Shrinking Cities
PUBLIC PROGRAM SERIES
February 2 – April 1, 2007
The Exhibition and Programs are Free and Open to the Public

Download public program pdf (1.8mb. Note - for screen display only, not printer friendly)

Between 1950 and 2000, more than 350 large cities across the globe lost a significant share of their inhabitants and businesses. What are the strategies for dealing with shrinkage and what are some models for action?

In a ground-breaking collaboration, Cranbrook Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) will host the two-part exhibition Shrinking Cities - a project of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Focusing on four cities around the world including Detroit, Halle/Leipzig (Germany), Manchester/Liverpool (Britain), and Ivanovo (Russia), Shrinking Cities - offers an in-depth survey of the worldwide phenomenon of urban depopulation as well as visionary interventions by more than 200 artists, architects, filmmakers, academics and international teams from over 12 countries, including almost twenty artists working in Michigan.

Cranbrook Art Museum
Shrinking Cities: International Research

The first part of the exhibition explores the four focus cities through diverse forms of documentation, projects and installations by artists, architects, filmmakers, journalists and researchers. Themes of the contributors’ work include a global study of shrinking cities, the change of urban landscapes, everyday practices, and political conflicts under the conditions of urban decline.

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD)
Shrinking Cities: Interventions

The second part of the exhibition focuses on alternative models of intervention within shrinking cities and is divided into five areas: Negotiating Inequality, Self Governance, Creating Images, Organizing Retreat, and Occupying Space. Commissioned projects range from artistic interventions and self-empowerment strategies, to new legal regulations and utopian visions.

Take the Bus: Shrinking Cities
A free bus will run every Saturday and Sunday between Cranbrook Art Museum and MOCAD for the duration of Shrinking Cities.

Shrinking Cities Bus Schedule:
Saturdays and Sundays,
February 3 – April 1, 2007

Cranbrook to MOCAD:
12 noon, 1:30 pm, & 3 pm

MOCAD to Cranbrook:
12:45 pm, 2:15 pm & 3:45 pm

Free Admission
Free Admission for all visitors and tour groups to Cranbrook Art Museum during the Shrinking Cities exhibition is sponsored by MASCO. Additional educational programming at MOCAD is sponsored by Compuware.

Cranbrook Art Museum
39221 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
248-645-3323
Wednesday – Sunday: 11 am – 5 pm
Fourth Fridays: 11 am – 9 pm
Admission is Free during Shrinking Cities.

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD)
4454 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201
313-832-6622
Wednesday and Sunday: 12 – 6 pm
Thursday – Saturday: 12 – 8pm
Admission is Free.

Sponsored by the German Federal Cultural Foundation

Friday, February 2, 9 pm - 12 midnight
Music at MOCAD
Odu Afrobeat with Human Eye
Odu Afrobeat is a fourteen-piece Afro-beat orchestra featuring some of Detroit’s finest musicians. The band Human Eye will also perform. $10 cover charge.

Saturday, February 3, 1:30 pm & 7 pm
Cranbrook Art Museum: 1:30 pm
MOCAD: 7 pm
Lecture
Philipp Oswalt on Shrinking Cities
Chief Curator and Project Director for Shrinking Cities, Philipp Oswalt from Berlin will give a presentation on the history of the project.

Saturday, February 3, 3 pm
Artists Talk at Cranbrook
Kyong Park
Artist and Co-Curator of the Detroit section of the exhibition Shrinking Cities, Kyong Park will talk about his video Old House, New House.

Sunday, February 4, 12 noon
Artists Talk at MOCAD
Jon Brumit presents Pioneers
San Francisco artist Jon Brumit will speak about his radio-based driving tour of select Detroit neighborhoods that highlights the pioneering spirit of city residents.

Sunday, February 4, 2 pm
Panel Discussion at MOCAD
Improve Your Lot! New Responses to Vacant Land: A Discussion
In recent years, many Detroit residents have purchased vacant, city-owned lots adjacent to their homes. This roundtable discussion will bring together stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in making such purchases. Roundtable participants will include Tobias Armborst, Daniel D’Oca & Georgeen Theodore (Interboro), Margaret Dewar (Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan), Stephen Zacks (Metropolis magazine), and others.

Sunday, February 4, 4 pm
Panel Discussion at MOCAD
Ingo Vetter and Steven Vogel: Urban Agriculture
A discussion about local and global urban agriculture with Ashley Atkinson, Program Director of Greening of Detroit and Co-Chair of Detroit Agricultural Network, Ingo Vetter of Berlin and Steven Vogel, Dean of Architecture, University of Detroit Mercy. A screening of Ingo Vetter and Annette Weisser’s film, I am Farming Humanity, will precede the lecture.

