Imaging Detroit: Program Catalog

IMAGING DETROIT
1

photo and cover (c) Marie Combes, les fugitives series

IMAGING DETROIT
September 21, 2012, 6PM -- September 22, 2012, midnight
Perrien Park, Detroit
The Metropolitan Observatory for Digital Culture and Representation
(MODCaR) is pleased to present Imaging Detroit. Equal parts
international film festival and pop-up agora, Imaging Detroit is an
open assessment and contemporary anthology of Detroit’s national
and international image. Both curated and untamed, it features a
broad spectrum of film and print media casting Detroit as an urban
protagonist. In and on Detroit, screenings and exhibitions are
combined with conversations between urban analysts, filmmakers,
Detroiters, economists, policy makers, activists, and other expert DJ’s
(Discourse Jockeys).
Imaging Detroit aims to spark a conversation about the many ways
Detroit has been portrayed over the last decade. It stages public
debate and open speculation on how the power of image making
may be projected toward the production of a new urban imaginary.
In assembling a varied collection of works and guests, Imaging
Detroit reveals the possibility of an ephemeral urbanization. The
pop-up agora offers the city a 30-hour assembly and debate, turning
Perrien Park into a vibrant civic space, complete with screenings,
conversations, exhibit, food and leisure.
About MODCaR: The Metropolitan Observatory for Digital Cultural and Representation is a
research organization interested in the representation of urban conditions and analyzing the role
of visual media in its effects on cities’ form, identity and culture. Their charge is to explore the
complex relationship between experience, the constructed image, meaning and the public.
3

FORUM
6 SES-
SIONS, 68
FILMS
On Saturday, September 22nd from 10 AM until dark, the FORUM is hosting a series of public
conversations. Here the image of Detroit is in the spotlight – its construction, meaning,
contradictions, and projected power. Over the course of six open discussion sessions, we
will engage Detroit’s local and global image, and speculate about the consequences of its
diffusion. Each session, framed around emergent topical themes, will begin with a half-hour
screening of excerpts culled from films showcased in their entirety in the Screening Pavilion.
The six half-hour screenings will be followed by 45 minute public conversations led by invited
Discourse Jockeys. Imaging Detroit’s Discourse Jockeys are representatives of diverse
expertise –Detroiters, urbanists, economists, filmmakers, activists, policy makers, artists, architects,
and others– who will help spin the discussion by sharing their insights, impressions,
and interpretations. Over the course of the public discussions, this event aims to explore how
images of Detroit shape our perceptions of the city. Public participation is encouraged.

Everyone I Know, 2012, Brandon Walley

SESSION
CULTURE NOW!
IN
10:00 AM
OUT
11:15 AM
Some view the arts as catalytic
salvation in slumped urban landscapes.
Others consider artists as instrumental
in the frontline of gentrification and its
associated social inequities. Detroit,
broadcast as the new destination for
an international cultural vanguard,
finds itself at the fulcrum of the debate
about the gains and costs of artsdriven
regeneration – both symbolic
and material. The following films,
irrespective of their position, situate
Detroit in a transformative moment.
CULTURE NOW! weighs in.
David Adler
Cezanne Charles
Cornelius Harris
Andrew Herscher
Miguel Robles-Duran
Brandon Walley
#creativeclass; #culture; #hipsterphilia;
#hipsterphobia; #gentrification;
#socialclasses; #segregation; #detroitbiennale;
#artasmoneycatcher; #makemoneynotart;
#neoluddites; #culturalglut; #subculturewars;
#motown; #technocity
(1990)
Harvey Ovshinsky
(1999)
Andrew Dosunmu
(2002)
Paul Justman
(2006)
Gary Bredow
(2010)
Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer
(2011)
Patrick Nation, Daniel Higginson
(2011)
Joe Warwick
(2011)
Sharad Kant Patel
(2011)
4exit4 production
(2012)
Stephen McGee
(2012)
Brandon Walley
(2012)
Gary Bredow & Per Franchell
7

SESSION
PRODUCTIVE PASTORAL
IN
11:30 AM
OUT
12:45 PM
Forty square miles of vacant land -
a quantitative if disputable swath that
points to the radical scope and scale
of Detroit’s greatest resource: open
space. To some, the surplus of available
land should be made productive, while
to others, the value of the land lies
less in its fertility than in the freedoms
it affords. The following films provide
examples of what the uniqueness of
Detroit’s landscape can provide.
Asenath Andrews
Margi Dewar
Dan Pitera
Christophe Ponceau
Nicole MacDonald
Craig Wilkins
Gary Wozniak
(2008)
Nicole MacDonald
(2010)
Florent Tillon
(2010)
Single Barrel Detroit production
(2011)
Marc MacInnis
(2011)
Brad Osantoski
(2012)
Power House production
(2012)
TheSeventhLetter production
(2012)
Tom McPhee
(2010)
Single Barrel Detroit production
#vacantland; #landasnaturalresource;
#urbanagriculture; #terroir; #landschaft;
#hipsterphilia; #crisisexploitation;
#spaceischeap; #landisenergy;
#territorialliquidity; #neoluddites; #urbanwildlife;
#organiclife; #freerange; #nostalgia;
#40vacantmi2; #DIYurbandesign; #urbanwildlife
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Detroit Ville Sauvage, 2010, Florent Tillon

SESSION
REBOOT
IN
02:00 PM
OUT
03:15 PM
We Almost Lost Detroit, 2012, Andrew Smart
Cheap land, cheap rent, available
workforce, intrepid minds, and low
competition have prompted Forbes
Magazine to call Detroit a “platform
for entrepreneurial explosion”. Real,
contrived, compulsory, propagandistic,
partial, prophetic, profit-ic, networked?
Is Detroit’s reboot material or imaginary,
individual or collective? Discuss.
David Adler
Oren Goldenberg
Harvey Ovshinsky
Mitch McEwen
Miguel Robles-Duran
Noah Stevens
(2010)
Stephen McGee
(2010)
Thalia Mavros & Brendan Fitzgerald
(2011)
Jonathan Cherry
(2011)
Alex Gallegos
(2011)
Michael Selditch
(2012)
Andrew Smart
(2012)
Philip Lauri
(2012)
4exit4 production
(2012)
Power House production
(2012)
The Atlantic Cities production
(2012)
J. Michael Vargas
#tacticaloptimism; #rerenaissance;
#landofopportunities; #startups; #popupcity;
#artsincorporated; #tabularasa; #eventscape;
#crowdsourcing; #crowdfunding;
#entrepreneurialexplosion; #toosmalltofail;
#tappingpotential; #survivaloftheslickest
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SESSION
POST-AMERICA
IN
03:30 PM
OUT
04:45 PM
The frenzied dissemination of images
featuring Detroit’s ruination has,
indisputably, reached an unprecedented
high. The subject of lament for some,
sublime fetishism for others, the
aesthetization of Detroit’s decay has
figured prominently in both national
and international media – bestowing
an almost canonical stature on a
city that’s anything but complacent
about its relationship to melancholy,
nostalgia and symbolic loss. What are
the consequences of the contemporary
infatuation with images of sublime
obsolescence? Is the designation of
a pornographic realm productive or
reductive? What’s next?
Sabine Gruffat
Andrew Herscher
Adam Hollier
John Patrick Leary
Mitch McEwen
George Steinmetz
#detroitus; #postamericandream;
#ruinpornisso2010detroitisnow; #ruination;
#urbicide; #crisisexploitation; #urbex;
#Piranesianbling; #sublime; #fooddesert;
#bankrupcity; #doomsdaytourists;
#neofeudalism; #nostalgia; #melancholia;
#entropy; #postindustrialtitillation
(2005)
Michael Chanan & George
Steinmetz
(2010)
Julien Temple
(2010)
Alexandre Touchette
(2002)
Kyong Park
(2000)
Kyong Park
(2009)
Roland May
(2012)
Sabine Gruffat
(2008)
Al Profit
(2004)
Kelly Parker
(2011)
Daniel Falconer
(2012)
Fox 2 production
(2006)
Brandon Walley
11

We Are Not Ghosts, 2012, Mark Dworkin & Melissa Young

SESSION
DO-IT-TOGETHER
IN
05:00 PM
OUT
06:15 PM
Detroit is often represented as the new
frontier for the entrepreneurially-minded
who, irrespective of economic hardship,
play by the rules of free and fair
competition. At the same time, the city’s
activists, inhabitants and impresarios
have revealed an unprecedented spirit
of collaboration. The following films
present Detroit as a self-organized
economy foregrounding community and
unequaled solidarity.
David Buuck
Vince Carducci
Margi Dewar
Khalilah Gaston
Shea Howell
Nora Mandray
Christopher McNamara
#DIYpublicinfrastructure; #selfdetermination;
#wemakecommunitynot$; #grassrootheaven;
#solidarity; #acupunctureurbanism; #iKant;
#yesican; #fixitsociety; #communalgrounds;
#bartereconomy; #crowdsourcing; #resilience;
#emergenturbanism; #hackerspace; #TAZ;
#collaborativeeconomy; #altruisticcooperation;
#selfgovernance; #stateofbecoming;
#freeforall; #selforganizingeconomy;
#autonomy; #civildisobedience; #neoluddites;
#intrinsicmotivation; #offthegrid; #homestead
(2006)
Supreme
(2009)
Mascha & Manfred Poppenk
(2010)
Michael Pfaendfner
(2011)
Detroit News production
(2012)
Carrie LeZotte & John Gallagher
(2012)
Nora Mandray & Hélène Bienvenu
(2012)
Oren Goldenberg
(2012)
Ben Wu & David Usui
(2012)
Mark Dworkin & Melissa Young
(2012)
Stephen McGee
(2012)
4exit4 production
(2013)
Andrew James
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SESSION
PRIDE
IN
06:30 PM
OUT
07:45 PM
In spite of or perhaps on account of
recent socio-economic adversities,
representations of Detroit project an
unparalleled spirit of resilience. An
independent, self-reflective sense of
achievement permeates the visual
and narrative structure of many
recent projects, underscoring the
exhilarated pleasure of pride in the face
of sometimes intolerable struggle. Is
it pride on steroids? Or worse, hubris?
Or is it a warranted sense of collective
accomplishment given the city’s
exceptional social, political, and cultural
contributions projected far beyond its
material bounds?
Romain Blanquart
Adam Hollier
Shea Howell
Marshalle Montgomery
Jerry Paffendorf
Sultan Sharrief
Pastor Steve Upshur
(2006)
Jack Cronin
(2009)
Carrie LeZotte
(2010)
Thalia Mavros & Brendan Fitzgerald
(2011)
Garen
(2011)
4exit4 production
(2011)
4exit4 production
(2012)
Erik Proulx
(2011)
Nora Mandray & Hélène Bienvenu
(2012)
Iain Maitland
(2012)
Oren Goldenberg
(2012)
The Detroit Journal
(2012)
Lester Spence & Kofi Boone
#iamdetroit; #wemakedetroit;
#tacticaloptimism; #utopiafound; #nostalgia;
#hockeytown; #313; #motorcity; #theD;
#SperamusMelioraResurgetCineribus,
#risefromtheashes
14

15
Dillatroit, 2012, Oren Goldenberg

SCREEN
25 HOURS,
15 MIN-
UTES, 45
SECONDS
Detroit is in the limelight. Nationally. Internationally. Few cities fuel a more remarkable
abundance of conflicting and evocative representations. And few cities harness the paradoxical
contemporary fascination with tactical opportunism and inexorable ruination with more
noticeable panache.
In the face of Detroit’s diffused celebrity, MODCaR has collected an extraordinary inventory of
documentary films and videos featuring the city of Detroit as protagonist. Imaging Detroit’s
SCREENING ROOM program features a combination of invited and submitted works which
aim, through magnitude and range, to produce a pluralistic, collective, nuanced, timely, and
ultimately transformative portrayal of a heterogeneous city.

