gen[art] Detroit

gen[art] 

DETROIT

Daniel Fougere | Ryan Goold | Stephanie Yeow

There is a heavy dose of optimism running through the cultural veins of this iron belt city. An invigorating sense of opportunity has brought a young creative constituent into the low-rent urban center of Detroit with dreams of leaving an impact and contributing to the revitalization of this, once booming, metropolis.

Many restaurants and bars are sprouting into renovations of classic structures as well as some new

construction, which are attracting more and more people into living here. However, the real beginning of the invigoration stemmed from a generation of artists, creatives, makers, and doers that livened the streets with their graffiti, turned blight into sculpture, and recalled early-industrial processes as an inspiration for creative making.

Art and culture are essential to the success of any urban city. These groups of artist collectives in Detroit have brought culture and collaboration as their tools against the decaying city. While each group is unique in the spaces they occupy and their contribution to their neighborhoods, they share a common goal to create a self-sustaining network where collective effort can reshape Detroit and the greater metropolitan area.