What to Expect
“Connecting the Dots: The Heidelberg Project and the Power of Art” exterior exhibition will feature Tyree Guyton, creator of the renowned 30-year-old Heidelberg Project of Detroit. The mission of this outdoor art environment,which transforms rundown areas on Detroit’s eastside into vibrant urban neighborhoods where creativity thrives, is to inspire people to appreciate and use artistic expression to enrich their lives and improve the social and economic health of their greater community.
“I am attracted to [Guyton’s] bravura as he set out nearly 30 years ago to address the blight that overtook his community,” said Aku Kadogo. “He also has a tremendous sense of play and this is why I invited him to come to Spelman. Play is an essential part of the imagination. Of course as we grow older, we tend to forget that play is where the juicy creativity is.”
Kadogo, in partnership with Flux Projects, will host Guyton in conversation and showcase his film “Come Unto Me” in the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Thursday, March 26 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. On Friday afternoon, March 27, Kadogo and Guyton will present “Heidelberg TV: The Baby Doll Show,” a spontaneous, interactive art installation, in which artists in the metro Atlanta area will participate. This event will take place from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. in front of the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D., Academic Center.
The mission of the project is for creativity to thrive and inspire individuals to appreciate and use artistic expression to enrich their lives and improve the social and economic health of their greater community. Kadogo, in partnership with Anne Dennington of Flux Projects, will host a special dialogue with Guyton at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and screen his film “Come Unto Me.” Kadogo and Guyton will also present a spontaneous, interactive art installation, “Heidelberg TV: The Baby Doll Show,” which will include participation from metro Atlanta artists.
-- Ayanna Runcie, C’2015, an intern in the Office of Communications.
More on the Heidelberg Project
In its twenty years of existence, the Heidelberg Project has inspired awe in visitors from around the world, drawn praise from the international art community, and provoked extensive discussions in its own backyard. In 1986, Tyree Guyton created the project with the idea of visibly transforming the environment of his decaying neighborhood, which was marred by crime, prostitution, and gangs. Using the materials around him-cast-off toys, discarded car parts, and other debris-along with his trademark brightly colored polka dots, Guyton eventually transformed several houses and vacant lots on Heidelberg Street into the city's most recognizable art environment and one of its leading tourist attractions.
Connecting the Dots, the first comprehensive collection of writings on the Heidelberg Project, attempts to get to the heart of Guyton's project by considering it from a number of fascinating angles-including legal, aesthetic, political, and personal.
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