Friday, September 21
06:00 PM Bilal’s Stand, Sultan Sharrief, 2010 (85min)
07:25 PM Lean, Mean & Green, Carrie LeZotte & John Gallagher, 2012 (12min)
07:37 PM King Band Interviews, Iain Maitland, 2012 (7min)
07:44 PM Street Fighting Man, Andrew James, 2013 (16min trailer + excerpt)
08:00 PM I Have Always Been A Dreamer, Sabine Gruffat, 2012 (78min)
09:18 PM Theatre Bizarre: Documentary, Gary Bredow & Per Franchell, 2012 (5min trailer)
09:23 PM Motor City Pride, 4exit4 production, 2011 (8min)
09:31 PM Detroit: Making It Better for You, Kyong Park, 2000 (10min)
09:41 PM People Mover, 4exit4 production, 2011 (18min)
10:00 PM High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music, Gary Bredow, 2006 (64min)
11:04 PM either half(way) or 6 mile, Ellen Donnelly, 2009 (3min)
11:07 PM Redefining Dreamland, Brad Osantoski, 2011(74mins)
Saturday, September 22
12:21 AM Urban Roots, Marc MacInnis, 2011 (90min)
01:51 AM Detroit: Murder City, Al Profit, 2008 (83min)
03:14 AM The Detroit Journal: True Stories about Real People, The Detroit Journal, 2012
(16min) [Pending permission]
03:30 AM Detroit Beautification Project: Chapter 1, The Seventh Letter Production, 2012
(10min) [Pending permission]
03:40 AM Reinventing Detroit, J. Michael Vargas, 2012 (8min) [Pending permission]
03:48 AM Detroit Rising (episodes 01: How Detroit is Rising & 02: Detroit’s Creative Potential),
the Atlantic Cities production, 2012 (7min) [Pending permission]
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Saturday, September 22, continued...
09:00 AM The Kresge Foundation: 37 Artist Profiles in Detroit, Stephen McGee, 2012
(26min)
09:26 AM Detroit Bike City, Alex Gallegos, 2011(14min)
09:40 AM Detroit Ville Sauvage, Florent Tillon, 2010 (80mins)
11:00 AM A City to Yourself, Nicole MacDonald, 2008 (24min)
11:24 AM Total Detroit, Niegel Smith (6min)
11:31 AM 9 Businesses, 4exit4 production, 2012 (7min)
11:38 AM Melbourne’s Detroit, Narda Shanley & Sky Seely, 2012 (9min)
11:47 AM Sounds Like Detroit, Angela Last, 2012 (7min)
11:54 AM Fallow City, Berenika Boberska (5min)
12:00 PM Brewster Douglass You’re my Brother, Oren Goldenberg, 2012 (28min)
12:28 PM Detroit: What Will It Take?, Alegra Pitera, 2012 (2 min)
12:30 PM The VooDooMan of Heidelberg Street, Harvey Ovshinsky, 1990 (27min)
01:00 PM Conversation with Harvey Ovshinsky
01:20 PM Lemonade: Detroit, Erik Proulx, 2012 (18min)
01:38 PM Robocop Was Filmed Mostly in Dallas, David Gazdowicz, 2003 (5min)
01:43 PM The Packard Dogs – A Study of Contrasts, Tom McPhee (12min)
01:55 PM Coda Motor City, Kelly Parker, 2004 (16min)
02:11 PM Detroit Ruin of a City, Michael Chanan & George Steinmetz, 2005 (92min)
03:43 PM I Am From Detroit, Lester Spence, 2012 (9min)
03:52 PM We Are Not Ghosts, Mark Dworkin & Melissa Young, 2012 (53mins)
04:45 PM Regional Roots, Carrie LeZotte, 2009 (27min)
05:12 PM Nine Days Without Water, Stephen McGee, 2012 (13min)
05:25 PM Vacancy, Brandon Walley, 2006 (6min)
05:31 PM Everyone I Know, Brandon Walley, 2012 (5min trailer)
05:36 PM pulping detroit: on the road 2012, J.P. Maruszczak, 2012 (5min)
05:40 PM Grown in Detroit, Mascha & Manfred Poppenk 2009 (60min)
06:40 PM Creative Catalyst: Detroit and the Abandoned Packard Plant, Sharad Kant
Patel, 2012 (9min)
06:49 PM Invisible City, Jack Cronin, 2006 (11min)
07:00 PM Real Scenes: Detroit, Patrick Nation & Daniel Higginson, 2011(19min)
07:19 PM Hill, Ben Wu & David Usui, 2012 (8min)
07:27 PM Détroit: Un Rêve En Ruine, Alexandre Touchette, 2010 (52mins)
08:20 PM Detroit in Overdrive (episodes 1&2), Michael Selditch, 2011 (90min)
09:50 PM I Pity the Fool, Brent Coughenour, 2007 (90min)
11:20 PM Deforce, Daniel Falconer, 2011 (86min)
19

A CITY TO YOURSELF A GIRL”S GUIDE TO DETROIT
09/22 @ 11:00AM
Nicole MacDonald, 2008 (24min)
In 1950, when Detroit was the auto production
capital of the world, there were 1,849,568
people in the city. Today there are half that
many remaining. Everyone’s heard of the
crumbling infrastructure that follows a shrinking,
post-industrial city like Detroit. But what
about the increase in space for outdoor art,
less traffic, little gridlock, the return of urban
wildlife and green space, and some of the
pluses of having a city to yourself?
Amanda Le Claire, 2012 (in production)
Detroit is a place that attracts a certain type
of individual. Someone that’s both tough and
independent. That’s especially true for the
women who have chosen to stake their claim
in one of the nation’s most complicated cities.
Fearless, talented, and ambitious, these
women are shaping Detroit’s future.
AMBASSADOR BRIDGE COMPANY: MICHIGAN
CENTRAL STATION
Stephen McGee, 2012 (6min)
ART FROM THE ASHES: DETROIT’S
HEIDELBERG Project
Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer, 2010
(15min)
After the decline of the auto industry, riots,
rampant crime, and urban decay, the city
of Detroit has been struggling to find a new
identity. Looking to inspire change, artist Tyree
Guyton began to use paint and found objects
to transform 2 city blocks into a provocative
and colorful art installation. The art project on
Heidelberg Street has since become a mecca
for artists and stands as a symbol of Detroit’s
ongoing artistic renaissance.
20

ALL THINGS WILL UNWIND: STORIES &
SOUNDS —MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND
Murat Eyuboglu, 2011 (10min)
“Is Detroit the next Berlin? Naw, I don’t think so..
Detroit is its own place, with its own history. It is
magical and it is wild. There’s a sense here that
Detroit has lived through a nightmare and is
continuing to pick up the pieces and build for a
better future. There are so many racial wounds
here, but I see prejudice increasing all over the
world. We fear the unknown.” - Shara Worden
AFTER THE FACTORY
Philip Lauri, 2012 (44min)
The global economy is in crisis. More and
more businesses are outsourcing their manufacturing.
And former industrial towns-- whether
they’re in Ohio, Mississippi, or Poland-- are
left asking the question, ‘What comes after
the factory?’ For questions like this, the best
answers come from the people who have been
there. Detroit, Michigan has been running on
fumes since the fall of the auto industry and
Poland’s textile industry in Lodz has been
hanging by a thread since the fall of communism.
In both cities, their populations have
fled, their unemployment has spiked, and now,
they’re both on the front lines of re-building
their economies. After the Factory presents an
opportunity to learn from these two diametrically
different cultures as their entire way of life
transitions to something new. Stories from the
citizens are inspiring. Ideas from community
leaders are thought-provoking...
ART IN DETROIT
Stephen McGee, 2011 (11min)
21

BILAL’S STAND
09/21 @ 06:00PM
Sultan Sharrief, 2010 (85min)
BIKE CHASE (BREEZEE ONE)
Garen, 2011 (4min)
Bilal – a Muslim high school senior in Detroit –
works long hours to keep up both his grades
and his family’s long-owned taxi stand. “The
Stand” has been the family’s social and
financial hub for sixty years, and now Bilal is
destined to carry the torch. Yet despite a series
of setbacks at home, Bilal secretly submits a
college application and takes up ice carving in
order to win a scholarship. Now he is forced to
decide whether to continue running The Stand
– the only life he has ever known – or take a
chance at social mobility. Based on a true
story, Bilal’s Stand radiates warmth, humor,
and originality. In depicting a struggle that is all
too common today, the film captures the emotion
and authenticity on issues rarely brought
together on screen.
Official Music Video
BREWSTER DOUGLAS YOU’RE MY BROTHER
09/22 @ 12:00PM
Oren Goldenberg, 2012 (28min)
A look inside the historic buildings, introducing
the viewer to lifelong residents, activists
who fought to keep the projects open, and
squatters—themselves former residents—who
struggle to stay warm through Detroit’s harsh
winter.
22

BURN
BORN OF FIRE
Tom Putnam & Brenna Sanchez, 2013 (in
production)
BURN is a feature documentary about Detroit,
told through the eyes of Detroit firefighters,
who are charged with the thankless task of
saving a city that many have written off as
dead. Firefighters have an up-close view of the
best and worst in any city. This is especially
true for Detroit. Detroit is a picture of the future
of American industrial cities in a post-industrial
age: one foot in a prosperous past, with an
uncertain next act, struggling to survive in a
changing economy. BURN follows the crew of
Engine Company 50 — one of the busiest firehouses
in America. Located on Detroit’s blighted
east side, E50 stands at ground zero of the
city’s problems. Every day, these firefighters
face injury, disablement, and death. But they
come back, day after day, resolved to make
a difference. They’re certainly not here for the
money—their starting salary is $30,000 and
they haven’t seen a raise in 10 years. BURN
tells the story of these exceptional individuals
who, despite the challenges and dysfunction,
believe in their city and are attempting to make
a difference every day.
Samuel Bayer, 2011 (2min)
Chrysler Ad featuring Eminem
CHARLIE LEDUFF GOLFS THE LENGTH OF
DETROIT
Fox 2 production, 2012 (11min)
FOX 2’s Charlie LeDuff takes on an epic challenge
of golfing his way from 8 Mile Road to
Belle Isle... literally. It’s a par 3,168, 18-mile,
single hole course. The 46-year-old Pulitzer
Prize winning writer carries only four clubs in
his bag while facing extraordinary hazards
that took years to form. He strokes his way
through grassy fields, abandoned houses and
crumbling landmarks. The half-way houses
on this course are real. On the loop, Charlie
interacts with the gallery, capturing the spirit of
the people of Detroit. No Mulligans here, you
play it as it lies.
23

CODA MOTOR CITY
09/22 @ 01:55PM
Kelly Parker, 2004 (16min)
CREATIVE CATALYST: DETROIT AND THE
ABANDONED PACKARD PLANT
09/22 @ 06:40PM
Sharad Kant Patel, 2012 (9min)
In the car manufacturing city Detroit, there is
only a vestige of a public transport system.
The 22 percent of all households that own no
car are practically immobile, physically and
socially trapped.
Artist perspective on decay vs creation within
Detroit.
DETROIT BIKE CITY
09/22 @ 09:26AM
Alex Gallegos, 2011(14min)
DETROIT EXPLORERS FOR NEWSWEEK
Stephen McGee, 2012 (6min))
“There’s not many things better than riding a
bike in life,” says the owner of Corktown Cycles
in this short doc offering a fresh new vision of
downtown from a two-wheeled perspective.
Gas prices, health concerns and just plain
fun are covered as compelling reasons for
bicycling by, among others, members of the
East Side Riders bike club and participants in a
Critical Mass group ride event. ..[A]captivating
collage by Detroit filmmaker Alex Gallegos. -
Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press
Artists and historians explore and photograph
Detroit’s abandoned buildings in hopes of
protecting them from the wrecking ball.
Accompanying article:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/
newsweek/2010/09/08/urban-explorers-makethe-city-a-playground.html
24

