Art from Detroit’s Ashes
by Susan Leem, associate producer
“It ain’t clean. And, it ain’t easy. And it ain’t a lot of things, but it’s so many things at the same time.”
—Jenenne Whitfield, executive director of The Heidelberg Project
The Heidelberg Project is a living outdoor art installation in the heart of urban Detroit. Artist Tyree Guyton created a massive art installation spanning two city blocks where deteriorating homes are reinvigorated with paint and repurposed materials. In the video above, you’ll see some of the somewhat wild colors (from pastels to brilliant primary colors), patterns (polkadots), and materials (stuffed animals).
Much like Jimmy Boggs’ mantra to “make a way out of no way,” Guyton says the philosophy of his 25-year project is “to take nothing, and to take that nothing and create something very beautiful, very whimsical to the point that it makes people think.”