Friday, February 9, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
A Night of Detroit Underground Electronics
Hear broken electronics and fractured dance music by Viki and a performance by electro-dance duo, Ectomorph. DJ Christopher Fachini will power up the rock-box sound system.

Saturday, February 10, 1:30 pm
Gallery Talk at Cranbrook
Ideas & Process: Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate students will talk about Shrinking Cities and offer studio tours of their departments.

Saturday, February 10, 3 pm
Films at Cranbrook with Filmmaker Robert Lee
Minima Moralia, 2005, Robert Lee, 80 min.
Presented in partnership with the Media City 13 Festival of Windsor, video artist Robert Lee of Toronto will present his film Minima Moralia, which appropriates images from feature films and touches on topics of emigration, isolation and the general randomness of metropolitan life. This presentation is sponsored by Artcite Inc./House of Toast with the Media City 13 Festival, Windsor.

Friday, February 16, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
Frank Pahl and Dan DeMaggio
Artist, object maker and modern composer, Pahl will perform a monologue and some solo musical compositions. A Detroit-area writer and performer, DeMaggio integrates his wry observational writings with musical accompaniment.

Saturday, February 17, 1:30 pm
Gallery Talk at Cranbrook
Ideas & Process: Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate students will talk about Shrinking Cities and offer studio tours of their departments.

Saturday, February 17, 7 pm
Films at MOCAD
Detroit Park, 2005, Julie Murray, 8 min.
Detroit Block, 2006, Julie Murray, 7 min.
Invisible City, Jack Cronin, 11 min.
Vacancy, Brandon Walley, 6 min.
I Pity the Fool, Brent Coughenhour, 90 min.

Sunday, February 18, 1:30 pm
Artists Talk at Cranbrook
Christopher McNamara and John Ganis
Shrinking Cities artists Christopher McNamara and John Ganis will discuss their work.

Friday, February 23, 7 – 8 pm
Music at Cranbrook
Sound Effects: Music Builds Community in Shrinking Cities
Gallery talk and music by Walter Wasacz.
Journalist-photographer Walter Wasacz produces The Subterraneans, a column in Detroit's MetroTimes devoted to international electronic music culture. He is also a founding member of the DJ collective Paris '68.  Walter will talk about the contemporary music scene and will play samples from Detroit and the European cities featured in the Shrinking Cities exhibition.

Friday, February 23, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
Raw Truth Ensemble
World-class Detroit Jazz Improvisation Raw Truth Ensemble, headed by Michael Carey (reeds), Skeeter C.R. Shelton (multiple reeds) and Ali Allen Colding (percussion), will accompany films selected by archivists Timothy Caldwell and Giles Rosbury.

Special Shrinking Cities Bus Schedule on February 23:
departs 6:15 pm MOCAD – Cranbrook
departs 8:15 pm Cranbrook – MOCAD
departs 10:50 pm MOCAD – Cranbrook

Saturday, February 24, 1:30 pm
Gallery Talk at Cranbrook
Ideas & Process: Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate students will talk about Shrinking Cities and offer studio tours of their departments.

Saturday, February 24, 6 pm
Artists Talk at MOCAD
Dan Peterman and Dan Wang
Chicago-based artists Dan Peterman (of Experimental Station) and Dan Wang (of Mess Hall) will speak on their ongoing projects.

Sunday, February 25, 1:30 pm
Literary Reading at Cranbrook
Imaginary Cities: Writers respond to Shrinking Cities
Detroit-based writers William Copeland, Lynn Crawford, Vievee Francis and Kim Hunter are featured in this afternoon of spoken word about the city of Detroit.

Thursday, March 1, 7 pm
Lecture at MOCAD
City Planning Discussion
Moderated by Kathryn Underwood (Detroit City Planning Commission), participants Marsha Bruhn (former Director of the City Planning Commission), Dorian Moore (AIA, Archives DS), Grace Lee Boggs (co-founder, The Boggs Center) and special guests from the Mayor’s Office and the Planning and Development Department will discuss the future of urban planning in Detroit.

Friday, March 2, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
His Name is Alive, Odd Clouds, plus Crispy’s Rock Box Sound System
Progressive, cacophonous, neo-primitive noise orchestra Odd Clouds performs with 4AD recording artist and ever-evolving experimental rock/soul/country band His Name is Alive. Christopher Fachini will also power up the rock-box sound system.