DEFORCE
09/22 @ 11:20PM
Daniel Falconer, 2011 (86min)
Deforce is a chronicle of one city’s long struggle
with political oppression. Once the engine
of America, Detroit remains a proud city—rich
with local triumphs and individual achievements,
but known best for its overwhelming
quality of life challenges. This film reveals that
these present challenges are indeed forged of
the past. If nothing changes in our cities, they
will shape this country’s future in ways that
benefit no one.
DETROIT BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT:
CHAPTER 1
09/22 @ 03:30AM [pending permission]
The Seventh Letter Production,
2012 (10min)
The Detroit Beautification Project assembled
artist’s from around the globe. With the the
common goal to bring vibrancy back to one of
America’s greatest cities.
DETROIT IN OVERDRIVE (3 episodes)
09/22 @ 08:20PM
Michael Selditch, 2011 (135min)
Detroit in Overdrive is a three-part mini series
which depicts the rebirth of an American
city that has been devastated by adverse
economic conditions - ranging from a loss of
jobs and businesses to crumbling schools
and infrastructure. We see students studying
advanced automotive technology and robotics,
to home-grown rock star Kid Rock opening
a local beer brewery, to a street artist paving
a road with old, discarded shoes and much
more.
DETROIT JE T’AIME
Nora Mandray & Hélène Bienvenu,
2012 (in production)
Detroit je t’aime is an interactive web
documentary that depicts the story of a
disenfranchised city. Between creativity,
resource sharing, urban farms, recycling and a
healthy dose of DIY attitude, Detroit may very
well be the urban model of the future.
25

DETROIT LIVES (3 episodes)
Thalia Mavros, Brendan Fitzgerald,
2010 (31min)
Once the fourth-largest metropolis in
America—some have called it the Death
of the American Dream. Today, the young
people of the Motor City are making it their
own DIY paradise where rules are second
to passion and creativity. They are creating
the new Detroit on their own terms, against
real adversity. We put our boots on and went
exploring.
DETROIT: MAKING IT BETTER FOR YOU
09/21 @ 09:31PM
Kyong Park, 2000 (10min)
A gritty tapestry of images on the destruction
of Detroit, a city struggling to sustain its
communities in the face of global economic
greed. The video’s “drive-by-shooting” style is
emblematic of the mythology of Detroit as both
the “Motor City” and the “Murder City.” It offers
street-level views of the urban clashes between
inner-city realities and suburban myths.
DETROIT RISING
DETROIT RUIN OF A CITY
09/22 @ 03:48AM [pending permission] 09/22 @ 02:11PM
the Atlantic Cities production, 2012
episode 01: How Detroit is Rising (2min)
episode 02: Detroit’s Creative Potential (5min)
episode 03: The Faces Behind Detroit’s Rebirth
(4min)
episode 04: The Businesses That Will Lead
Detroit (4min)
episode 05: The Future of Detroit (5min)
You’ve heard the story of the city’s downfall.
This is the story of its comeback.
Michael Chanan & George Steinmetz,
2005 (92min)
With the participation of Detroit artist Tyree
Guyton, French sociologist Loïc Wacquant,
Detroit-born writer Dan Georgakas, Detroit
photographer Lowell Boileau, and local
residents, the film looks back over the history
of the city in the twentieth century: over the
rise and fall of the social system identified by
social theorists as ‘Fordism’; the way the city
was shaped by the automobile; and its decline
following the deindustrialisation which began
in the 1950s, leaving it ill-adapted to the post-
Fordist society of the epoch of globalisation...
26

DETROIT MIX FPV
Tretch5000, 2012 (3min)
DETROIT: MURDER CITY
09/22 @ 01:51AM
Al Profit, 2008 (83min)
An aerial encounter of Detroit
The story of Detroit’s history of violence and
its portrayal in the national media. Filled with
archival film & TV footage from the rum wars of
the roaring 20s to the drug wars of the 80s and
90s, to the corruption of Jimmy Hoffa.
DÉTROIT: UN RÊVE EN RUINE
09/22 @ 07:27PM
Alexandre Touchette, 2010 (52mins)
DETROIT VILLE SAUVAGE
09/22 @ 09:40AM
Florent Tillon, 2010 (80mins)
Détroit, once the “Paris of the Midwest,” is
today a city in ruin. Hard hit by the crisis, it
has become the symbol of the abuses of the
American model, a metropolis that increasingly
recalls the third world and resembles a
bombed-out city in certain places. For 25
years, the director followed the daily lives of
people who live in this world regulated by
unemployment, segregation and violence.
A documentary exploring the rise and fall
of Detroit. Compiling historical footage
and interviews with the city’s residents,
this meditative documentary looks at a city
reclaimed by nature and resettled by 21st
century urban pioneers.
27

DETROIT: WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
09/22 @ 12:28PM
Allegra Pitera, 2012 (2min)
A video exploration. Can Detroit be seen
through a sense of wonderment?
GROWN IN DETROIT
09/22 @ 05:40PM
Mascha & Manfred Poppenk 2009
(60min)
Grown in Detroit focuses on the urban
gardening efforts managed by a public school
of 300, mainly African-American, pregnant and
parenting teenagers. In Detroit alone, there are
annually more than 3,000 pregnant teenagers
who drop out of high school. As part of the
curriculum, the girls are taught agricultural
skills on the school’s own farm which is
located behind the school, in what used to be
the playground...
DILLATROIT
Oren Goldenberg, 2012 (4min)
EVERYONE I KNOW
09/22 @ 05:31PM
Brandon Walley, 2012 (5min trailer)
Official Music Video
“DILLATROIT” the official video from the new
J Dilla album entitled “Rebirth of Detroit”. The
single “DILLATROIT” features Supa Emcee,
Nick Speed and Guilty Simpson produced by
J Dilla.
Everyone I Know is a feature length
documentary that showcases dozens of
uniquely varied Detroit bands, post garageboom,
captured live from venues in & around
the city. This preview’s predominate focus
is on the initial night of production where 18
bands sweated it out back to back to back at
the legendary PJ’s Lager House. The name of
that event, URGH! A Detroit Music War, was
a homage to the 1982 cult classic URGH! A
Music War.
28

HALFTIME IN AMERICA
GOAT YARD
David Gordon Green, 2012 (2min)
Michael Pfaendfner, 2010 (13min)
Chrysler Ad, featuring Clint Eastwood
FALLOW CITY
09/22 @ 11:54AM
A made-in-Detroit tale of love, goats and
taxidermy. They’ve been tagged as pirates,
bikers of the lake, hippies, misfits, outcasts
and even radicals. Whether dressing in prom
gowns while they race or bellowing their
battle cry “Huj, Huj Harja”, they stand in stark
contrast to the pretentious yacht club crowd
at any given regatta. These are the sailors and
crew of the Detroit Sail Club.
Drive through the overgrown, vine-covered
gate and you’ll find a place like no other. Once
guarded by a bearded billy goat named Nemo,
the Detroit Boat Works is home to the Detroit
Sail Club. The club shares space with the
rusted steel skeleton of a former brick factory,
a decommissioned Detroit fire engine, the
remains of a sunken schooner, a repurposed
school bus and dozens of castoff sailboats
awaiting new owners ready to breathe life into
them once again.
Berenika Boberska (5min)
Fallow City is a fictional near future scenario
– a proposition for the abandoned suburbs of
Detroit. Shown as a stop motion animation of
a large physical model of archetypal suburbia
(based on Hamtramck ), the project imagines
transformations over time, which re-purpose or
mis-use the suburban forms. A fallow season,
as in the practice of agriculture, creates an
interruption where unusual uses and forms can
flourish. How would this strategy look if applied
to the city?
29

EITHER HALF(WAY) OR 6 MILE
09/21 @ 11:04PM
Ellen Donnelly, 2009 (3min)
Rounding the corner from Santa Maria
onto Telegraph Road, residential gives way
to commercial. The curb cut reveals this;
regularly spaced and similarly formed on the
residential side, they are less frequent and
more accessible on the commercial. Designed
to accept vehicles traveling at faster speeds,
they open to temporary parking lots or gas
stations, both of which bleed into one another
visually, if not physically. Rounding the corner
from 6 mile to Woodbine Avenue, commercial
gives way to residential. The irregularity of
building form yields to the precise duplication
of housing stock. The first facade becomes
the rest, save for minute evidence of
personalization. The curb is punctuated every
40 feet to make way for the family car, which
reveals more about consumer preference,
financial status and personality that the houses
ever could. On the outskirts of Detroit, this
site is neither fully residential nor commercial,
neither city nor suburb; but a spatial, formal
and programmatic threshold.
This video produces new ways of viewing
the site while simultaneously surveying its
conditions by capturing ground, elevation
and sky in three separate but synchronous
views. The site is transformed in unexpected
ways; the video allowing for new conceptions
of shared ground and occupation in contrast
to the rigid lines drawn by property politics in
American culture.
HANGING GARDENS
Single Barrel Detroit production, 2010
(8min)
A vacant structure in Detroit’s Midtown is now
breathing new life thanks to the hard work
of some volunteers from one local agency.
Ryan Schirmang, a creative project manager
at Team Detroit, helped organize the Hanging
Gardens, the first vertical garden project on an
abandoned building in Detroit.
HOT IRONS
Andrew Dosumu, 1999 (50min)
Hot Irons provides a rare look into the social
culture of African-American hairstyling, as
explained by five Detroit hairdressers in
preparation for the Hair Wars convention.
Aided by striking cinematography and a
brilliantly eclectic soundtrack, Dosunmu
captures the hopes and pressures of the men
who were laid off from the automobile industry
and now compete for recognition and respect
in the fantastically creative world of black hair
styling.
30

HIGH TECH SOUL: THE CREATION OF TECHNO
MUSIC
09/21 @ 10:00PM
Gary Bredow, 2006 (64min)
HILL
09/22 @ 07:19PM
Ben Wu & David Usui, 2012 (8min)
High Tech Soul is the first documentary
to tackle the deep roots of techno music
alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its
birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the
underground party scene of the late 1980s,
Detroit’s economic downturn didn’t stop the
invention of a new kind of music that brought
international attention to its producers and
their hometown. Featuring in-depth interviews
with many of the world’s best exponents of
the artform, High Tech Soul focuses on the
creators of the genre -- Juan Atkins, Derrick
May, and Kevin Saunderson -- and looks at the
relationships and personal struggles behind
the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills,
Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others
explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and
resonating basslines, could not have come
from anywhere but Detroit.
Allan is the caretaker of one of the few
remaining structures that still stand at the old
Packard Plant. Years of neglect have resulted
in massive decay in this Albert Kahn designed
factory. But, it has its own kind of beauty and
for Allan is the place he calls home.
31

