Detroit Disassembled

**DetBill** · June-22-10, 01:31 PM

While in Cleveland on the weekend the local NPR radio station in the area had numerous advertisements for the Akron Art Museum and its photographic exhibition.
""Detroit Disassembled". The radio advertisement goes on to promote the exhibit showing Detroits rubbled factories, warehouses, and neighborhoods and basically says the whole city/area is a complete write off . It is not a very complimentary ad from a listening perspective.
While one cannot dispute the validity of these pictures and situation to a certain degree and the pictures themselves are most definetly amazing works of art, it appears the exhibit seems to show absolutely nothing pictorially about the hundreds of good and positive areas, buildings, neighborhoods we have. I live in one area that would certainly deserve a picture or two. One viewing this would most likely feel this is all Detroit is about. Anyone know anything more about this exhibit? , I have emailed them/ Andrew Moore querying this...

http://www.akronartmuseum.org/exhibi....php?unid=1499

**jcole** · June-22-10, 01:36 PM

There is no such word as 'disembling'. You either mean:
Dissembling-To disguise or conceal behind a false appearance
or
Disassembling-to take apart or come apart

Are they saying that Detroit is hiding behind a false front or is Detroit being taken apart?

Buy American · June-22-10, 01:37 PM

Detroit Disassembled?

**DetBill** · June-22-10, 01:56 PM

Sorry for the typo, the ad on the radio station talked about the "dissembling of Detroit" , in that term , I really didn't question the use of the term but rather listened to the presentation about the topic and refers to the exhibit "Detroit Disassembled" at the Akron exhibit. . My question was basically asking if anyone knew about the exhibit in its entirety and its nature. The feeling from the ad is that it is basically taken apart and destroyed. Thanks

**buildingsofdetroit** · June-22-10, 03:56 PM

More on the book: http://www.akronartmuseum.org/blog/d....php?unid=1621

My personal favorite part? "I looked at the AIA guidebook about the city, which was somewhat helpful, but what was actually very informative were some of the websites, such as BuildingsofDetroit.com."

**EastsideAl** · June-22-10, 04:05 PM

This show has been making the rounds, and there is a big glossy book available too. It was in NYC earlier this year, which is where PBS caught it [[and interviewed poet Phil Levine about his Detroit years). Here is a slide show of the pictures from their site:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog...assembled.html

**DetBill** · June-22-10, 04:06 PM

I just received a reply from Andrew Moore who constructed this exhibit, when I asked him if he chose to use any positive pictures from Detroit,, here is the reply,, it seems , unfortunately , that there was not any room to put that sort of illustration in. I used the example of possible pics of Lafayette Park or one of many other areas in his exhibit. . Im sorry to say this , but why was there no room for pics of areas that are stable and doing well.? I wish , for a change, there was.
pls read on for reply:

Dear Bill-

Many thanks for your message. I love the architecture and planning of Lafayette Park and visited it several times in order to photograph the area.
Sadly I never found the right spot, or missed what opportunities there were, so it didn't make it into the book. Still, I think it is Detroit at its finest in terms of residential districts.
I understand that Detroiters are sensitive about the way there city has been portrayed, and the way some of the more blighted areas have been sensationalized. The purpose of my book was not to jump on this bandwagon, but rather address the great history of Detroit in terms of poetry, metaphor, and the great cycle of decline and rebirth that most cities [[if not all) experience; albeit in the case of Detroit this experience has been extraordinarily difficult and painful, especially if one knew the city in its former glory.

best wishes

-andrew

**n7hn** · June-22-10, 05:07 PM

all I heard was "BLAH ARTSIE BLAH BLAH BLAH...poot"

**kathy2trips** · June-24-10, 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by DetBill

...The radio advertisement goes on to promote the exhibit showing Detroits rubbled factories, warehouses, and neighborhoods and basically says the whole city/area is a complete write off . It is not a very complimentary ad from a listening perspective.
While one cannot dispute the validity of these pictures and situation to a certain degree and the pictures themselves are most definetly amazing works of art, it appears the exhibit seems to show absolutely nothing pictorially about the hundreds of good and positive areas, buildings, neighborhoods we have. I live in one area that would certainly deserve a picture or two. One viewing this would most likely feel this is all Detroit is about. Anyone know anything more about this exhibit? , I have emailed them/ Andrew Moore querying this...

