. Otherwise it really is just a playground for whoever from Lake Orion in the pictures.

All that said, this is Chene street. CHENE. Have they SEEN Chene? A tornado could hit Chene and it would probably make things look at least marginally better. If I am correct there are approximately 2 businesses open from Mack to i-94 on Chene, one being a liquor store and another being a church for recovering addicts. I thought there was a shooting range too, maybe? Come on people. This isn't the fucking Champs-Elysees.

[Django]

Pole, you crack me up with the tornado analogy "have they seen Chene" ROTF.

I dont think this art project is newsworthy.

I do think with a little brainstorming the prayer flags could have been done somehow more tastefully without pissin off the neighbors. Old tires, really?

Every artist has their failures though, I wish them luck and hope they spend lots of money while here in Detroit.

[majohnson]

Swamp,

No one is worried about being displaced.
None of the volunteers are moving to the area.
In fact, I [[and probably the locals) would applaud them for moving to the area and making a real difference by purchasing and rennovating local homes.

[DetroitPlanner]

I don't blame the locals for not liking it. It looks like a cross between a circus and a used car lot on Michigan Avenue out in the Inkster Wayne area.

[RickBeall]

This is always a complex topic, and is a repeat of the Heidelberg Project. The complexity I am referring to is what do you do when the local people do not like what you are doing in their neighborhood? Do you say "Great art is always contraversial", and then just ride roughshod over the poor people you are allegedly trying to help? That sounds an awful lot like what city government and businesses do to poor people.

It is like they are saying, "I'm sorry, you have no rights, you have no taste, you do not even know what is in your own best interests."

[Jimaz]

Google Streetview of the house

[Steve bennet]

Ehh, let them do their thing. It can't make the area look any worse.

[Steve bennet]

And LOL at the photo they used for the article. Hahahahahah.

[jt1]

Given the booming number of foreclosures in the region I wonder if the people from Walled Lake and Lake Orion would mind if I choose an empty house on their street for my own art installation.

The claim that this is to bring about awareness of social issues is utter horseshit. I'd be curious to know how many social/community organizations these people participate in to help those less fortunate or blighted areas [[city, suburb or rural) and how much money they donate to help social causes.

If I'm a betting person my money says that this was nothing but an afternoon of playground fun for them with a bullshit statement tied to it so they can feel good about themselves.

Now let's pack up those tires and take them to the participants homes in Lake Orion and Walled Lake. We can tie some bullshit social commentary to it and tell them it is art and they should be glad we are doing it.

Fuck them and their bullshit 'cause'. People's poverty and despair is not the appropriate setting for their playground.

[jt1]

This is always a complex topic, and is a repeat of the Heidelberg Project. The complexity I am referring to is what do you do when the local people do not like what you are doing in their neighborhood? Do you say "Great art is always contraversial", and then just ride roughshod over the poor people you are allegedly trying to help? That sounds an awful lot like what city government and businesses do to poor people.

It is like they are saying, "I'm sorry, you have no rights, you have no taste, you do not even know what is in your own best interests."

At least the Heidelberg Project was Guyton's neighborhood. He had to deal with it day in and day out and was vested in the area, not just having fun at another neighborhood's expense. I don't agree with the project but he had to deal with the neighborhood everyday unlike these assholes who swoop in, have fun, feel like they've saved those poor ghetto souls and swoop home to their comfortable surroundings that would never, ever allow this stuff to happen.

[majohnson]

Tyree Guyton obtained permission from owners before installing his art.
I seriously doubt Artefacting obtained permission.

[Jimaz]

Here's the story from the artists' point of view: Artefacting Detroit.

[Autoracks]

detroit art talk. Half of what you see on city streets these days is done by out of towners. Detroit is the destination for graffiti tourists. International and across the nation. Many are sponsored by art spray paint companies. Get expensive high pigment spray paint for free and lots of it. They bring with em a lot of skill. I kno how you folks feel about rap letters tho

[MSUguy]

C'mon I can't be the only one who thought of this book with those pictures

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/full...e-people-like/

#18 Awareness

interesting fact about white people is that they firmly believe that all of the world’s problems can be solved through “awareness.” Meaning the process of making other people aware of problems, and then magically someone else like the government will fix it.
This belief allows them to feel that sweet self-satisfaction without actually having to solve anything or face any difficult challenges. Because, the only challenge of raising awareness is people not being aware. In a worst case scenario, if you fail someone doesn’t know about the problem. End of story.
What makes this even more appealing for white people is that you can raise “awareness” through expensive dinners, parties, marathons, selling t-shirts, fashion shows, concerts, eating at restaurants and bracelets. In other words, white people just have to keep doing stuff they like, EXCEPT now they can feel better about making a difference.
Raising awareness is also awesome because once you raise awareness to an acceptable, aribtrary level, you can just back off and say “Bam! did my part. Now it’s your turn. Fix it.”
So to summarize – you get all the benefits of helping [[self satisfaction, telling other people) but no need for difficult decisions or the ensuing criticism [[how do you criticize awareness?). Once again, white people find a way to score that sweet double victory.
Popular things to be aware of: The Environment, Diseases like Cancer and AIDS, Africa, Poverty, Anorexia, Homophobia, Midde School Field Hockey/Lacrosse teams, Drug Rehab, and political prisoners.