I AM FROM DETROIT
I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A DREAMER
09/22 @ 03:43PM 09/21 @ 08:00PM
Lester Spence & Kofi Boone, 2012
(9min)
The last iteration of the Detroit Renaissance
narrative regales us with stories of
independent artistic minded entrepreneurs
who, by dint of their energy and creativity will
re-imagine Detroit. Our project “I am From
Detroit” critiques one of the problematic ideas
embedded in this narrative by juxtaposing
contemporary representations of Detroit
against the simple statements of Detroiters
past and present. Our project uses digital
video to engage Detroit’s diaspora in the
reclamation of the city’s meaning and
identity, using a split screen to juxtapose
their narratives, with montages of popular
media-derived images. The simultaneity of the
presentation is a commentary on intentional,
unintentional, and sometimes serendipitous
conflicts and resolutions, which are the
hallmark of community dialogue.
Sabine Gruffat, 2012 (78min)
I Have Always Been A Dreamer is a
documentary travelogue and film portrait of
two cities in contrasting states of development:
Dubai, UAE and Detroit, U.S.A. Within the
context of a boom and bust economy, the film
questions the collective ideologies that shape
the physical landscape and impact local
communities. Though these cities represent
two different economic eras (Fordist and Post-
Fordist), both cities vividly illustrate the effects
of economic monocultures and the arbitrary
consequences of geopolitical advantage. The
film serves as a visual documentation of these
two cities as indexes of political, cultural and
economic change while tracing the ways each
city’s development is tied to technologies
of communication, production, labor, and
consumption.
32

I PITY THE FOOL
09/22 @ 09:50PM
Brent Coughenour, 2007 (83min)
INVISIBLE CITY
09/22 @ 06:49PM
Jack Cronin, 2006 (11min)
In an effort to improve its image for the
nationwide attention brought to the city by
the hosting of the 2006 Super Bowl, the city
of Detroit began demolishing long-vacant
buildings, hastening the natural slow decay
caused by decades of industrial collapse.
As the city dismantles itself, clues to its
past resurface. Collections of scraps sifted
from rubble—an archeology of unanswered
questions—combine to tell a surrogate
narrative filled with missing pieces and
forgotten motives, old letters, photographs,
and home movies. Fractured moments
occurring on one summer day echo events
from thirty years earlier. The day is sunny, but it
is humid, and clouds are gathering. It is going
to rain.
Invisible City was filmed in Detroit over
the course of three years. Inspired by Italo
Calvino’s Le città invisibili, in which the Italian
author suggests that what constitutes a city
is not so much its physical structure but the
impression it makes upon its visitors. The
film is loosely organized into four segments
representing spring, summer, fall, and winter.
KING BAND INTERVIEWS
09/21 @ 07:37PM
Iain Maitland, 2012 (7min)
In this video students from a Detroit High
School Marching band answer questions
about the past, present and future.
33

LEAN, MEAN & GREEN
09/21 @ 07:25PM
Carrie LeZotte & John Gallagher, 2012
(12min)
Turns the lens on the possibilities of urban
cities around the world. Using the thesis
laid out in Detroit Free Press writer John
Gallagher’s Reimagining Detroit, the
documentary will look to Detroit’s future, and,
by extension, to the future of cities everywhere.
For while Detroit may be the nation’s
poster city for urban dystopia, it shares its
predicament to a greater or lesser degree with
dozens of cities. Population loss and industrial
collapse scar cities around the globe, not
just a handful of towns surrounding the Great
Lakes. Inspiration for the future using regional
and international images will showcase the
possibilities of urban change that include
positive city shrinkage, urban agriculture, and
daylighting streams. Interviews directly with
urban heroes about the work they do will talk
about what has been accomplished and what
the future can look like.
LEMONADE: DETROIT
09/22 @ 01:20PM
Erik Proulx, 2012 (18min)
“Lemonade: Detroit” is a film about the
disarming resilience of a city that can no longer
rely on a single industry for its livelihood, and
the entrepreneurial strengths of those who are
reinventing themselves and their communities.
Instead of sensationalizing blight, “Lemonade,
Detroit” will sensationalize hope, told through
the intensely personal stories of those who are
turning the city into what it will become.
MOBBING ON ANGELS’ NIGHT
Nora Mandray & Hélène Bienvenu,
2011 (4min)
Detroit is not on fire anymore for Devils night,
the night just before Halloween. At least not
in Northwest Detroit, where the GMOB’s are
riding their fancy DIY bikes! Bike Mike, Bo,
all the Grown Men On Bikes are having fun
paddling, connecting Detroiters from all four
corner of the city. That’s Detroit and that’s the
way we do it!
34

LIVING WITH MURDER
Romain Blanquart, 2012 (41min)
More than 3,300 people have been murdered
in the City of Detroit since 2003. In this Detroit
Free Press documentary, meet some of the
families who have lost loved ones to homicide,
are searching for justice and trying to come to
terms with their losses. Watch as hard-pressed
Detroit homicide investigators juggle heavy
caseloads in their hunt for killers.
MELBOURNE’S DETROIT
09/22 @ 11:38AM
Narda Shanley & Sky Seely, 2012
(9min)
What on earth could two gals from Melbourne,
Australia, know about Detroit? Are there
similarities of spirit, architecture, decline and
renewal or do we have nothing in common with
a city halfway around the world? “Melbourne’s
Detroit” is a short film produced in Australia for
Imaging Detroit that examines the similarities
and disparities between Melbourne and
Detroit.
35

MOTOR CITY IS BURNING
Ben Whalley with BBC Four
production, 2008 (60min)
Documentary looking at how Detroit became
home to a musical revolution that captured the
sound of a nation in upheaval. In the early 60s,
Motown transcended Detroit’s inner city to take
black music to a white audience, whilst in the
late 60s suburban kids like the MC5 and the
Stooges descended into the black inner city to
create revolutionary rock expressing the rage
of young white America. Extensive archive
footage and contributions from top names
of the time. Cultural production juxtaposed
with the rise and fall of the auto industry. A
lot of driving through city. “In the 60s Detroit
had it’s moment.” Iggy Pop? “This was the
manufacturing center of America and thus the
World. And if you wanted it built, we built it in
Detroit.” Wayne Kramer “Detroit, Michigan.
A Midwestern Blue-Collar City”-Narrator
“You ride down the streets here. It looks like
Lebanon or something.” With contributions
from Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, George Clinton,
Martha Reeves, John Sinclair and the MC5.
MOTOR CITY PRIDE
09/21 @ 09:23PM
4exit4 production, 2011 (8min)
“Detroit is a city that truly appreciates your
contributions and having you here”. For
members of Detroit’s GLBTQ community, that
appreciation is manifest. Whether through
activism, business ownership, historic
preservation, or as cultural curators, the gay
community is changing the landscape of the
city. Here are just a few of the faces of Detroit’s
vibrant GLBT community.
PEOPLE MOVER
09/21 @ 09:41PM
4exit4 production, 2011 (18min)
A short film capturing 24 local artists, cooks,
thinkers and musicians as they came together
to showcase Detroit’s spirit, performing inside
the train one day in April.
36

NINE BUSINESSES
09/22 @ 11:31AM
4exit4 production, 2012 (7min
NINE DAYS WITHOUT WATER
09/22 @ 05:12PM
Stephen McGee, 2012 (13min)
A local business is the heart of a community, a
place that helps creates relationships between
residents and lets them directly impact a city’s
economy. In Detroit, small businesses are
rapidly taking root in neighborhoods all over
the city. From coffee shops and galleries, to
bakeries and custom sneaker designers, 4exit4
highlights nine businesses that are changing
the conversation of the community.
“More violence led back to my neighborhood
than any other neighborhood in Detroit.... In
this neighborhood, people are living like they
are on their ninth day without water, and on the
tenth day they die. I didn’t want to die, so I left,
went to the water, drank some and brought it
back and started a boxing gym.... These kids
need a push in the right direction” - Coach
Khali
PONY RIDE
Order & Other production, 2012 (3min)
Ponyride is a study to see how the foreclosure
crisis can have a positive impact on our
communities. Using an ‘all boats rise with
the tide’ rent subsidy, we are able to provide
cheap space for socially-conscious artists and
entrepreneurs to work and share knowledge,
resources and networks. We purchased a
30,000 square-foot warehouse for $100,000
and offer space for $0.10-$0.20 per squarefoot,
which includes the cost of utilities.
37

PULPING DETROIT: ON THE ROAD 2012
REAL SCENES: DETROIT
09/22 @ 05:36PM 09/22 @ 07:00PM
J.P. Maruszczak, 2012 (5min)
Pulping Detroit begins on the road, 387 miles
over 8 mile or as Kerouac writes its anywhere
road for anybody anyhow. A Detroit on the
road video cartography constructed as a
transmedia script of urban questions and
hanging non sequiters. The 15 min film with
accompanying storyboard urban maps will
envision a new detroit architectural vérité.
The film will be developed as an (intercity)
mashup employing cartographic masks,
googling motion graphic performances and
Detroit street view panoramics. An iphone/app
production of Whats your road man? of Detroit
tech-nomadism: shoot/sample, cut/paste, mix/
match urbanism.
Patrick Nation & Daniel Higginson, 2011
(19min)
Real Scenes is a series of films, supported
by and conceived with Bench, in which we
explore the musical, cultural and creative
climate within electronic music’s key
destinations. We’ll look at the role singular
figureheads—producers, DJs, promoters—
play in making their city’s music scene a
point of world-wide interest. We’ll also look at
places, spaces and inspirations, seeking out
the essence of what gives these hyper-local
scenes a truly global resonance. You can’t talk
about electronic music without mentioning
Detroit. The city’s DJs and producers birthed
the genre we now call techno. Detroit, however,
has always had a creative streak, due in large
part to the boom and subsequent bust of the
auto industry. Quite simply, Detroit is a city of
extremes, and its music reflects that. Detroit’s
importance in the global electronic music
scenes is often referred to in the past tense.
With the recent emergence of Kyle Hall and
other young Detroit producers, however, it’s
clear that a spark remains. When we visited,
we found a number of artists with their eyes
(and ears) firmly set towards the future. After
our time there, it’s clear that Detroit will endure
and innovate for years to come.
38

REDEFINING DREAMLAND
09/21 @ 11:07PM
Brad Osantoski, 2011(74mins)
REGIONAL ROOTS
09/22 @ 04:45PM
Carrie LeZotte, 2009 (27min)
Detroit was at the heart of the 20th-century’s
revolution in industry and labor organization.
It now faces many complicated struggles that
are being seen around the rest of the country.
Redefining Dreamland tells the story of the city
today through the eyes of its current residents.
Rather than submitting to all of the typically
negative media surrounding Detroit, this film
explores where the positive action is taking
place, and where it could be leading Detroit
into the future.
Covering 300 years of history, Regional
Roots uses the immigrant experience as
an introduction to the diverse landscape of
Detroit. From the earliest French and German
settlers to today’s growing communities,
immigrants continue to shape the region in
pursuit of the American Dream.
REINVENTING DETROIT
09/22 @ 03:40AM [pending permission]
J. Michael Vargas, 2012 (8min)
Detroit, Michigan. A city with a rich history of
industry and music, now a city hit hard with
economic depression and unemployment.
However, one new industry in the state is
breathing life and giving hope to the area. Film.
The Michigan Film Incentive is responsible
for bringing 69 films to the state in 2009, and
more slated for 2010. Reinventing Detroit is
a film about how a city can take those that
were employed in the automotive industry and
giving them a new opportunity, a fresh start. ...
39

REQUIEM FOR DETROIT
RIDE IT SCULPTURE PARK, TONY MIORANA
Julien Temple, 2010 (76min)
When the filmmaker Roger Graef approached
me last year to make a film about the rise and
fall of Detroit I had very few preconceptions
about the place. Like everyone else, I knew it
as the Motor City, one of the great epicentres
of 20th-century music, and home of the
American automobile. Only when I arrived in
the city itself did the full-frontal cultural car
crash that is 21st century Detroit became
blindingly apparent. Leaving behind the gift
shops of the “Big Three” car manufacturers,
the Motown merchandise and the bizarre
ejaculating fountains of the now-notorious
international airport, things become stranger
and stranger. The drive along eerily empty
ghost freeways into the ruins of inner-city
Detroit is an Alice-like journey into a severely
dystopian future. Passing the giant rubber
tire that dwarfs the nonexistent traffic in ironic
testament to the busted hubris of Motown’s
auto-makers, the city’s ripped backside begins
to glide past outside the windows.
Aaron Chilen for Power House
production, 2012 (6min)
Tony Miorana talks about building DIY parks
and coming to Detroit to start the Ride it
Sculpture Park Skate extravaganza in the
Power House Productions neighborhood.
SEE IT THROUGH
Melodie McDaniel, 2011 (1min)
Chrysler Ad, text by Detroit poet Edgar Albert
Guest.
40

