Detroit's Gleaming Start-Up Tower

[Lowell]

So reads the title of a well-written article in the The Atlantic profiling the Madison Theater building start-up incubator.

The article encapsulates the energy emanating from Detroit that continues to shock and captivate outsiders through a fitting and catchy expression "Dark Euphoria".

It is like the excitement that arises when people defy the gloom and doom pessimism that things are hopeless and can't change. Instead they feed off the challenge, prove it wrong and make a lot of money and positive change in the process.

"Dark Euphoria is what the twenty-teens feels like," Sterling said. "Things are just falling apart, you can't believe the possibilities, it's like anything is possible, but you never realized you're going to have to dread it so much."

Detroit is the place where Bay Area types imagine an urban tabula rasa, a place where enough has gone away that the problems of stuffing millions of people into a small region can be reimagined, redesigned, remade.

So, when we arrived in Detroit, I was excited to see what was actually happening on the ground, to see what was there outside the square frames of Instagram.

Where some eyes see only blight and futility others are finding opportunity and ideas. No matter how loudly other shout, "No you can't".

[Article spotted on DeadlineDetroit who discovered it in The Atlantic. by Alex Madrigal]

[Detroitnerd]

Tabula rasa? I hate that shit. There's about 700,000 people already living in your "blank slate," asshole.

[KJ5]

Tabula rasa? I hate that shit. There's about 700,000 people already living in your "blank slate," asshole.

I hate that shit, too. But I think the writer realizes Detroit is no tabula rasa, hence the use of the word "imagine".

[louis]

well... this is colorfully worded...

[Detroitnerd]

I hate that shit, too. But I think the writer realizes Detroit is no tabula rasa, hence the use of the word "imagine".

I noticed that too. But then also the writer approaches the subjects' imaginings in a neutral tone. I know, I know, it's better than some burbling jackass talking about Detroit as empty canvas, blank slate, and vacant frontier ready for settlement and civilization, but still ...

[401don]

At least it's not hard to keep the tower gleaming - there's only 4 stories of windows to wash.

[Lowell]

Sheesh, we can't take a complimentary article any more?

If he had trashed us, like was done endlessly for years, would you feel better?

This kind of exemplifies the gloom and doom negativism anyone who tries to do anything positive has to endure and overcome.

It seems no one can say anything complimentary unless it is said in the exact politically correct words those on the sidelines demand.

[Patrick]

Sheesh, we can't take a complimentary article any more?

If he had trashed us, like was done endlessly for years, would you feel better?

This kind of exemplifies the gloom and doom negativism anyone who tries to do anything positive has to endure and overcome.

It seems no one can say anything complimentary unless it is said in the exact politically correct words those on the sidelines demand.

It's a nice breath of fresh air for a change amidst a sea of reports on murders, unemployment, shitty politicians and so-so sports teams. The DY community has grown ultra-sensitive to any sort og criticism or negativity that it even affects those rare articles that have a positive spin.

Beggars can't be choosers...take all the fuzzy and warm news articles you can get regardless if they are written by someone who has visited once...and for a car show.

[Detroitnerd]

Sheesh, we can't take a complimentary article any more?

I would like to take all these visitors and teach a succinct one-hour class on how to approach the city and what not to say. When you read article after well-meaning article from people dropping in to report on Detroit, you do get irritated by the cliches and tropes of outsiders.

Anyway, shit, man. Can't take some local doing a little bellyachin', Lowell? This is Detroitnerd talking here. Take it with a grain of salt. I mean, I love this city. But I really don't care what Eastern intellectuals think of it. The Atlantic can kiss my patootie.

[Lowell]

Take it with a grain of salt. I mean, I love this city. But I really don't care what Eastern intellectuals think of it. The Atlantic can kiss my patootie.

Sure I considered the source and I know you love this place, but does a response really require such tough love that we can't bask in the glow of a compliment? Regardless of how sunny and naive it may seem from the lips of an 'eastern intellectual'? Do we always have to give those who say nice things about us the Detroit fist in the face?

One would think we are vampires who just can't stand the light. Or believe in it. Sometimes someone from the outside can see beyond our beaten-down POV's.

[Detroitnerd]

Sure I considered the source and I know you love this place, but does a response really require such tough love that we can't bask in the glow of a compliment? Regardless of how sunny and naive it may seem from the lips of an 'eastern intellectual'? Do we always have to give those who say nice things about us the Detroit fist in the face?

One would think we are vampires who just can't stand the light. Or believe in it. Sometimes someone from the outsides can see beyond our beaten-down POV's.

Well, look on the bright side: I'm not, like, e-mailing this guy and going ballistic on him. Just a little sourball thrown into the mix by your resident crank.

We now return to rejoicing, which is still in progress.

[Lowell]

The kind of start-up thinking expressed in the Atlantic article is playing out in the arts.

Last week I met with a guy from Brooklyn scoping out spaces for what he described as an art incubator, something like a hackerspace for art leaning toward theater.

He is with a group that has successfully created such an enterprise in Brooklyn [and without grants] but seemingly can go little further. The area where it is located had become attractive because of the arts and up went the rents.

However he was first drawn here by the Detroit art scene. The low cost of living and creating is the bonus.

