All posts tagged: Detroits

Detroit’s MOCAD Reopens with a New Vision and a New Kind of Leadership

Detroit’s MOCAD Reopens with a New Vision and a New Kind of Leadership

Published by Jenni Sidey

The creation of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) has been a slow and steady one. First conceptualized in 1995 by a trio of women, it took over 10 years of grassroots development before opening its doors to the public in 2006. This spring, the institution marks its 20th anniversary, reopening after an eight-month renovation and a new vision for its future. At the core of this vision is ensuring that artists are at the center of everything the museum does. “Artists will always exist; institutions maybe won’t always exist,” said Jova Lynne, MOCAD’s artistic director who serves as co-director with Marie Madison-Patton, the chief operating officer. “Putting artists at the forefront and acknowledging the multiplicitous lives that are lived is a cornerstone to what we are doing for this 20th year at MOCAD.” Related Articles Lynne and Madison-Patton have given MOCAD’s new chapter a title: “A Practice of Multiplicity.” Lynne described this approach as focused on “uplifting the wholeness of the artist and what they bring to the institution and their communities. We …

Robots battle it out in Detroit’s Robowar : NPR

Robots battle it out in Detroit’s Robowar : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

The fighters at the Interactive Combat League are more than nine feet tall, wear suits of steel and shoot exploding projectiles toward each other. Timothy Chen Allen hide caption toggle caption Timothy Chen Allen In the back of a church in an anonymous stretch of 7 Mile in Detroit dotted with industrial lots and fast food stores, performers dressed as giant robots battle it out in front of a live audience behind bullet-proof glass. “We have these nine foot tall metal gladiators that shoot exploding projectiles at 20 rounds a second,” says Art Cartwright, the impresario who founded both the church, Global Empowerment Ministries, and the organization behind the robot show, The Interactive Combat League. The show, running every few months, is called Robowar. Cartwright’s two enterprises have little to do with each other, he says, save for sharing space and introducing members of his community to potential employment in robotics. “Metropolitian Detroit right now leads the nation in robotics,” Cartwright says. “We have more robots than any other place in America.” But the gleaming, …