ROBOCOP WAS FILMED MOSTLY IN DALLAS
09/22 @ 01:38PM
David Gazdowicz, 2003 (5min)
SEE IT THROUGH
Jonathan Cherry, 2011 (2min)
Robocop was filmed mostly in Dallas looks
at the connection and disconnection that the
blockbuster film “Robocop” has with the city of
Detroit. A tongue in cheek tour of settings that
might have been used in the making of the film
takes you through the emotion of the scenes
as you explore the locations, drawing subtle
attention to the fact that “Robocop” was in fact
NOT shot mostly in Detroit.
Photographer / Filmmaker Jonathan Cherry
spent a week capturing the spirit of the city
of Detroit in this short film, set to a poem by
Edgar Albert Guest, resident of Detroit in the
early 20th century and Michigan’s only Poet
Laureate.
SLOW DOWN
Supreme, 2006 (5min)
SOUNDS LIKE DETROIT
09/22 @ 11:47AM
Angela Last, 2012 (7min)
Music Video
“Slow Down” represents the struggles that
inner-city youth are faced with today. Based
on true events, the song features the voices
of Xiomara and participants from a Summer
Program at the Detroit Hispanic Development
Corporation.
Sounds Like Detroit operates at two
levels. Playing with the visual and musical
representation of Detroit, it asks: what is
generic and what is unique about Detroit?
Does its uniqueness perhaps lie in its ability to
reflect back the commonalities people want to
see? What is the ‘spirit of Detroit’ and can it be
present in other places?
41

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN
Paul Justman, 2002 (116min)
Standing in the Shadows of Motown recounts
the story of The Funk Brothers, the uncredited
and largely unheralded studio musicians
who were the hand picked house band by
Berry Gordy in 1959. They were the band
who recorded and performed on Motowns’
recordings from 1959 to 1972. The film was
inspired by the 1989 book Standing in the
Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of
Legendary Bassist James Jamerson, a bass
guitar instruction book by Allan Slutsky, which
features the bass lines of James Jamerson.
THE MAKESHIFT DETROIT
Stephen McGee, 2010 (10min)
A film about branding Detroit city and the
entrepreneurial role needed.
STREET FIGHTING MAN
09/21 @ 07:44PM
Andrew James, 2013 (16min trailer +
excerpt)
Street Fighting Man is a character-driven
documentary that follows three inner-city
men – each a generation apart – as they seek
to define their lives in post-industrial Detroit.
Deris Solomon is a young single father who
wants to leave behind a high-risk life on the
streets; Luke Williams is a middle-aged man
remodeling a former crack house after being
homeless for several years; and James “Jack
Rabbit” Jackson is a retired police officer
struggling to save his neighborhood from
crime after the local police station is dissolved.
Through the stories of these men, the film
unflinchingly reveals how hard it can be to
build a future when everything seems to be
crumbling around you. Street Fighting Man
shares the lived experiences of the people
who call Detroit home. As Luke collects cans
and acquires reclaimed materials to make an
old home new again, Jack Rabbit must stand
up to violent young criminals who were once
children in his neighborhood. Meanwhile,
Deris has to decide how he will provide for his
daughter: by struggling to get an education,
or by selling drugs like many of his peers. For
each of these men, it is a war of little battles,
often waged at home, at school, or in the
streets. And ultimately, their three narratives
collapse into one, telling the tale of one man as
he attempts to make it through his youth, midlife,
and old age in post-industrial America.
42

THE DETROIT JOURNAL, EPISODE 1: WILLIAM
FOSTER IS A GOOD MAN
09/22 @ 03:14AM
The Detroit Journal, 2012 (16min)
THE KRESGE FOUNDATION: 37 ARTIST
PROFILES IN DETROIT
09/22 @ 09:00AM
Stephen McGee, 2012 (26min)
After a lifetime of desperation and addiction,
William Foster shares his story. Years
of homelessness, drugs, and eventual
incarceration led him on a path darker than
many could survive, but William found the
light. This is his story. A Detroit story.
THE MOTOWN EFFECT
In Detroit, the city that became the national
symbol of the 2008 recession, art thrives.
As the vacant lots and crime get national
attention, the scene on the street level
takes advantage of the significant unique
surroundings making for world class poets,
photographers, painters and musicians. Art
X Detroit is pleased to present a short video
series by Emmy award-winning filmmaker,
Stephen McGee, featuring 37 Kresge Artists.
This video is the collection of all (37) 45
second films that were originally released
once a day for 37 straight days in early 2010.
The artists featured are in the performing,
literary and visual arts and are all part of the
2008-2010 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellowship
Awardees and Eminent Artists. This series
focuses on the work, theories, practices and
influences of the artists as well as the state of
Detroit. The deadline given to the filmmaker
was 1.5 months to create, shoot, produce and
edit (37) 45 second films and then 1.5 months
to create (37) 2-3 minute films of each artist.
Joe Warwick, 2011 (15min)
A documentary exploring the social impact
Motown Records had on American society and
Civil Rights during the 60’s and 70’s.
43

THE PACKARD DOGS – A STUDY OF
CONTRASTS
09/22 @ 01:43PM
Tom McPhee, 2012 (12min)
THE REBIRTH OF DETROIT (OFFICIAL JDILLA)
Oren Goldenberg, 2012 (1min)
The Packard Dogs is a study of contrasts with
the iconic ruins of the Packard Plant serving
as the setting for differing views about what
constitutes a stray dog problem. Kresge artistaward
recipient and Detroit native Bruce Giffin
and Packard Plant Steward Alan Hill share
their perspectives on the dogs of the Packard
Plant. This short story is part of the American
Strays Dog Census & Film Study being
conducted by the World Animal Awareness
Society - WA2S.org in the city of Detroit. The
WA2S.org is proud to present another of the
more than 40 mini docs that will be released
leading up to the launch of the feature
documentary, AMERICAN STRAYS.
Trailer for the “Rebirth of Detroit”, a new album
featuring unreleased music from the late
producer, as well as Detroit’s finest emcees
and musicians who have both worked with
and/or been influenced by J Dilla.
THEATRE BIZARRE: DOCUMENTARY
09/21 @ 09:18PM
Gary Bredow & Per Franchell, 2012
(5min trailer)
For the last decade, a derelict neighborhood
in Detroit has played host to an incomparable
Halloween masquerade: Theatre Bizarre. It is
completely illegal. No permits. No insurance.
No boundaries. It has consistently operated
without incident or indictment… until 2010.
44

THE TREASURE NEST AND THE DRAGON
Donna Terek for the Detroit News
production, 2011 (5min)
Last fall, the California-based magazine
“Juxtapoz” gave a grant to Detroit’s Power
House Productions to buy four abandoned
houses on Moran Street south of the Davison
in Detroit. The magazine of contemporary and
underground art chose six artists and set them
loose to turn those houses into works of art.
THE VOODOOMAN OF HEIDELBERG STREET
09/22 @ 12:30PM
Harvey Ovshinsky, 1990 (27min)
Profile of a young Detroit artist by the name
of Tyree Guyton and his efforts to revitalize
his neighborhood with art that he finds and
makes.
45

TOTAL DETROIT
09/22 @ 11:24AM
Niegel Smith (6min)
URBAN ROOTS
09/22 @ 12:21AM
Marc MacInnis, 2011 (90min
My teenage years were spent in Detroit. A city
in continual decline. One that refuses to lose
itself to those who fetishize its ruins. It’s been
10 years since my return. I do it carefully. Can
I speak for this place where I no longer live?
Yes. And I’m taking you with me. I invite you
to walk with me in Detroit. We’ll start in New
York and hop on a plane to the Motor City. I’ve
got some shit to work out--you too? Pack your
baggage. We’ll come back with less.
For 3 days and 2 nights, we’ll sculpt, listen,
light and sing. We’ll give ourselves to decay
and possibility through techniques derived
from cultural anthropology, performance
art and experimental theater. We will make
monuments with our bodies in response to
public spaces; project words on to abandoned
buildings to give them voices; volunteer at an
urban farm to feed the hungry; and cleanse
one another with the help of Tanaka Min
ritualistic practices.
The film follows the urban farming
phenomenon in Detroit. Urban Roots is a
timely, moving and inspiring film that speaks
to a nation grappling with collapsed industrial
towns and the need to forge a sustainable and
prosperous future.
WE ARE NOT GHOSTS
09/22 @ 03:52PM
Mark Dworkin & Melissa Young, 2012
(53mins
Detroiters are reinventing the old Motor City
as a vibrant new self-sustaining and humanscaled
city for a post-industrial world.
46

VACANCY
09/22 @ 05:25PM
Brandon Walley, 2006 (6min)
WE ALMOST LOST DETROIT: DALE
EARNHEART JR. JR.
Andrew Smart, 2012 (4min)
Vacancy is a visual exploration of the Detroit’s
Madison Lenox Hotel and its demolition.
Official Music Video
WIS
XYT: DETROIT STREETS
Kyong Park, 2002 (5min)
Andrew Zago, 2011 (6min)
Words, Images and Spaces. A Language for
a New City.
XYT: Detroit Streets is a suite of ten short
films, presented in an installation format,
documenting streets of Detroit through a
new digital process of Zago Architecture’s
invention. These films reorder the mechanics
of depth and movement to draw out the
pervasive, but ephemeral atmosphere of
Detroit’s extraordinary urban condition.
47

GALLERY
1 PRINTER ,
2 WALLS,
800 SQ FT
The GALLERY is an active work in progress. At the center of two exhibition walls a printing
station extends an invitation. to print and post impressions of Detroit. Ink, paper, and an
assistant are provided. Please share your views and images, be they are archival, social,
personal, communal, critical, or otherwise.

50

51

LIBRARY
100 BOOKS,
1 LIBRAR-
IAN
The LIBRARY showcases a range of printed material, both broadly distributed and selfpublished,
that figures Detroit as narrative or visual luminary. The assembled genres are
wide-ranging: historical, projective, photographic, architectural, speculative, comic, etc.
Formats extend from local self-published pamphlets to high-end foreign art presses. The
LIBRARY also features work that has had limited public exposure: reports from academic
studies and conference proceedings, artists’ books, journals, etc. The content of the library
is a curated combination of eminence, inconspicuousness, notoriety, opportunism, activism,
and self-reflection.

