THE ANNEX

Media City is an annual international festival of film and video art presented in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan since 1994.

Each year the festival attracts filmmakers and audience members from around the world to participate in five days of screenings, live performances, exhibitions and artist’s discussions. Over the years the festival has achieved critical acclaim and international recognition for its “sheer excellence in programming” and is recognized as a leading venue in the world of artist’s film and video.

This year, Media City opens at MOCAD on Tuesday, May 21 at 8pm with performances by legendary artists Michael Snow, John Oswald, Al Mattes and Detroit’s own post-industrial avant-noise band Wolf Eyes.

Check out the full 2013 festival catalogue online HERE

AND DON’T MISS THE FREE MEDIA CITY SHUTTLE! The shuttle departs daily from designated stops in Ann Arbor and Detroit and returns from Windsor each night of the festival - CLICK HERE for more info and to book your seats in advance!!

Art X Detroit: Kresge Arts Experience is a five-day multidisciplinary celebration, from April 10-14, 2013, that will exclusively present works created by the 2011-2012 Kresge Eminent Artists and Artist Fellows, along with a special visual arts exhibition at MOCAD that runs through April 28, 2013.

An exciting program of dance and musical performances, literary readings, workshops, panel discussions, public art and special exhibitions, Art X Detroit will be hosted at more than a dozen venues located throughout Midtown Detroit’s Cultural Center and is free to the public.

2013 ARTISTS

Literary, Performing and Visual Arts Fellows from 2011 and 2012, as well as Eminent Artists, are participating in Art X Detroit 2013. View all of the Kresge Arts Fellows here.

SCHEDULE

Filter, search, share or download events to your local calendar from our Art X Detroit 2013 Official Schedule.

OVER 15 LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT MIDTOWN AND DOWNTOWN DETROIT

The Detroit Institute of Arts and MOCAD are just two of the 15 locations for Art X Detroit 2013. Check out all of the locations here.

Each year, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Arts at Michigan arranges an Art Outta Town trip to an arts venue that addresses themes of racial and ethnic diversity and/or social justice. This year’s trip will include two stops in Detroit: the Motown Museum and the Heidelberg Project. These are two places with very different histories, but both celebrate art as a tool for community building, and honor the creativity and talents of the various artists who have been part of those respective communities. 

The Motown Museum is one of Southeastern Michigan’s most popular tourist destinations. The Museum’s mission is to preserve the legacy of Motown Record Corporation and to educate and motivate people, especially youth, through exhibitions and programs that promote the values of vision, creativity and entrepreneurship. Groups are thrilled with the enchanting walk through Motown history led by knowledgeable and enthusiastic docents. Studio A, the center stage of the tour, comes alive before the eyes of Museum guests. Visitors are encouraged to sing some classic Motown hits, as if the songs were actually being recorded! 

The Heidelberg Project is an open-air art environment in the heart of an urban community on Detroit’s East Side. Tyree Guyton, founder and artistic director, uses everyday, discarded objects to create a two block area full of color, symbolism, and intrigue. Now in its 26th year, the Heidelberg Project is recognized around the world as a demonstration of the power of creativity to transform lives.

This trip is open to all current U of M students, faculty and staff, and $10 includes your ticket to the museum plus transportation! Seating is limited, so register today! 

Working in collaboration with students at Detroit Community High, UM Penny Stamps School of Art & Design students Emma Berger, Dean Clancy and Mary Clare Harrington (along with UM Engineering student Chelsea Pugh and LSA student Kevin Li) won the December 2012 Detroit SOUP micro-grant with their screen printing enterprise, DCH Printing, which they created as part of Nick Tobier’s Change by Design course. More than a t-shirt, the process involved a collaborative redesign of the school logo, creating the screen, printing shirts and posters, and getting approval of the school administration that the student-created shirts could be worn on Fridays in place of the uniform shirt. Visions for the future include setting up an ongoing enterprise where the high school students take commissions, create a revenue stream and train the next generation. The team’s proposal was chosen to receive funding at the December 9th dinner, which was filmed for an NBC news segment.

Detroit SOUP is a micro funding project/event founded in the Mexicantown neighborhood of Detroit in February 2010 by Kate Daughdrill and Jessica Hernandez. The idea was taken from InCUBATE (“a research group dedicated to exploring new approaches to arts administration and arts funding”) who started the idea in their Chicago neighborhood.  Participants pay $5 for dinner, listen to presentations about creative projects happening in Detroit, and vote on which project to fund with the money raised from the meal that night.

What hobby do you do in your spare time?

I am absolutely useless in a kitchen if an actual meal is involved, but I love to bake and do it frequently. I’ve made two batches of scones, three dozen cookies, and a cake in the past week alone. I have a problem.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Because this question terrifies me in all aspects except geographically, I plan on being in New York. 

What are two things you can’t live without?

Felt-tipped pens and ice. 

If you could steal any artwork in the world and keep it for yourself, what would it be?

Because of my love for El Greco this is tough, but I have always loved Van Gogh’s portraits of Joseph Roulin. And because I can’t actually steal them, I’m lucky that museums in both of my two homes for the year, Detroit and New York, have one. 

What is your favorite art-related news source?

I’ve loved Wooster Collective for years. In consists of pictures and videos of or relating to public art in cities around the world and has introduced me to artists I never would have discovered otherwise. Check out JR or Stinkfish.