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 Director's Letter
In the weeks after I was named the Detroit Institute of Arts' eleventh director, my wife, Alexandra, and I received a myriad of support, affection, and friendship. We are overwhelmed by the outpouring and are very grateful to the DIA staff, volunteers, members, patrons, and people on the street who have warmly approached us with their kind words and gestures. I am deeply honored to lead this institution, and I am humbled by this appointment. After years filled with a variety of hardships, the DIA is in an ideal position to secure a brilliant and stable future. To have this opportunity is simply a dream come true, and the responsibility and work ahead of us will be substantial and fascinating. On the day following the announcement of my new position, I met with the staff in the museum's Lecture Hall for an open Q&A session. Listening to my team was an enriching experience and confirmed the love and commitment to the institution that exists among employees. We touched upon many matters, from my possible interest in bowties to my hopes for the DIA's future. One of the questions focused on what I aspire to accomplish during my tenure as director. So here is my vision for the DIA that I hope will exist the day I leave: I would like to see a museum that supports a mission which is flexible and quickly responsive to the demands of all our communities and has a measurable impact on the lives of our citizens. This will help keep the DIA, its collections, exhibitions, and programs relevant and accessible to all, as our world, interests, and society evolve. I would like to walk into the museum's offices and extraordinary galleries and see that the DIA has become the mirror of our diverse society. The benefits of diversity and inclusion--of everyone working together to consider different voices, perspectives, and backgrounds--are immense and waiting for us to embrace them. I hope the DIA will establish a clearly defined, dynamic role in our city, our region, and beyond. I envision the DIA as the main square for our community, with transformed grounds that will welcome everyone into a building featuring an interior that will harmoniously relate to its exterior. I believe that people's natural inclination is to come together and that the DIA will provide an extraordinary framework for all. By keeping our DIA relevant and an inspiring place to our diverse communities, we will achieve financial stability with a healthy and large operating endowment. This is not a dream but an opportunity. We only have to do our jobs the best we can and help each other make the DIA a vital institution for all members of our community. We--staff, volunteers, members, donors, and county residents--are the caretakers of one of the best museums in the world, located in an extraordinary city and region. I look forward to working with each of you in the coming years. I truly believe the best days for the DIA are ahead of us. 
Salvador Salort-Pons
Director, Detroit Institute of Arts
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Exhibitions 30 Americans Through January 18, 2016
Special Exhibition Galleries South
No matter how many photographs or videos you see of a work of art, you can't do better than to stand in front of it and view it for yourself. There have been many reproductions of the works in the exhibition
30 Americans in newspaper reviews and social media postings. Valerie Mercer, curator of the exhibition and the DIA's GM Center for African American Art, says, "Photography and cameras don't capture a lot of the aspects of the works. Some of the works are quite surprising."
Mercer told
Deadline Detroit about her reaction to standing in front of some of the exhibition's paintings for the first time in 2013, having previously seen only digital images: "Even I was amazed by how much more vivid a lot of the work looked when I saw it with my own eyes." Mercer uses the works of
Kehinde Wiley, who has three paintings in
30 Americans, to illustrate why "it's so important" to experience fine art first-hand: "If you appreciate artists, it's just not fair to them not to see their work" on a wall, rather than only on a screen. "Wiley's skill in drawing and brush work, his understanding of the human body, his use of light and shade have to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. It's just so beautifully done."
30 Americans is a ticketed exhibition, but thanks to generous support from the Ford Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, admission is free Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8. Members see the exhibition free anytime, but
reservations are necessary. For membership information, call 313.833.7971or join
here. General admission
tickets are $14 for adults and $7 for ages 6-17, but residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties get in for $10 for adults and $5 for ages 6-17.
For related events scheduled throughout the community, click
here. See
below for two events at the DIA.
A film of the Rubells in conversation with several
30 Americans artists can be viewed in the Family Room outside the exhibition entrance at 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays; Fridays it is shown at 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. The film is nearly two hours long, but visitors should feel free to sit in on one conversation or stay for the entire screening.
While photographs are generally not allowed in special exhibitions, with permission from the Rubell family, visitors are able to take photos in
30 Americans provided that no flash, tripods, or selfie sticks are used.
Above: Sleep, 2008, oil on canvas; Kehinde Wiley, American. Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami
This exhibition has been organized by the Rubell Family Collection, Miami.
Funding for Free First Weekends has been provided for visitors by the Ford Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Support for the exhibition has been provided by the Friends of African and African American Art and DTE Energy Foundation.
Additional support has been provided by MGM Grand Detroit, Dickinson Wright PLLC, Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation, Siebert Brandford Shank & Co., L.L.C., Reuben & Cheryl Munday, The Skillman Foundation, Lorna Thomas, M.D., P.C., BLAC Detroit Magazine, Comerica Bank, Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, Global Automotive Alliance, Roy S. & Maureen Roberts, Mark & Tiffany Douglas and Avis Ford, St. John Providence, Fifth Third Bank, Greektown Casino, U.S. Trust, and other generous supporters.
