DETROIT — The first thing that makes for a harmonious match between fashion-art duo Ruben and Isabel Toledo and the collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts is the shared baseline value of beauty rooted in labor. The majority of the DIA’s world-class collection was funded by the rise of […]
DETROIT — Summer seems to be the moment for many Midwestern cities to launch new art festivals, in the hopes of using art as a driver for tourism and promotion of place — a time-honored formula stretching back to the first Venice Biennale and beyond. While festivals like the FRONT […]
For co-curators Taylor Aldridge and Lucy Mensah, the opportunity to collaborate on Making Home, their debut Detroit Institute of Arts exhibition was not just an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the museum’s vast collection, but to get to know each other. “We discovered that we had mutual admiration for two […]
It is easy to imagine that art history is a fixed discipline, full of information rarely subject to change, particularly when it comes to some of the best-known artists in the Western canon. And yet “Monet: Framing Life” – a new special exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts – proves how devoted […]
Have you ever fallen in love fast, and then become really obsessed? Like, really obsessed. Like you recognize a kindred spirit, and over years of observation become so obsessed that you just want to be a part of this entity, like, belong to it somehow? And then, sometimes, it goes […]
This week, the Detroit Institute of Arts previewed a new gallery tool called Lumin. With interactive elements created by the DIA’s interpretive team, Lumin uses an augmented reality platform built by a company called GuidiGO, which allows the user to interact with 3D animations, information and display directions as a […]
DETROIT — At a media preview on January 9, the Detroit Institute of Arts introduced Lumin, a new interpretive guide developed in partnership with Google and an augmented reality (AR) platform creator called GuidiGO. Subsequently, a tempest of conflicting emotions was triggered in the soul of this arts writer. The dusty old curmudgeon […]
On paper, the premise of the most recent special exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts is simple: Use the overarching theme of coffee, tea, and chocolate to showcase some exquisite examples from the Decorative Arts collection (as well as some strategic objects on loan). But as the title suggests, […]
Hello! If you think you’d like to see me or my art today, there’s a couple opportunities. First of all, I’ll be over at Public Pool from 1:00-6:00, making coffee for you (BYODonuts and also BMDonuts plz, thx) and presiding over Girlfriend Material, so come on down and have a […]
Street art has experienced a crossover into fine art in recent decades, transforming its image as a form of criminal vandalism to one of public self-expression, able to access audiences outside the formal setting of museum and gallery. Detroit has, of late, been courting some of the artists who, having […]