Press, 2010)
Nancy W. Barr, John Gallagher, Carlo McCormick, eds., Detroit Revealed: Photographs, 2000-2010 (Detroit: Detroit
Institute of Arts, 2011)
Stefano Boeri, Philipp Oswalt, Marjetica Potrc and Peter Lang, Urban Ecology: Detroit and Beyond (Hong Kong: MAP
Book Publishers, 2004)
Kevin Boyle & Victoria Getis, Muddy Boots and Ragged Aprons: Images of Working Class Detroit, 1900 – 1930 (Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 1997)
Ben Bunk, Drawing Detroit: (east by southwest) // a book of colorful possibilities (Detroit: BUNKhead, 2010)
Edmund Burke, Three Nights in Detroit (Edmund Burke: 2008)
John Carlisle, 313: Life in the Motor City (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2011)
Tina Croley, ed., Joy Ride: 10 Years of the Woodward Dream Cruise (Detroit: Detroit Free Press, 2004)
Mort Crim & Susan VanDeRyt, Greater Detroit: Renewing the Dream (Memphis, TN: Towery Publishing, 1997)
Mary Desjarlais, Bill Rauhauser: 20th Century Photography in Detroit (Livonia, MI: Saint Paul’s Press, 2010)
Cheri Y. Gay, Detroit Then and Now (San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press, 2001)
John Gallagher, Reimaging Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City (Detroit: Wayne State University
Press, 2010)
Steve Hughes, Stupor: A Treasury of True Stories (Detroit: Supor House, 2011)
Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre, The Ruins of Detroit (Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2011)
Andrew Moore, Detroit Disassembled (Akron, OH: Akron Art Museum, 2010)
Julia Reyes Taubman, Detroit: 138 Square Miles (Detroit: MOCAD, 2011)
Kati Rubinyi, Detroit City Map (Kati Rubinyi: 2008)
Robert Sharoff and William Zbaren, American City: Detroit Architecture, 1845 – 2005 (Detroit: Wayne State University
Press, 2005)
John Sobczak, A Motor City Year (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2009)
James W. Tottis, The Guardian Building: Cathedral of Finance (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2008)
Katherine Yung and Joe Grimm, Coney Detroit (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2012)
Arthur M. Woodford, This is Detroit, 1701–2001: An Illustrated History (Grand Rapids: Great Lakes Books, 2001)
Pamphlets, Course Books, Portfolios:
Lori Brown & Brett Snyder, After Autopia: Visions for Light Rail in the Motor City (Syracuse University School of Architecture,
2010)
Bjoern Dittrich & Marius Gantert, Re: Detroit — Intensifying Peripheral Urban Landscapes (Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology, Germany: Thesis Project, 2012)
Andrea Hansen and Toni Griffin, New Geographies for Detroit (Harvard GSD, 2011)
Andrew Herscher, How to Recuperate an Urban Crisis: A Glossary of Urban Figurations of Detroit Focusing on Art, Ruins,
Wilderness, Apocalypse and other Cultural Imaginaries (Detroit: Detroit Unreal Estate Agency, 2012)
Gabriel Mihalea, 2150 : Detroit : Global Human Heritage (2012)

PARTY
3 DJ’S, 1
COLLEC-
TIVE, 6 POP
UP SNACK
BOYS
MODCaR likes to party! To PARTY PARTY!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2012
6:00pm-8:00pm: Rob Theakston
Rob Theakston was born at Sinai Hospital in
Detroit to a mum and dad. For the next 27 years
of his life, he lived in innumerable cities around
the Detroit metropolitan area before taking a
position at the University of Kentucky. He comes
home at every opportunity that avails itself. But
that’s not why you’re reading this biography.
Rob got his start as a DJ at his high school radio
station and hasn’t looked back, hosting shows on
WQBR, WEMU, CJAM, WCBN and most recently
WRFL. His first night club residency was in the
study at Motor, and from there went on to work
with Ghostly International during its salad days.
A co-founder of the popular Dorkwave parties,
he has performed live at the Detroit Electronic
Music Festival and MUTEK. He currently co-runs a
record label (EMA Communications) and has done
consulting for several other record labels. Rob
also served as Associate Editor at the All Music
Guide (allmusic.com) from 2000-2007.
8:00pm-10:00pm: Todd Osborn
There are lots of stories about DJ and producer
Todd Osborn (no e, mind you). They are, unfortunately
for your ego and ours, all true. Our Legosculpting,
electron microscope-owning, Japanesespeaking
uber-producer puts his joy of life and the
art of making into his music. Todd fixes and flies
planes, has fabricated a video game kiosk out of
hospital equipment, and is finishing his hovercraft
as we write this. We could call him house music’s
Macgyver, but that would be obvious. I guess
we just did.Todd has been championed across
the board, by everyone from Gilles Peterson to
Aphex Twin (he records as Soundmurderer for
his Rephlex label), from UR’s Mad Mike to Warp’s
Flying Lotus. But such accolades should be taken
lightly; after all, Todd just wants to have a little
fun and get some time in on the dance floor. Like
Todd, we should all get (more) busy.
58

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2012
8:00pm-9:30pm: Richie Wohlfeil
Richie Wohlfeil makes his way around one way or
another. If it’s not as a dj at events like this, he’s
curating his radio show on Hamtramck’s AM 1610
(CONTACT Sundays 9pm to 11pm); or found gigging
around town with DANNY & THE DARLEANS,
MOTHER WHALE, COLORWHEEL and many others
as a drummer; or tending his shop in Hamtramck,
a used record and book shop called LO & BEHOLD!
Records & Books that also publishes books from
time to time. At this event, Richie will be playing
some rare Detroit Soul & R’n’B 45s from his
record collection.
9:30pm-11:00pm: Thinkbox
Founded at the end of the 1990s, Thinkbox is
a multimedia collective whose interests lie in
the exploration and the development of the new
modalities of audiovisual diffusion in the context
of live performances. The collective is comprised
of six members who reside on both sides of the
Canadian-American border, dividing their time
between Windsor and Detroit. Thinkbox was
selected as one of URB Magazine’s “Next 100
Artists for 2004”. Collective and/or solo member
performances have occurred at the following
venues and festivals: Movement (Detroit’s Electronic
Music Festival), USA / Cranbrook Museum
of Art, USA / New Maps Festival, Montreal /
Deep Wireless Festival, Toronto / Vancouver New
Music’s Dangerous Currents Festival/ Ann Arbor
Immedia Festival, USA and MUTEK, Montreal. An
exhibition of Thinkbox’s works was hosted at the
Art Museum of Windsor in 2006. The collective
self-released two compilations and have gone on
as individuals to release music on such labels as
Kranky, City Center Offices, Overlap and Planet
E. This will be the first performance under the
Thinkbox moniker in nearly 5 years, with tonight’s
performance featuring members Christopher
McNamara, Steve Roy and Rob Theakston.
59

DIS-
COURSE
JOCKEYS
32 PER-
SPECTIVES

DAVID ADLER
David Adler is a London and NY based
economics writer and critic. He is author of
the behavioral finance book Snap Judgment
(Financial Times Press, 2009) and co-editor
of the anthology Understanding American
Economic Decline (Cambridge University
Press). He is also producer of the PBS NOVA
documentary “Mind Over Money” (2010) also
about behavioral economics. David Adler
is interested in the intersection of arts and
economics, which he has written extensively
about, most recently for Frieze Magazine. Adler
has produced numerous arts documentaries
for the BBC. He was a participating artist
in the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 (curators
Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Poka-Yio and Nicolas
Bourriaud); Currently David Adler is actively
documenting a little known photography
system in US prisons featuring photographs
taken by prisoners for prisoners using prisoner
created fantasy backdrops. He exhibited these
at the Clocktower Gallery in NY this summer.
His project has been profiled in the Huffington
Post, Aperture, Vice, Art Info, and other arts
publications.
ASENATH ANDREWS
Asenath Andrews, the founding principal of
Catherine Ferguson Academy, is a native
Detroiter with degrees from Olivet College,
Wayne State University and did PhD. studies at
University of Michigan. She was most recently
honored by Newsweek’s Daily Beast as one of
the 150 Fearless Women in the World, Toyoto
Mother of Invention and by Fast Company
Magazine as on of the League of Extraordinary
Women.
ROMAIN BLANQUART
Romain Blanquart (b. 1973, France) is a visual
journalist living in Detroit, MI. He studied
photojournalism at the Rochester Institute of
Technology and for the last 11 years he has
been a staff photographer at the Detroit Free
Press. His most recent video documentary
Living With Murder deals with the toll of
homicides in Detroit. It received an Edward
Murrow Award and was recognized by the
National Association of Black Journalists, Best
of Photojournalism Contest, 2012 New York
Photo Festival, National Headliner Awards and
was nominated for an Emmy by the Michigan
Chapter of the National Academy of Television
Arts and Sciences.For the past three years
Romain has also been working on Can’t
Forget The Motor City, a photographic project
documenting Detroit with photographer Brian
Widdis. Romain loves Detroit, most of the time!
DAVID BUUCK
David Buuck is a writer who lives in Oakland,
CA. He is the founder of BARGE, the Bay Area
Research Group in Enviro-aesthetics, and
co-founder and editor of Tripwire, a journal of
poetics. The Shunt was published in 2009 by
Palm Press, and Army of Lovers, co-written with
Juliana Spahr, is forthcoming from City Lights.
Publications, writing & performance samples,
and further info available via davidbuuck.com
VINCE CARDUCCI
Vince Carducci is Dean of Undergraduate
Studies at College for Creative Studies in
Detroit and publisher of the blog Motown
Review of Art. He combines aesthetics and
social science to investigate fields of cultural
production. He is currently surveying ways
in which aesthetic communities in Detroit
construct what sociologist Eric Olin Wright
terms “real utopias.” His work has appeared
in scholarly publications, such as Canadian
Journal of Sociology, Journal of Consumer
Culture, Logos, and Radical Society, and
many periodicals, including Art & Australia,
Artforum, Art in America, Eye, Huffington Post,
Metro Times, PopMatters, and Sculpture.
He received a Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary
Fellowship in 2010. He holds a BFA in art
practice from Michigan State University and an
MA in liberal studies from the New School for
Social Research. He is currently completing a
dissertation in sociology from the New School.
62

CEZANNE CHARLES
Cézanne Charles is Director of Creative
Industries at ArtServe Michigan where she
directs policies and programs that support
individual creative practitioners. Charles is an
artist and curator and co-founded the hybrid
art & design practice rootoftwo in 1998 (with
John Marshall). From 2004 to 2007 she was
Executive Director of New Media Scotland,
the nation’s art and technology development
organization. From 2000 to 2003 she gained
valuable leadership experience with Culture
Works, the Arts Council and United Arts Fund
for the Greater Dayton, Ohio area. She was
guest Assistant Editor for the July 2009 edition
of LEONARDO, Journal of the International
Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology,
lead curriculum partner on the 2011 Rust Belt
to Artist Belt conference and served on the
planning committee for the 2009 Creative
Cities Summit 2.0. In 2011, she served as art
committee chair for the Friends of Modern
and Contemporary Art Auxiliary of the Detroit
Institute of Arts annual fundraiser Sync: Art
Meets Technology. Charles is a member of
the Programming Committee at the Museum
of Contemporary Art Detroit. She is an active
presenter and invited participant at statewide,
regional, national and international forums on
the creative industries, art and new technology.
She is a member of the Upgrade! an
international network of gatherings concerning
art, technology and culture.
MARGI DEWAR
Margaret Dewar is Professor of Urban and
Regional Planning in the Taubman College
of Architecture and Urban Planning at
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Dewar teaches courses where students
work with community-based organizations
and city agencies to develop plans to
strengthen neighborhoods in Detroit and
Flint. Dewar’s research concerns what cities
become following abandonment, a major
transformation affecting large numbers of cities
in the United States in which urban planners
usually have little role. Her particular interest is
in identifying political relationships, institutions,
laws, and other factors that make a difference
in outcomes following abandonment under
the same market conditions. Themes in her
work relate to strengthening deteriorated
neighborhoods and addressing issues facing
declining regions. Her new book (co-edited
with June Manning Thomas), The City after
Abandonment, will be published in fall 2012 by
University of Pennsylvania Press.
KHALILAH GASTON
Ms. Burt Gaston received a Master’s of
Urban Planning degree from the University of
Michigan where she studied how the influence
of media, design and popular culture “remake”
urban communities and was recognized
by the Network of Commercial Real Estate
Women for her academic accomplishments.
A resident of Detroit’s Arden Park-East Boston
Edison neighborhood, Burt Gaston has worked
in Detroit as an urban planner, program
evaluator and real estate practitioner for twelve
years. After stints at the Downtown Detroit
Partnership and State of Michigan Land Bank,
she was named Deputy Director of Vanguard
Community Development Corporation, a
community development organization located
in Detroit’s historic North End. Her expertise
and perspective has contributed to several
noteworthy projects including Ice House
Detroit, Declare Detroit and the redevelopment
of Capitol Park. Her work has been also been
featured in New American City Magazine, I Am
Young Detroit, Model D and the Detroit Free
Press.
OREN GOLDENBERG
Oren Goldenberg is a filmmaker living and
working in Detroit. He is the director and
producer of the feature documentary about
Detroit Public Schools, Our School, and the
documentary Brewster Douglass, You’re My
Brother, about the historic public housing
projects. Recently, Oren has been making
shorter films and installations that explore
spatial change in his neighborhood. He owns
Cass Corridor Films and spends his spare time
organizing his community at the Isaac Agree
Downtown Synagogue and practicing Kung Fu
63