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New On View Detroit Weather: 365 Days November 21, 2015-April 24, 2016
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Detroit Weather, 365 Days
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2011, two-channel digital video; Susan Goethel Campbell, American. Museum Purchase with funds from Ruth F. Rattner. Photos courtesy of the artist
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See a year's worth of Detroit weather in ninety minutes in this recently acquired
video by Detroit artist
Susan Goethel Campbell. The video comprises thousands of still images that were taken every minute, twenty-four hours a day, for one year, enabling the viewer to see how weather patterns come and go and move in all directions.
Running at thirty frames per second, the two-channel video splits the year of weather in half based on the summer and winter solstices. It takes in three different views of the city--to the south are downtown and midtown; the view to the southwest captures Zug Island, the Ford River Rouge complex, and the Ambassador Bridge; and the eastern view shows the Detroit incinerator and a reflection of Lake St. Clair in the distance. The images were captured from a webcam on the twenty-second floor of Detroit's Fisher Building.
Campbell says she wanted "to create a piece that was significant around the concept of time, so I chose to record a year's worth of weather over the city." In her work, she collects, documents, and observes seasonal change and ephemera in both natural and artificial environments. Her art focuses on landscape as an integrated system where nature, culture, and the engineered environment are indistinguishable from one another.
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Detroit Film Theatre Films from Asia, the Middle East, and North America fill the DFT schedule in November.
Court, from India, is a devastating and absurdist drama set within the labyrinthine world of the Indian legal system with its issues of caste, patriarchy, and feudalism combined with the universal problems of apathy and bureaucracy. The winner of the Venice Film Festival's Grand Prize, Court plays Friday, November 6 through Sunday, November 8. Also from Asia is A Hard Day (left), a South Korean suspense thriller with a thread of dark comedy about a homicide detective who makes one bad decision after another. The film can be seen the weekend of November 27. Iranian director Jafar Panahi ran afoul of his country's authorities because of the content of his movies, and he was banned from filmmaking. Despite that, he has managed to defiantly (and clandestinely) make movies. In Taxi, he's made himself the star, posing as a taxi driver who spends a day maneuvering his cab through the teeming streets of Tehran, using his sunroof as a lighting source and his parade of passengers as the characters in a moving and delightfully inventive act of cinematic, guerilla-style resistance.
North America is represented by A Poem Is a Naked Person (left), from this country, which follows singer-songwriter Leon Russell in and around his Oklahoma recording studio from 1972 to 1974, and Gueros from Mexico, a story of students who embark on a journey of self-discovery tracking down an unsung Mexican folk-rock hero during a time of student strikes and violent unrest. The film is the winner of five Ariel Awards-Mexico's Oscar®--including Best Picture of the Year. For more DFT information, click here. Back to top |
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Twisted StoryTelling
Get funky at the DIA with George Clinton, of Parliament Funkadelic fame, and members of the Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers in an evening of storytelling, live music, and dance related to one of the themes of the 30 Americans exhibition. In "Tales from the Funk with George Clinton," Clinton, and four other storytellers relate real-life tales on "transforming," one of the ideas expressed by exhibition artists. The evening also features musical guest Thornetta Davis and a dance performance staged by Gina Ellis, a long-time collaborator with noted choreographer George Faison. Tickets for this special event on Thursday, November 5 at 8 p.m. in the DFT auditorium, are $20 for the balcony; $30 for main floor, rear; $40 for main floor, middle; and $50 for main floor, front. A $3.50 fee is charged for tickets purchased online or by phone, 313.833.4005. Tickets can also be purchased at the DIA with no service charge. Back to top |
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30 Americans Conference
The multiple and varying perspectives of contemporary African American artists on black identity and its changing artistic expressions are fundamental to the exhibition
30 Americans and the subject of a day-long
conference on Friday, November 6.
Presented by the DIA's General Motors Center for African American Art, "New Attitudes: Varied Perspectives on Black Identity and Changing Artistic Expressions" explores how works in the exhibition assert the complexities of black identity in a series of panel discussions featuring leading scholars and authors.
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A keynote address by
Touré (left), journalist, culture critic, TV host, and author of
Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now, kicks things off, followed by panels exploring topics such as "Transformations in Black Performance Art," "Looking Blackward to Move Forward: Finding a Cultural Aesthetic," "Real and Imagined Social/Political Content in Contemporary Abstraction by African American Artists," and "'Post-Black Art': A Sign of the Times." Conference presenters include Kirsten Pai Buick, associate professor of art history, University of New Mexico; Jacqueline Francis, associate professor of visual studies, California College of the Arts; Michael D. Harris, associate professor of art history and African American studies, Emory University; and Samantha Astrid Noel, assistant professor of art history, Wayne State University. Artists on the panels include: Kalup Linzy, Xaviera Simmons, Radcliffe Bailey, and Shinique Smith.
Cost of the day-long conference is $25 for adults and $10 for students and includes lunch. Click here to
register or call 313.833.4005.
Conference sponsored by the Whitney Foundation.