More appropriately called , "Detroit Disrespected"

I reserve the right to be offended. His lame, condescending note doesn't excuse the fact that he's making money off others' misfortune, and using my home town to do it. To me, this is exploitative and a textbook example of schadenfreude. It's not exactly a hate crime, though there's certainly a hateful tone to the thing. You mean to tell me he has NO control over how his exhibition is marketed? I don't think so.

However, I did laugh when I read that exhibition description on the website: "beautiful, operatic in scale and drama, tragic yet offering a glimmer of hope". LOL That's the CITY, not his photos!

Frankly, this ungrateful loser can bite me. It's amazing what passes for "art" these days. Have a nice day.

**ordinary** · June-29-10, 07:51 AM

My kids bought me the book for my birthday. The photographs are amazing. The book was disturbing to me. It makes me wonder if the people who live in these areas feel as if they are on display like some kind of objects of curiosity.

**LeannaM** · June-29-10, 11:50 AM

I think a lot of Americans look at Detroit at different ways. Some disdain it. Some probably have some racial feelings toward it. A lot of them look at it as a warning of what can happen to a city, perhaps a warning about relying on one major industry. Some just like looking at the pictures.

**BRAZZMAN** · June-29-10, 10:56 PM

This is called "The ash can school of photography" dressed up in Kodachrome. His reply to DetBill is one big load of crap as n7hn & kathy2trips have eloquently expressed. I know that Philip Levine thinks the Detroit of today is sh-t compared with his memories of growing up here as recounted in many, many of his poems. I wish he hadn't associated himself with this exploitive, self serving project.

**mikefmich** · June-29-10, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by DetBill

...................about the hundreds of good and positive areas, buildings, neighborhoods we have.

Hundreds? Are you sure we have hundreds?

I've loved Detroit for almost 60 years, and defend it often.

Truth be told......I cry in private and everytime I return home for a few days....cause every time I find something else that is now gone with the ages.

**RickBeall** · June-30-10, 12:33 AM

If Detroit is dis-assembling itself, it may not be completely dis-assembled yet, it's a process. Give us a little more time.

**Kathleen** · July-02-10, 09:34 PM

Detroit's ruins bring visitors, but rankle critics within the city

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100701/...#ixzz0saCNdrmA

**fryar** · July-03-10, 12:34 AM

I'll say it again, this site is the home of the fabulous ruins of Detroit [[unlike the fictional SeattleYes of another thread). It's no use denying there's ruins in Detroit.

There can, however, be a point to showing them. As the exhibition's site states: "Moore’s images, printed on the scale of epic history paintings, belong to an artistic tradition that began in the 17th century. Numerous artists have used ruins to remind their viewers of the fall of past great civilizations and to warn that contemporary empires risk the same fate. Moore’s soaring scenes of rusting factory halls and crumbling theaters share the monumentality of Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s 18th century engravings of the fallen civic monuments of ancient Rome and Greece."

Got that? Detroit Disassembled uses Detroit's ruins to issue a "Warning to Civilization" that poses some hard questions. Who or what is at fault here? Is it racism/factionalism? Political balkanization in place of regionalism? A consumption society on overdrive, in which all are entitled to a country estate? Legalized political corruption? The Unions? The shock value of Detroit's ruins is used to drive a conversation about what went wrong, how it got to be this way, how best to avoid that sort of thing, and how it can be fixed. Sound familiar, anyone?

Bingo. The show is not entirely dissimilar to this very board. Which is called DetroitYes, not SomeplaceElseYes. If that means this whole thing stepped into an open wound, I empathize. it can suck when people speak ill of your hometown.

In fairness to everyone's feelings, yes, there are indeed nice things about Detroit beyond the cost of living. However, that message about Detroit's likeability would be much more effectively conveyed by the sale of I heart Detroit t-shirts at DTW than these sour grapes.

And look, nobody who watches Metropolis suddenly thinks the income gap is all there is to New York. People will take this show with a grain of salt and see it as something the photographer went out of his way to find in order to at best make his point about decay or whatever.