Saturday, March 3, 1:30 pm
Gallery Talk at Cranbrook
Ideas & Process: Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate students will talk about Shrinking Cities and offer studio tours of their departments.

Saturday, March 3, 7 pm
Films at MOCAD with Filmmaker George Corsetti.
Poletown Lives, 1982, George Corsetti.
Filmmaker George Corsetti will present his much acclaimed Poletown Lives that documents the struggle among friends and neighbors against city bureaucrats and planning experts. A discussion with Corsetti on the lessons learned from Poletown and how they can shape future urban development will follow the screening.

Sunday, March 4, 1:30 pm
Lecture at Cranbrook
Transforming Disposable Commodities into Sustainable Communities
Jason Booza from the Department of Political Science, Wayne State University, will speak about the relationship between the city of Detroit and the suburbs from the viewpoint of architecture and city planning.

Thursday, March 8, 6 pm
Panel discussion at MOCAD
Why Detroit?
Detroit is an international city with a fluctuating population of immigrants. Moderated by Kemba N’Namdi of The KAN Group Translation Company, this discussion will include Ibrahim Aljahim of the Yemeni Arab-American Outreach, Maria Thacker of Latino Family Services, and a representative from the United African Community Organization.

Friday, March 9, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
The Blackman: Live with Larval
The Blackman features live MCs and a multi-instrumental funk rock ensemble together with orchestral, progressive rock group Larval.

Saturday, March 10, 1:30 pm
Gallery Talk at Cranbrook
Ideas & Process: Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate students will talk about Shrinking Cities and offer studio tours of their departments.

Saturday, March 10, 6 pm
Artists Talk at MOCAD
Detroit Summer LAMP Workshop
Students from the Live Arts Media Project (LAMP) will conduct a workshop seeking solutions for combating the growing problem of drop-outs in Detroit area schools.

Sunday, March 11, 1:30 pm
Panel Discussion at Cranbrook
Symptom and Waste: Comments on Uselessness in the Fabric of the City
A panel of experts from the region’s leading institutions will explore the theme of urban architecture and design as a philosophical, historical and cultural phenomenon. The panel will be led by Dr. Michael Stone-Richards of the College for Creative Studies.

Thursday, March 15, 6 pm
Lecture at MOCAD
Architects in a Shrinking City: AIA Discussion on Shrinking Cities
Organized by the Urban Priorities Committee of the American Institute of Architects, this lecture centers on the exhibition with a discussion about the role a shrinking city plays for architects in Detroit.

Friday, March 16, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
Outrageous Cherry and The All Seeing Eyes
Classic 60s, pop-inspired rock-n-roll quartet Outrageous Cherry performs with Ex-Rocket 455. The traditional Detroit-styled rock-n-roll group The All Seeing Eyes opens the night.

Saturday, March 17, 7 pm
Films at MOCAD
Chicago-Detroit Split, 2005, Thomas Comerford with Bill Brown, 11 min.
Figures in the Landscape, 2002, Thomas Comerford, 11 min.
still/here, 2001, Christopher Harris, 60 min.
In Order Not to Be Here, 2002, Deborah Stratman, 33 min.

Thursday, March 17, 9:30 pm
Music At MOCAD
Thinkbox with Paris ’68 DJs
Thinkbox member Chris McNamara assembles members of the U.S./Canadian audio-visual collective to perform a live electronic music/video concert. DJs of the sonic art collective Paris '68 also will perform.

Sunday, March 18, 1:30 pm
Artists Talk at Cranbrook
Scott Hocking and Clint Snider
Shrinking Cities artists Scott Hocking and Clint Snider present their work.

Thursday, March 22, 7 pm
Artists Talk at MOCAD
Mythological Psychogeographies: Detroit and Music
Panel Discussion led by Walter Wasacz featuring Faruq Z. Bey, Benjamin Miguel Hernandez and others. A DJ session will follow the panel discussion.

Friday, March 23, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
timeSTEREO presents Princess Dragon Mom’s Passport to Infinty with Demons

Saturday, March 24, 7 pm
Films at MOCAD
Gordon Matta-Clark
Five rarely seen films by Gordon Matta-Clark are screened including: Fire Child (1971), Fresh Kill (1972), Day’s End (1974), Conical Intersect (1975) and Sous-Sols de Paris [Paris Underground] (1977).
The presentation of these films is sponsored by the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago.