SABINE GRUFFAT
Sabine Gruffat is a digital media artist living
and working in North Carolina. She received
her BFA from the Rhode Island School of
Design and MFA from The School of The Art
Institute of Chicago. Currently Sabine is an
Assistant Professor of Art at the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Sabine’s
films and videos have screened at festivals
worldwide including the Image Forum Festival
in Japan, the Split Film Festival in Croatia, the
Ann Arbor Film Festival, The Copenhagen
International Documentary Film Festival,
the PDX Film Festival in Portland OR, the
Dallas Video Festival, Migrating Forms in
New York, The Gene Siskel Film Center in
Chicago, and The Gramercy Theater in New
York. Her photographs and installations have
been shown at the Zolla Lieberman Gallery
in Chicago, Art In General, Devotion Gallery,
PS1 Contemporary Art Museum, and Hudson
Franklin in New York, Brissot-Linz Gallery
in Paris,and the Centro Cultural Telemar in
Brazil. Her documentary film I Have Always
Been A Dreamer (2012) portrays two cities in
contrasting states of development: Dubai, UAE
and Detroit, U.S.A. Currently she is developing
and producing a three-screen installation
inspired by the first performance of The Rite
of Spring.
CORNELIUS HARRIS
Cornelius Harris is the label manager (and
occasional MC) for the iconic Underground
Resistance Records as well as founder of
Alter Ego Management. Over the years he has
taken many roles in both UR and working with
techno music originator Juan Atkins, doing
vocals for tracks like Transition and Technology
Gap, acting as MC for the UR live shows and
handling the visual aspect of shows for the
electronic supergroup Galaxy 2 Galaxy and
Atkins’ Model 500. Prior to this he was a
freelance writer, published in the MetroTimes
as well as national and international music
publications such as URB, Code, and Dance
Music Report. Alter Ego Management has
grown to represent artists from and in Detroit
as well as the east and west coasts and as far
away as Barcelona and Tokyo. Through AEM,
Harris has built strategic partnerships with
companies in Berlin, Madrid, Kobe, and Paris.
Representing a broad cross section of genres
from techno, rock, hip-hop, jazz, and beyond,
AEM handles project management, working
with festivals, independent film, and venues
on specific projects. Today Harris continues
his work in entertainment and media, building
bridges with local government entities such
as the Detroit Works Project and the Detroit
Entertainment Commission with an eye
towards helping the region to improve how it
leverages its creative capital.
ANDREW HERSCHER
Andrew Herscher is Associate Professor of
Architecture at the University of Michigan.
He also co-founded the Detroit Unreal Estate
Agency, an open-access platform for research
on urban crisis using Detroit as a focal point.
Among his current projects on Detroit are The
Unreal Estate Guide to Detroit, an exploration
of the alternative urbanism that has emerged
in the wake of Detroit’s economic decline,
forthcoming from the University of Michigan
Press in November 2012, and The Atlas of
Love and Hate, a compendium of tendentious,
repressed, subjugated and incongruous
geographic knowledge of the city inspired
by the work of the Detroit Geographical
Expedition.
ADAM HOLLIER
Adam Hollier was born in Detroit, Michigan.
Adam attended all Detroit public schools.
He received his undergraduate degree from
Cornell University in Industrial and Labor
relations. He then earned a Master of Urban
Planning from The University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor. Adam served as the district
director for State Senator Buzz Thomas, Chief
of Staff for State Senator Bert Johnson and
as volunteer coordinator for the East Biloxi
Relief and Recovery Center in Biloxi, MS after
Hurricane Katrina. During his tenure in public
service with Senators Thomas and Johnson,
Adam was instrumental in gaining “wins”
for his community. Adam also serves on the
Northend Central Woodward Governance
Board, Michigan Youth in Government Alumni,
64

Board and Vanguard Community Development
Corporation board of Directors. Adam has
been very involved with the Leukemia and
Lymphoma Society and coaches American
Youth football with the Detroit Dolphins.
SHEA HOWELL
Shea Howell has been a Detroit activist form
more than 3 decades. She works with youth,
artists and community-based development.
She lectures on issues of social difference
and peace and writes a weekly column for
the Michigan Citizen. Her most recent work
is on political ideology and community
transformation. She is a co-founder of Detroit
Summer and of the BCNCL. She is a professor
of Communication at Oakland University.
JOHN PATRICK LEARY
John Patrick Leary is Assistant Professor of
English at Wayne State University, where he
teaches U.S. and Latin American literature. He
is completing his first book, A Cultural History
of Underdevelopment: Latin America in the U.S.
Imagination. He lives in southwest Detroit.
NICOLE MACDONALD
Nicole Macdonald was director of the Detroit
Film Center, a non-profit media arts group
that shared resources and encouraged
independent story-telling by offering lowcost
film and video classes, screening local
and international work, and renting-out
equipment to its members. Since then,
Nicole has taught video classes to youth
and adults at the downtown Detroit YMCA,
with the intention of encouraging media
accessibility. Nicole has also worked with
the Detroit Area Film & Television to produce
animated shorts with Michigan high school
students, and has led visual art workshops
for incarcerated youth and adults through
the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) at
University of Michigan. With a background in
visual arts, Nicole has participated in regional
group art shows, focusing on 3-dimensional
landscape paintings. Most recently, she has
been producing photo collages that combine
current photos of Detroit with turn of the
century etchings. Aiming to give a different
view of familiar Detroit scenes, these collages
hopefully offer a reverence and concern for the
way we perceive the city’s past
NORA MANDRAY
Nora Mandray was born in Southern France
and received a Fulbright scholarship to
study producing and directing at UCLA film
school. While in Los Angeles she worked as
a creative producer with award-winning New
York and L.A.-based commercial production
companies. Prior to coming to the U.S., Nora
studied at the Institute of Political Science in
Paris and also worked for the Cannes Film
Festival. Today Nora is passionate about
impacting change through documentary and
uses journalism as another tool of raising
awareness. She’s currently collaborating with
Hélène Bienvenu on a year-long documentary
about the changing landscape of Detroit.
MITCH MCEWEN
Mitch McEwen is Principal of A. Conglomerate,
an emerging design practice based in
Brooklyn, as well as Founder of SUPERFRONT,
a non-profit supporting public engagement
with experiments in contemporary architecture.
The Akademie Schloss Solitude has granted
her a residency fellowship in architecture for
2012-2013, and she has been nominated for
the 2012 United States Artist Fellow award
in architecture and design. ArtNews profiled
Mitch as a Designer to Watch in 2011. Since
founding SUPERFRONT in January 2008, she
has curated more than fifteen exhibits and
published 5 exhibition catalogues integrating
architecture with other disciplines from the arts
and the built environment. She has created
workshops for the New Museum and Bard
College and lectured at the Studio Museum
in Harlem, the Association of Architecture
Organizations, Polytechnic Universty of
Puerto Rico and elsewhere. She has taught
at Columbia University and the New Jersey
Institute of Technology. She holds an MArch
from Columbia GSAPP and AB from Harvard.
65