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Banners and Cranks
In vaudeville, they were called cranky shows, and during the Renaissance they were known as cantastoria. Learn about this ancient form of performance art featuring paintings on banners, sung narration, and pictures that move utilizing a crank mechanism during the Banners and Cranks Festival of Cantastoria. beginning Thursday, November 19, and running through Sunday November 22. Longtime cantastoria practitioner Clare Dolan gets things underway with an illustrated history of this centuries-old performance practice, including footage of picture-story recitations from India, Australia, Iran, and other spots around the world, as well as contemporary versions created by artists, activists, writers, and puppeteers in the United States. Friday Night Live on November 20, at 7 p.m. is a raucous evening of banners and cranks, in the grand tradition of mayhem, intrigue, and the small triumphs of the downtrodden, with live music from the Detroit Party Marching Band. On Saturday, November 21, wander through the galleries and encounter various small cranky and cantastoria shows held on and off, throughout the afternoon, beginning at 1 p.m. Wind up the festival in Rivera Court for Banners and Cranks for Kids and Grown-Ups, Sunday, November 22, at 2 p.m., with cantastoria performances geared toward a family audience, featuring live music, moving pictures, and lots of stories. All events are free with museum admission. Back to top |
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Thanksgiving Weekend
Puppets take center stage during the post-Thanksgiving weekend, literally in a puppet performance and figuratively in the minds of aspiring puppeteers. Five puppeteers bring to life the world of bunraku-style puppets in
The Pigeoning, which spins puppetry, live music, and special effects into an epic tale about illusions at the world's end. It is recommended for ages ten and older. Performances are Saturday, November 28, at 2 p.m. and Sunday, November 29, 1 and 3 p.m.
Make a different puppet each day during the holiday weekend in drop-in studio workshops: bug puppets on Friday, sock puppets on Saturday, and shadow puppets on Sunday. Children twelve and younger must be accompanied by an adult. Drop-in workshops are , November 27 to November 29, noon-4 p.m.
Let the DIA take care of all your shopping and giving needs on the special days following Thanksgiving: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday.
Avoid the madness of the malls and big box stores on the day after Thanksgiving by shopping the Museum Shop in the Farnsworth Lobby or the exhibition shop outside
30 Americans during museum hours, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, November 27. No exhibition ticket is needed to visit the pop-up shop. The DIA also fills the bill for those wanting to shop locally on Saturday, November 28, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Or avoid the stores all together on Cyber Monday, November 30, by shopping at
diashop.org.
Consider donating to the DIA's Annual Fund on Giving Tuesday, a national day of charitable giving. A gift to the Annual Fund helps preserve and protect the DIA's collection for future generations, expand outreach programs, and help visitors find personal meaning in art. Please make your gift
online or by calling 313.833.7971.
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News and Notes Holiday Shopping and Member Double Discount Days
Whether you are finishing up your holiday shopping or just getting started, take advantage of the semi-annual Member Double Discount Days at the museum shops, when members save 20 percent off regularly priced items. Kicking off the promotion, which runs from Friday, November 6 through Sunday, November 15, is an in-store event featuring a scarf-tying demonstration and book signing by Lauren Friedman, author of 50 Ways to Wear a Scarf, on November 6 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the shop near the Farnsworth entrance. The discount is available in the main shop and the pop-up store adjacent to the 30 Americans exhibition, as well as online. Art and Authors There is still time to join the Art and Authors' discussion of two books related to the special exhibition 30 Americans: Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me and James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time. The books explore the African American experience and examine the impact of racial injustice in the United States from two perspectives separated by more than fifty years. Following the discussion, participants tour the museum's African American galleries. Discussion and gallery sessions are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7, at 10:30 a.m. The program is free with museum admission, but advance registration is required. Both books are available from the Museum Shop. Wayne County Day Take advantage of Wayne County Day on Saturday, November 7, when free transportation is available from six different locations to and from the DIA. Visitors can browse in museum galleries, take part in a free art-making workshop, and grab something to eat in CaféDIA or Kresge Court. Buses will return to each location in the afternoon. To find times and locations for pick up and drop off and to make required reservations, click here. Back to top |
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| Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48202
www.dia.org
313.833.7900 Comments or questions about the newsletter? Please contact us: [email protected] ADMISSION
$12.50 adults, $8 seniors (62+), $ 6 youth (6-17)
The museum is free for members and residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties
Contact the Membership HelpLine at
313.833.7971 or [email protected] For group sales (15 or more) contact 313.833.1292 or dia.org/grouptours
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HOURS
Museum
Mon CLOSED
Tue, Wed 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Thur, Fri 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sat, Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m. PARKING Lighted, secure self-parking is available in the museum parking lot, between John R and Brush behind the museum, for $7. |
CaféDIA
313.833.7966
Tue, Wed, Thur 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Fri 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 4-9 p.m.
Sat, Sun 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Kresge Court
Tue, Wed, Thur 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Fri 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
Sat., Sun 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Museum Shop
313.833.7944 or [email protected]
Open during museum hours or online at diashop.org |
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