The immensity of the challenges and changes artists face here energizes the Detroit arts. They are in one's face all the time. The is no art establishment and few comfort zones. One is almost forced to think. Detroit might appear blighted and hopeless to many but to artists it is very exciting and inspiring.

I frequently meet artists who have moved here for those intangibles, perhaps for that dark euphoria. And they can make art instead of using their creative time to pay the landlord.

I say, "Welcome. How can we help you".

[kryptonite]

I love this city. But I really don't care what Eastern intellectuals think of it. The Atlantic can kiss my patootie.

I have to agree with you. Who cares what the trendy cities think of us. I prefer to be here where I can afford a nice house with a yard/garage/fireplace on my so-so salary than in a trendier city in a cramped space but making more money. But that's just my opinion.

Yet it's nice to see the media [[including Atlantic) saying interesting/positive things about Detroit after decades of trashing us, much of which admittedly we deserve. If they send reporters here to cover something other than crime/blight/abandonment then bring it on I say.

And could it be from sensory overload - after 40-50 years of covering Detroit's enormous urban problems the media have finally noticed that they keep beating a dead horse so to speak and covering Detroit's fledgling urban renewal, architecture, music & arts community, etc. is more newsworthy?

[Melocoton]

If he had trashed us, like was done endlessly for years, would you feel better?

Fortunately, the only two options for talking about the city are not, in fact, "boosterish tabula rasa" and "trashing us."

[cman710]

Good things are clearly happening, but the lack of connective tissue is a bigger problem than you might imagine. Between downtown and an area like Corktown, which has an excellent coffee shop, the oft-applauded Slow's BBQ, Arbor and Folly, and a couple other bars, there's just nothing. When we left Slow's on a Thursday night at 9pm to drive the couple miles to our hotel, we got about halfway when I looked in my rearview mirror and realized that there wasn't a single other car behind us, nor approaching. There were no bikes or pedestrians, either.

I think this was the most interesting part of the article, because it references one of the biggest challenges facing Detroit, which is that most of the viable neighborhoods/areas are islands in a sea of extreme poverty.

[Eber Brock Ward]

Agreed cman.

When we moved out here from Chicago, we initially considered Indian Village and Boston-Edison before marking them off. B-E truly is an island, and the closest [[arguably) connected entities to IV are Belle Isle and Jefferson, generally.

Palmer Woods/Sherwood Forest/Green Acres at least has Ferndale and the golf course, and the rumored Meijer development, to create an effective cluster.

I think Woodbridge, Corktown, Downtown, and Midtown are becoming a cluster in an of themselves, as you're starting to see the vacuum in between fill in with things like Slows to Go, Canine to Five, etc.

In the case of both "clusters", it's symbiotic and builds on itself. I don't really see that happening in B-E and IV.

[rb336]

Last week I met with a guy from Brooklyn scoping out spaces for what he described as an art incubator, something like a hackerspace for art leaning toward theater.

A friend of mine from back when I lived in NY joked that the artists in NY used to be in Greenwich Village, got pushed over to the East Village, then to Alphabet City. After that, they got kicked out of Manhattan to Williamsburg, then to Red Hook. Now they are getting kicked out of New York altogether, and they might just skip over New Jersey to come straight to Detroit.

It's a good idea. No city ever suffered from an influx of creative people. Bring 'em on and welcome them with open arms

[wolverine]

A friend of mine from back when I lived in NY joked that the artists in NY used to be in Greenwich Village, got pushed over to the East Village, then to Alphabet City. After that, they got kicked out of Manhattan to Williamsburg, then to Red Hook. Now they are getting kicked out of New York altogether, and they might just skip over New Jersey to come straight to Detroit.

It's a good idea. No city ever suffered from an influx of creative people. Bring 'em on and welcome them with open arms

Completely agree.

But if I might interpret the tabula rasa comment, I think it's a short way of saying that people moving in don't have any prior perceptions or expectations of Detroit. All of us who have grown up in or around Detroit know what to expect. We have our stoic attitudes or possibly even hate towards the place. But outsiders moving in have fresh attitudes and ambitions. The less they know about Detroit the better. It's the only way the city will move forward.

[kryptonite]

A friend of mine from back when I lived in NY joked that the artists in NY used to be in Greenwich Village, got pushed over to the East Village, then to Alphabet City. After that, they got kicked out of Manhattan to Williamsburg, then to Red Hook. Now they are getting kicked out of New York altogether, and they might just skip over New Jersey to come straight to Detroit.

It's interesting that you mention that. About three years ago I talked to an old Ohio high school friend who is an aritsit and she lives in New Jersey. We connected via Facebook and talked on the phone for the first time in 30-some years. She told me that she was looking to sell her house and move somewhere less expensive and heard that Detroit had become something of a destination for starving NYC artists. I told her quite a bit about Detroit and offered to show her around, but she decided to stay in New Jersey after all. But it's interesting to hear that a few people come here because housing is so affordable.

[Lowell]

It's not just the rent that is driving this interest. There are plenty of cheap places in plenty of locations -- Flint, Buffalo, St. Louis...

The attraction is the vibrant and irrepressible Detroit art scene. It has achieved a 'critical mass' of sorts. And it is now magnified by Detroit's challenges. The inspiring ways how artists are responding to them has created a buzz. Many articles, like the one in the Atlantic, are driving interest and rethinking from those on the outside. Even if creatives don't end up here, they are looking instead of automatically writing it off.