Originally Posted by RickBeall

If Detroit is dis-assembling itself, it may not be completely dis-assembled yet, it's a process. Give us a little more time.

LOL.

**kathy2trips** · July-03-10, 02:37 AM

Originally Posted by fryar

There can, however, be a point to showing them. As the exhibition's site states: "Moore’s images, printed on the scale of epic history paintings, belong to an artistic tradition that began in the 17th century. Numerous artists have used ruins to remind their viewers of the fall of past great civilizations and to warn that contemporary empires risk the same fate.......The shock value of Detroit's ruins is used to drive a conversation about what went wrong, how it got to be this way, how best to avoid that sort of thing, and how it can be fixed. Sound familiar, anyone?

And look, nobody who watches Metropolis suddenly thinks the income gap is all there is to New York. People will take this show with a grain of salt and see it as something the photographer went out of his way to find in order to at best make his point about decay or whatever.
LOL.

1. When 17th century artists went to Greece to paint, the people who built those structures, or remember them when they were intact...were dead..for centuries! Do you mind if we all die first before you rip apart our hometown? Whether NYC takes it "with a grain of salt" or not, bad publicity not only stings, it sticks.

2. Oh, so now this exhibition is some sort of morality tale, from which we all can learn. Isn't that special? "Don't let this happen to you!" Don't pick bad leaders, don't let them stay in office forever, don't promote a welfare state, don't let the government let other countries steal your manufacturing industry, your defense industry, your best and brightest, BLAH BLAH BLAH. Again, bite me!

3. Income gap? You think that's the cause of this? About those "ruins"...were they built when Detroit was under the free-market system, or over the last 30 years of near-socialism? Nobody on welfare can fix their house. Nobody whose business is failing because customers are unemployed can fix their roof, or their wiring, or meet their payroll. When the business of Detroit was business, no one could touch us. Even before the auto companies, it's astounding to look at an old directory and see the commerce that took place here.

If everybody made the same, if there was no incentive to produce, then what you have is a welfare state, or at best, state-controlled capitalism. Detroit was, is and always will be at it's best when allowed to be inventive, productive and profitable. It's been under both systems, so we have history as our evidence. Until Detroit becomes the "Arsenal of Achievement" and goes back to being a land of opportunity, the misery will metastasize. Now, look at those photos again.

**fryar** · July-03-10, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by kathy2trips

1. When 17th century artists went to Greece to paint, the people who built those structures, or remember them when they were intact...were dead..for centuries! Do you mind if we all die first before you rip apart our hometown? Whether NYC takes it "with a grain of salt" or not, bad publicity not only stings, it sticks.

2. Oh, so now this exhibition is some sort of morality tale, from which we all can learn. Isn't that special? "Don't let this happen to you!" Don't pick bad leaders, don't let them stay in office forever, don't promote a welfare state, don't let the government let other countries steal your manufacturing industry, your defense industry, your best and brightest, BLAH BLAH BLAH. Again, bite me!

3. Income gap? You think that's the cause of this? About those "ruins"...were they built when Detroit was under the free-market system, or over the last 30 years of near-socialism? Nobody on welfare can fix their house. Nobody whose business is failing because customers are unemployed can fix their roof, or their wiring, or meet their payroll. When the business of Detroit was business, no one could touch us. Even before the auto companies, it's astounding to look at an old directory and see the commerce that took place here.

If everybody made the same, if there was no incentive to produce, then what you have is a welfare state, or at best, state-controlled capitalism. Detroit was, is and always will be at it's best when allowed to be inventive, productive and profitable. It's been under both systems, so we have history as our evidence. Until Detroit becomes the "Arsenal of Achievement" and goes back to being a land of opportunity, the misery will metastasize. Now, look at those photos again.

The income gap thing was just about the movie Metropolis, because it was partially a dystopian take on NY. I didn't mean to imply that income inequality is a root cause of anything in Detroit, or to advocate for a welfare state, and you're right that incentives are an important.
And yes, this exhibition is some sort of morality tale. You really want the world to wait for your passing to discuss this? For what practical purpose?