“Freak Beacon” erected at Lincoln Street Art Park @ Knight Arts blog
Have you been feeling a “freaky” but palpable urge to explore the no-man’s-land between Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood and the area surrounding Henry Ford Hospital? It may be that you are answering the invisible call of the newly-minted, 75-foot Freak Beacon, a fresh addition to the Lincoln Street Art Park.
Funding for the project came from a Knight Foundation placemaking grant to Green Living Science, in support of the Activi-Tree project at the Lincoln Street Art Park. Knight has supported both the Activi-Tree container (phase 1) and the Freak Beacon (phase 2) through grants in both 2014 and 2015. Fabrication of the tower and ball began on February 1 of this year, and all components were completed on April 18. The sculpture weighs over 9,000 lbs., including a 6-foot-square poured concrete base, giving it monumental power to draw “freaks” from all corners of the city, and perhaps even the nation.