On Art and Gentrification

The online journal ∞ Mile has embarked on a six-month series of articles on the subject of art and gentrification. Besides publishing articles, they are working with the University of Michigan Penney Stamps School of Art and Design to also present a panel discussion on March 21, 2015, at the Carr Center in downtown Detroit. My article on art and gentrification appears in the January 2015 issue now available. (Click here to read it.) The other essay is by the redoubtable (and fellow Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow) Marsha Music. It's titled "Just Say HI! (The Gentrification Blues)," and it provides an excellent counterpoint to my more academic piece. Where my essay traces external conditions, Marsha's reveals the internal experience. So much collective memory embedded in her piece. Thanks to stephen garrett dewyer, Jennifer Junkermeier, Ryan Harte, and Nick Tobier for putting it all together. The schedule of upcoming contributors looks really good.

How I Got Over

Artist page from the exhibition catalog for "Urbanology: Artists View Urban Experience," 1989. Illustrated: The Artist performing "Getting Over at the Office" in situ, assisted by Jodi M. Young (AKA JMY) and Pauline Mataczynski. (Photo: Gordon Shelest. Image courtesy of the artist.)

For 13 years, from 1987 to 2000, I mounted a performance piece based on my corporate day job. Titled "Getting Over at the Office," it existed mainly in the form of documentation sent out intermittently to a small mailing list and artifacts I would distribute to anyone who came for a site visit. Some of the documentation was exhibited early on as part of a multi-site exhibition "Urbanology: Artists View Urban Experience." (Coincidentally, the portion of the exhibition I participated in took place in what was known as the Sarkis Gallery at College for Creative Studies where I now work.) The above image is reproduced from my artist's page of the catalog. The Artist's "signature" was actually done by the Marketing Department office assistant ("JMY"), a common practice in the corporate world for managing correspondence on behalf of busy executives. The e-journal ∞ Mile has published an essay in its May 2014 issue in which I reflect upon the performance a bit. It contains images of some of the performance documentation as well as links to related material. Click here to read it. While you're there, check out the rest of the issue and the archive. Some good stuff. I thank Stephen Garrett Dewyer and Jennifer Junkermeier, founders of ∞ Mile, for the opportunity to contribute my narrative to their project.