CHRISTOPHER MCNAMARA
Christopher McNamara is a film and video
artist who divides his time between Windsor,
Ontario and Ann Arbor Michigan. His work
has been shown in galleries and museums
throughout Canada including Western Front in
Vancouver, YYZ and Mercer Union in Toronto,
Galerie B 312 in Montréal, the Khyber Art
Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Macintosh
gallery in London, Ontario, the Art Gallery of
Hamilton and at the Art Gallery of Windsor.
More recently McNamara had a solo exhibition
at Binz 39 in Zürich, Switzerland, was featured
in the Shrinking Cities Project at Kunst Werke
in Berlin. In June 2009 he presented “Some
More Cities” at the Sherwell Art Centre in
Plymouth, UK. His video, Establishing Shots
premiered at the International Film Festival
Rotterdam and was subsequently screened
at Independent Film Festival Boston, the
Ann Arbor Film Festival and at the Projection
Gallery in Liverpool, UK. He has performed
at international festivals including Mutek
(Montréal), Spark (Minneapolis) and Detroit
Electronic Music Festival (Detroit).
His most recent projects include “On
Location” – a 4 screen media installation as
part of the 50th Anniversary of the Ann Arbor
Film Festival at Gallery Project, Ann Arbor and
“Falling In Place” – a solo exhibition at the
Thames Art Gallery (Chatham, ON) and at the
Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, ON).
In addition to his video work, McNamara
works with three distinct audio art collectives:
Thinkbox, Nospectacle and Noiseborder
Ensemble. McNamara is a Lecturer IV in
the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures at
the University of Michigan where he teaches
courses in New Media production.
MARSHALLE MONTGOMERY
Marshalle Montgomery has worked to bring
together diverse communities in Metro-Detroit
for over a decade and considers it to be her
passion and life’s work. “I believe in using my
time, talent, resources and energy to create
a positive change in the world around us.”
Marshalle grew up in Inkster, Michigan and
currently resides there. She is also a filmmaker
who co-founded Trinity Film Coalition, L.L.C.
in 2006 and launched an annual film festival
in Detroit which showcases cutting edge indie
films from around the world. She was featured
in the 2008 edition of Who’s Who in Black
Detroit. In 2012, Marshalle became the Dean
of the Awesome News Taskforce-Detroit.
HARVEY OVSHINSKY
The Detroit News has described Harvey
Ovshinsky as “one of this country’s finest
storytellers.” Harvey was just 17 yearsold
when he founded The Fifth Estate,
one of the country’s oldest underground
newspapers. Since then he has been
awarded broadcasting’s highest honors,
including a national Emmy, a Peabody, a
duPont - Columbia University Award, and
the American Film Institute’s Robert M.
Bennett Award for Excellence. While director
of production at Detroit Public Television,
Harvey helped supervise the production of the
Oscar-nominated documentary, “Who Killed
Vincent Chin?” The Metro Times has described
Harvey’s career as “a colorful and fantastic
voyage, at times brave and visionary.”
JERRY PAFFENDORF
After dropping out of high school and earning
a BFA in New Jersey, Jerry Paffendorf moved
to Portland to make art, and then followed
his interest in emerging technology to the
University of Houston-Clear Lake where he
earned a Masters of Science in Studies of the
Future. From there he got busy as a futurist
and internet creative, first working with the
nonprofit Acceleration Studies Foundation in
LA, and then joining a startup based in DC
called the Electric Sheep Company where he
began making and studying new experiences
in 3D virtual worlds. He co-founded Wello
Horld in Brooklyn where he helped invent
the coolest realtime social internet software
you’ve never heard of. That venture capitalfueled
adventure ended, appropriately, in San
Francisco. Always building on past experience,
lifelong passions, and a sense of where the
web is going, in early 2009 Jerry moved to
Detroit because his “spider senses were
tingling” with the opportunity to help weave a
collective internet experience into the fabric
and regrowth of a great American city.
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DAN PITERA
Dan Pitera is a political and social activist
masquerading as an architect. He is
presently the Executive Director of the Detroit
Collaborative Design Center at the University
of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture. Mr.
Pitera holds the position that the sustainability
and regeneration of any neighborhood lies
in the hands of its residents. He is currently
co-leading the Civic Engagement process
for the Detroit Works Long Term Planning.
Mr. Pitera was a 2004-2005 Loeb Fellow at
Harvard University. Under his direction since
2000, the Design Center won the 2011 and
2002 Dedalo Minosse International Prize and
was included in the US Pavilion of the 2008
Venice Biennale in Architecture. The Center
was awarded the 2011 SEED Award, the
2009 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Design
Excellence for the St. Joseph Rebuild Center
in New Orleans, the NCARB Prize in 2002 and
2009 and was included in the international
exhibit/conference ArchiLab in 2001 and 2004
in Orleans, France. Mr. Pitera gave the keynote
address at the Planning Institute of Australia’s
National Congress and at Portugal’s equivalent
to HUD, in Lisbon. He has lectured and taught
extensively throughout the North America,
South America, and Europe. He likes “fallout
shelter” yellow…
CHRISTOPHE PONCEAU
Christophe Ponceau trained as interior
architect at the Boulle School in Paris, and
received his DPLG Architecture degree,
before pursuing landscape studies with Gilles
Clément. In 2000, he created the Great Hall
of La Villette’s opening exhibition: ‘Planetary
garden’. He later founded his architectural
consultancy with Mélanie Drevet, working on
public and private projects. With the French
Pavilion for the International Expo 2008, held
in Zaragoza, Christophe fused his skills and
knowledge, creating a project that united set
design with landscape art. He regularly works
at the Villa Noailles in Hyères, and has recently
completed the gardens of the Christophe
Pillet designed Sezz Hotel in St Tropez, as
well as the Olivier de Serres Gardens at the
Domaine du Pradel. He is currently working
for the French jewellers, Cartier, specialising
in the design of their boutique interiors, as
well as events for their international branches.
Alongside the designer Adrien Rovero, he
is co-curator of the Lausanne-Jardin 2014
festival.
MIGUEL ROBLES-DURAN
Miguel Robles-Duran is an urbanist, Director
of the Urban Ecologies graduate program
at the New School/Parsons in New York,
Senior fellow at “Civic City”, a post-graduate
design/research program based in HEAD
Geneva, Switzerland and cofounder of
“Cohabitation Strategies”, an international
non-profit cooperative for socio-spatial
development based in New York and
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Robles-Duran
has wide international experience in the
strategic definition/coordination of transdisciplinary
urban projects, as well as in the
development of tactical design strategies
and civic engagement platforms that confront
the contradictions of neoliberal urbanization.
He recently co-edited/authored the book
Urban Asymmetries: Studies and Projects on
Neoliberal Urbanization that reviews the dire
consequences that neoliberal urban policies
have had upon the city and discusses possible
alternatives to market-driven development.
Robles-Duran’s areas of specialization are
design/research interventions and strategies in
uneven urbanization and areas of social urban
conflict, urban political-economy and urban
theory.
SULTAN SHARRIEF
Sultan Sharrief’s debut 16mm feature Bilal’s
Stand heralds the arrival of its filmmaker
as a new voice in American independent
cinema––Filmmaker Magazine. Recently
selected as one of the Top 25 New Faces in
Independent Film, Sharrief seeks to develop
socially relevant content while empowering
others through the process of filmmaking.
Beginning at the young age of 19 years old,
he produced an MTV Movie Award-nominated
film, The Spiral Project. Sharrief is currently in
development of another feature that tackles
current social issues, You Gotta Want It. Today,
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Sharrief continues to direct the EFEX program,
is on the board for the historic Michigan
Theater in Ann Arbor and the Magic Wand
Foundation which empowers youth to live their
dreams.
GEORGE STEINMETZ
George Steinmetz is the Charles Tilly
Collegiate Professor of Sociology at the
University of Michigan. He has also been
Professor of Sociology at the University of
Chicago (1987-1997) and the New School for
Social Research (2008) and a fellow of the
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His
book The Devil’s Handwriting: Precoloniality
and the German Colonial State in Qingdao,
Samoa, and Southwest Africa (2007) won
a number of prizes. He has also written
Regulating the Social: The Welfare State and
Local Politics in Imperial Germany (1993),
and is currently completing the book Imperial
Intellectuals: Sociologists as Theorists,
Advisers, and Critics of Empire, 1940s-1960s.
His edited books include State/Culture (1999);
The Politics of Method in the Human Sciences
(2005); and Sociology and Empire (2013).
He received the Lewis A. Coser award for
Theoretical Agenda Setting in Sociology from
the American Sociological Association. He codirected
the film Detroit: Ruin of a City.
NOAH STEVENS
Noah Stephens is a photographer, essayist
and founder of The People of Detroit
Photodocumentary––a media project
dedicated to dynamic, interesting people
in the storied birthplace of American auto
manufacturing. Since its inception in April
2010, TPOD has received national and
international attention. Portraits from the
project have appeared in Bloomberg
BusinessWeek, Fast Company and other
national publications. In early 2011, a creative
director saw the project on flickr.com and hired
Noah to shoot an ad campaign for McDonald’s
Corporation in Shanghai, China.
PASTOR STEVE UPSHUR
Steve Upshur is a pastor, a brother, a father,
a son, and a servant and friend of many. He
found Jesus and was instantly delivered from
drugs in 1974 by God. Today, he leads the
congregation of Peacemakers International,
a little storefront ministry located on Detroit’s
Chene Street.
BRANDON WALLEY
Brandon Walley is a filmmaker and multimedia
artist whose work is predominately
abstract and nontraditional in nature. His
films have been received at international film
festivals and art galleries, including the Ann
Arbor Film Festival (Best Michigan Filmmaker
Award), the Museum of Contemporary Art
Detroit, the Museum of New Art Detroit, the
Silent Speed Film Festival (Best of Show),
the Iowa City Experimental Film Festival
(Honorable Mention), and the Media City
Film Festival in Ontario. Brandon is deeply
imbedded in the arts and cultural community
of Detroit, where he is active in neighborhoods
improvement projects through art and cultural
programs. Present and past involvement
include: Corktown Cinema (current Program
Director,) Detroit Projection Project (current
Co-Director and Co-Founder,) Imagination
Station (current Development Director,) City
Year Detroit (Graphic Design) and Detroit Film
Center (former Director.) He has instructed
moving media based art classes at College
for Creative Studies, YArts of Metro Detroit,
Detroit Film Center as well as High School
and Primary Schools. Brandon also has
professional experience in post-production
in television broadcasting, and has been
contracted to produce music videos,
commercials and theater.
CRAIG WILKINS
Dr. Craig L. Wilkins, AIA currently serves
as the director of the Detroit Community
Design Center at the University of Michigan
Taubman College of Architecture and Urban
Planning and teaches in both the architecture
and urban planning departments. An ACSA
Collaborative Practice Award recipient, his
book The Aesthetics of Equity: Notes on race,
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space, architecture and music won the 2008
Montaigne Medal for Best New Writing and
the 2009 National Independent Excellence
Award for Social Change. Recently described
by C.C. Sullivan of Smart Planet as hip hop
architecture’s most articulate thinker, Dr.
Wilkins has written and lectured on a variety of
topics, from the relationship between race and
space at Stanford University to the prospects
of architectural activism at the University of
Cape Town. In 2010, he was a member of the
inaugural group of artists to receive the Kresge
Fellowship for literature and has also been
awarded a residency at the historic Anderson
Center in Minnesota.
GARY WOZNIAK
Gary Wozniak has spent his entire adult
career in the financial arena. With close to
30 years of hands on consulting, training
and leadership experience he has helped
hundreds of companies achieve economic
success. In addition, Gary has owned several
business ventures from restaurants to the
health care arena. He has a unique ability
to analyze a client’s financial condition and
make recommendations regarding strengths/
weaknesses, stability and the potential for
capacity building. As the lead author of
the RecoveryPark project in Detroit, Gary
has brought together a coalition of 100+
government, education, non-profit and forprofit
entities to vision a 2,400 acre community
development and large-scale metropolitan
agriculture project. Over 3.5 years in the
making, RecoveryPark is poised to define
what “triple bottom line” urban projects will
model themselves after in the coming years.
This project offers insight into financially
self-sustainable models offering lifestyle
options that end population losses in core city
neighborhoods while attracting employment
opportunities that will eventually fuel further
development ideas.
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70

FELLOWS
1 PHOTOG-
RAPHER,
2 MUSI-
CIANS,
1 GEOGRA-
PHER
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MODCAR’s fellowship program advances new
modes of urban representation and visual analysis.
The fellowship is open to artists, architects,
urbanists, theorists, and thinkers engaged
in innovative modes of image production and
dissemination related to contemporary cities.
The fellowship program is not geographically or
disciplinarily biased. And we encourage applications
working with wide range of visual mediums,
including, but not limited to video, photography,
installation, performance, and film. Fellows
receive support in their research and experimentation.
The annual program culminates with an
exhibit and publication of the work.
MARIE COMBES
Marie Combes lives and works in Paris,
France. She is a visual artist whose work
– operating at the intersection of video,
photography and installation – engages
questions of perception, perspective and
urban imaginaries. She has exhibited widely in
Europe and the United States. In collaboration
with Patrick Renaud, she is the co-founder
of Studio Combes & Renaud. More at
combesrenaud.com
DAVID BUUCK
David Buuck is a writer who lives in Oakland,
CA. He is the founder of BARGE, the Bay Area
Research Group in Enviro-aesthetics, and
co-founder and editor of Tripwire, a journal
of poetics. An Army of Lovers, co-written with
Juliana Spahr, is forthcoming from City Lights.
Publications, writing & performance samples,
and further info available via davidbuuck.com
ANGELA LAST
Angela Last is an artist, musician and
geographer based in London, who works on
the production of alternative imaginaries and
experimental public engagement methods.
Her Mutable Matter project, which started as
part of her PhD research in geography, utilizes
interactive art practices in the production of
tools for amplifying spatial imagination and
political agency. More at mutablematter.
wordpress.com
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Marie Combes, Les Fugitives, 2012
W
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74

THANK
YOU(S)
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Imaging Detroit is made possible through the generous backing of a Research on the City Grant
from the Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, along with additional support from the
University of Michigan. We have been touched and humbled by the help and encouragement that we
have received and by the collective energy that we have encountered. The following is a brief and
incomplete list of thanks.
Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning
Office of the Vice President of Research, U of M
Dean Monica Ponce de Leon
Research on the City
Tom Bray
Digital Tools Lab
Devin Mudd
Digital Planet
Parks and Recreation Department, City of Detroit
Detroit Mayor’s Office
Detroit Public Schools, Office of Real Estate
Detroit Design Festival
The Greening of Detroit
National Public Radio
Mark’s Carts
John Langs
Chris Brown
Hostel Detroit
Mercedes V Mejia
Pete Murray
Melinda Anderson
Jaquelin Kirouac
Joe Geiger
City of Detroit
We are indebted to the energy and intelligence of our DJ’s (both disc and discourse) who have made
time to participate and share their expertise, and to all of the artists, filmmakers, designers, and
writers who have submitted or authorized the content of our program.
The MODCaR Team: Missy Ablin, Lauren Bebry, Virginia Black, Gorham Bird, James Chesnut, Anais
Farges, Brittany Gacsy, Allen Gillers, Jennifer Komorowski, Erika Lindsay, Will Martin, Didi Masse,
Danielle McDonough, Anthony Pins, Christopher Reznich
Project consultants: Jayna Zweiman, Lada Adamic, Steven Christensen
Directed by: Anya Sirota, Mireille Roddier & Jean Louis Farges.
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Imaging Detroit is a MODCaR 2012 project

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