Rackham Graduate School
4th Floor East Conference Room

For almost 30 years, the abandoned houses that dot Detroit’s Heidelberg Street have provided the backdrop to a kaleidoscopic display of outdoor art installations that aim to inspire and provide healing to the local community. In 2013 and 2014, a series of 12 arson fires gutted six installations on the Street, the most devastating assault on the Heidelberg Project in over 20 years. Renowned artist Tyree Guyton has used this opportunity to re-double his efforts on the Heidelberg Project. Debris and ash have been cleared away and new art emerges from the foundations of the burned out structures, working through the walls of charred basements, surfacing with creative new visions and voice.

In his first major public appearance since the fires, Tyree Guyton discusses new construction on Heidelberg Street, a forthcoming history of the site, a new museum, more work with the local community, and exciting ideas for new art resulting from the fires.

The community grounded model provided by the Heidelberg Project continues to fascinate museum professionals, providing a connection from the non-collecting museums first proposed by John Cotton Dana in the early 20th century to the socially relevant museums advocated in our own time by Stephen Weil and Elaine Heumann Gurian.

Join us for a conversation on perseverance and the creative spirit with Tyree Guyton—an icon whose flame exceeds the 12 collective arsons that were visited upon his site.

A reception will follow along with opportunities for the audience to meet and ask questions of the artist.

For more information, please contact the U-M Museum Studies Program.