#62 Knowing what’s best for poor people

White people spend a lot of time of worrying about poor people. It takes up a pretty significant portion of their day.

They feel guilty and sad that poor people shop at Wal*Mart instead of Whole Foods, that they vote Republican instead of Democratic, that they go to Community College/get a job instead of studying art at a University.

It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them. In fact, the only reason that poor people make the choices they do is because they have not been given the means to make the right choices and care about the right things.

A great way to make white people feel good is to tell them about situations where poor people changed how they were doing things because they were given the ‘whiter’ option. “Back in my old town, people used to shop at Wal*Mart and then this non-profit organization came in and set up a special farmers co-op so that we could buy more local produce, and within two weeks the Wal*Mart shut down and we elected our first Democratic representative in 40 years.” White people will first ask which non-profit and are they hiring? After that, they will be filled with euphoria and will invite you to more parties to tell this story to their friends, so that they can feel great.

But it is ESSENTIAL that you reassert that poor people do not make decisions based on free will. That news could crush white people and their hope for the future.

[Autoracks]

Tyree Guyton obtained permission from owners before installing his art.
I seriously doubt Artefacting obtained permission.

Thats the Heidelberg guy right? Put polka-dots all over shit on the street on the lower near eastside. I'm gonna take a guess and say its a decent chance he is also the one that put polkadots all over abandoned shit and utility boxes across the city a decade back. I'm sure i'm not the only one that noticed them dots on abandoned storefronts, homes, and other stuff. You know he didn't have permission to do that.

[Gistok]

Given the booming number of foreclosures in the region I wonder if the people from Walled Lake and Lake Orion would mind if I choose an empty house on their street for my own art installation.

The claim that this is to bring about awareness of social issues is utter horseshit. I'd be curious to know how many social/community organizations these people participate in to help those less fortunate or blighted areas [[city, suburb or rural) and how much money they donate to help social causes.

If I'm a betting person my money says that this was nothing but an afternoon of playground fun for them with a bullshit statement tied to it so they can feel good about themselves.

Now let's pack up those tires and take them to the participants homes in Lake Orion and Walled Lake. We can tie some bullshit social commentary to it and tell them it is art and they should be glad we are doing it.

Fuck them and their bullshit 'cause'. People's poverty and despair is not the appropriate setting for their playground.

Ummmm, how did you come to the conclusion that these folks are from the suburbs of Detroit?

Did you read the article and look at their video clips? With accents that are not only NOT from Detroit, but in some cases not even American [[the guy in the newspaper was likely of Dutch origin... based on his accent and name... Arne de Knegt).

They also mention a Portuguese and English artist involved.. and the head guy is a New Yorker.

It's just those 4 guys... and the local partner.... The Heidelberg Project.

The suburbs of Detroit: not involved.....

[Vox]

I wonder if those two black women that are in this picture feel that Tyree is an interloper. Do you think that they know he is involved? Or do they just see the white faces and figure the obvious?

[Gistok]

C'mon I can't the only who though of this book with those pictures

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/full...e-people-like/

No never seen it or heard about it before... but you might want to lay off #33 so that you can post with verbs and nouns again....

[jt1]

Ummmm, how did you come to the conclusion that these folks are from the suburbs of Detroit?

Did you read the article and look at their video clips? With accents that are not only NOT from Detroit, but in some cases not even American [[the guy in the newspaper was likely of Dutch origin... based on his accent and name... Arne de Knegt).

They also mention a Portuguese and English artist involved.. and the head guy is a New Yorker.

It's just those 4 guys... and the local partner.... The Heidelberg Project.

The suburbs of Detroit: not involved.....

I came to the conclusion by looking at the associated pictures with commentary that specifically lists Walled Lake and Lake Orion as the place of residence for the people in the pictures.

You are correct about the artists being from out of town but the helpers photographed are certainly from the suburbs [[ as well as one couple from Detroit).

[jt1]

I wonder if those two black women that are in this picture feel that Tyree is an interloper. Do you think that they know he is involved? Or do they just see the white faces and figure the obvious?

I think that they have a fair point whether Guyton is involved in it or not. Just because a local guy supports them doesn't make their opinion about what is being done in their neighborhood any less real or valid.

[DetroitPlanner]

I came to the conclusion by looking at the associated pictures with commentary that specifically lists Walled Lake and Lake Orion as the place of residence for the people in the pictures.

You are correct about the artists being from out of town but the helpers photographed are certainly from the suburbs [[ as well as one couple from Detroit).

I doubt the couple from Detroit don't live in that area either. Public art is one thing, but this is lipstick on a pig. The use of tires is awful. Malaria farms. Yeah thats what I want in my neighborhood to go along with the abandoned homes.

[jt1]

I doubt the couple from Detroit don't live in that area either. Public art is one thing, but this is lipstick on a pig. The use of tires is awful. Malaria farms. Yeah thats what I want in my neighborhood to go along with the abandoned homes.

You are correct. The picture indicated that the couple from Detroit lived on the west side. Whether the couple from Detroit, the people from Walled Lake and Lake Orion or the 'artists' from NY and abroad I'm sure they all think it is beautiful and significant in meaning...........just not in their neighborhood.