Sunday, March 25, 1:30 pm
Artists Talk at Cranbrook
Mitch Cope, Benjamin Miguel Hernandez and Jody Huellmantel
Shrinking Cities artists Mitch Cope (and Co-Curator of the Detroit section of the exhibition), Benjamin Miguel Hernandez and Jody Huellmantel present their work in the exhibition.

Wednesday, March 28, 7 pm
Lecture at MOCAD
Changing Perceptions: Re-evaluating the Impoverished in a Shrinking City
Moderator Phillip Cooley leads a panel discussion with individuals that have experienced homelessness and joblessness in Detroit. The group will discuss their daily hardships, revealing common experiences of fear, stress and depression. Cooley’s design collaborative, Los Pistoleros, and others will discuss possible solutions.

Thursday, March 29, 7pm
Lecture at MOCAD
Imagination, Process, Reality: Three Projects for Development in Detroit
Gretchen Wilkins (University of Michigan), Thomas Gardner and Matthew Miller (Housing Operative) and Phillip Cooley (Slow’s BBQ and Los Pistoleros) present their projects in Detroit.

Friday, March 30, 9 pm
Music at MOCAD
Jeff Karolski with Perfect Wieners and Butts
Multi-media musical performances from ex-Adult and Tamion 12 inch members, Perfect Wieners and Butts and the notorious Jeff Karolski will present a new conceptual sound performance.

Saturday, March 31, 1:30 pm
Gallery Talk at Cranbrook
Ideas & Process: Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate students talk about Shrinking Cities and give tours of their studios.

Saturday, March 31, 2 pm
Lecture at MOCAD
Sunflowers and Switchgrass: Urban Phytoremediation
Greg and Vibeke Vendena of eco-design group co-lab will introduce the concept of phytoremediation (plants cleaning up contaminated soil) and how it can serve to the improve and regenerate urban sites in a manner that is inexpensive, environmentally sensitive and socially relevant. A site visit to the phytoremediation project at Bunche Elementary School will follow the lecture.

Saturday, March 31, 7 pm
Films at MOCAD
I am Farming Humanity, Ingo Vetter and Annette Weisser, 2001, 16 min.
The film features an interview with Lee Burns, retired engineer and co-founder of the Detroit Agriculture Network.

Garden Stories, 2004, Boris Gerrets, 50 min.
Garden Stories focuses on the phenomenon of farming and gardening for subsistence and as a means of social engagement in shrinking cities.

Related Shrinking Cities Programming in the Region

January 26 – March 3
Exhibition
Shrinking Cities? Wayne State University Responds
Elaine J. Jacobs Gallery
Wayne State University students and faculty respond to the Shrinking Cities exhibition in this multi-media show curated by Evan Larson.

February 13 – 17
Films
Media City 13 Festival
Times on going, Windsor/Detroit
Media City is an annual international festival of experimental film and video art, which screens approximately fifty films and hosts retrospectives and discussions with artists.

Tuesday, February 13, 8 pm
Film at Detroit Film Center
Media City 13 Festival
Opening night screening of Pine Flat by filmmaker Sharon Lockhart. Detroit Film Center, 1227 Washington Blvd., Detroit.

February 16, 6 pm – 9 pm
Exhibition Reception at Gallery Project, Ann Arbor
Imprint of Place
Gallery Project in Ann Arbor hosts Imprint of Place, a show that explores the role between artists and location and place. Curated by Gregory Tom, subject matter of the work ranges from the relationship of the city to the suburbs, to site-specificity, to mapping and the landscape. This exhibition is on view February 14 through March 25. Gallery Project, 215 S. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor.734.997.7012.

Shrinking Cities is a project of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) in cooperation with Project Office Philipp Oswalt, the Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the magazine archplus.

Shrinking Cities is presented at Cranbrook through the support of the Museum Committee of Cranbrook Art Museum; the members and fundraising activities of ArtMembers@Cranbrook; contributors to the Annual Fund of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum; and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Cranbrook Art Museum’s 2006-2007 Exhibition Season is sponsored by LaSalle Bank.

MOCAD and Cranbrook would like to thank Benjamin Miguel Hernandez, Curator of the Shrinking Cities Music Series, David Dinnell, Curator of the Shrinking Cities Film Series, and Gregory Tom, who coordinated the Shrinking Cities Public Program Series.

<< back to Shrinking Cities at Cranbrook Art Museum.