Artist X. As part of this blog’s ongoing mission to raise the level of design discourse, rogueHAA has created a new series of posts entitled, “Artist X”.  This series will highlight local artists, showcasing unique and innovative projects found within the city.  By presenting multiple creative disciplines, we hope to build community relationships, spark Detroit specific design dialogue, encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration, and ultimately, strengthen the existing Detroit creative class.

Noah Stephens – In April 2010,  Noah saw a Dateline NBC program that implied conditions in Detroit were so dire that wild raccoon meat had become a staple food. That month, He started The People of Detroit photodocumentary as a counterbalance to sensationalized media portrayals of Detroit. Eight months after starting the project (and only 2 years after buying his first camera), a creative director in Shanghai saw the photo project and hired him to shoot an ad campaign for McDonald’s China. Noah has  been doing photography and writing full-time ever since.

Describe your work in three sentences.

TPOD is a portraiture project focused on people who live, work, or otherwise have a significant impact on the city of Detroit. I write an essay to go along with every portrait. The essay introduces you to the person in the photograph and often times serves as an entry point to broader discussions about life in the city and social issues in general.

How do you collaborate with other Detroit artists?

I’m a self-taught photographer. Everything I know about photography, I’ve learned from other photographers – mostly through the internet. I don’t often collaborate with other artist in the production of TPOD, however, since I’ve learned so much from others, I feel obliged to share what I know with other artists whenever they seek my advice.

What other creative disciplines would you like to work with in the future?

I’ve always had an interest in multimedia abstract painting.

Why Detroit?  Has the city (people, place, economy, etc) influenced your work? Please give at least one specific example.

When I was 6-years-old, a 1st grade classmate took a bag of potato chips, crushed them between his palms, presented the potato shards to me, closed his eyes, swayed from side-to-side and sung repeatedly:

“I got moooooooreeee! I got moooooooreeee…”

I remember reaching out to steady him by his shoulders and – and when his eyes opened – I said

“You don’t have more. They’re just in smaller pieces…”

He swung at me.

I’ve always had an irrepressible drive to correct statements that are factually errant. When I saw the Dateline NBC special that cast Detroit as a city full of people scavenging for raccoon meat, I was compelled to right an ongoing meme about Detroit that was not wholly accurate. The only reason why I was compelled to do so, is because Detroit is so consistently disparaged in national and international media.  If I lived in a less often disparaged city, would not have started TPOD. So, Detroit is the entire reason for my art.

How can the artistic community help regenerate Detroit?

People email me from all over the world about TPOD. Some compliment me on the images. Some ask for technical advice about gear or post-processing techniques. Others tell me that they have never been to Detroit before and viewing TPOD has made them want to pay it a visit.

Art has the unique ability to influence how we feel on an emotional, visceral level. Art that is focused on Detroit is no different.

Art in Detroit can regenerate Detroit by positively influencing how people think about the city. As people see the city as a vibrant place they will be compelled to move here, invest here, and plant their businesses here.

If you could design one thing for Detroit, what would that be?

I would commission artists to use abandoned and blank walls as building-high canvases for invigorating art. The impact would extend beyond simple aesthetic value. I believe adorning blank and abandoned structures with art will buoy the spirits of the citizens who inhabit those places improve how they think about their community, themselves, and their prospects for the future.

Its my understanding that there has not been a single crime on Heidelberg St. since Tyree Guyton started his installation there. Seems like a provocative argument for doing the same thing in other places, no?

Website:

http://thepeopleofdetroit.com

Artist X. As part of this blog’s ongoing mission to raise the level of design discourse, rogueHAA has created a new series of posts entitled, “Artist X”.  This series will highlight local artists, showcasing unique and innovative projects found within the city.  By presenting multiple creative disciplines, we hope to build community relationships, spark Detroit specific design dialogue, encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration, and ultimately, strengthen the existing Detroit creative class.

I.T.U. was started by Danielle Aubert and Lana Cavar in Detroit and Zagreb, Croatia. We met as MFA graphic design students at Yale School of Art and collaborated officially for the first time together in 2008. In 2009, we started thinking of ourselves as I.T.U. Danielle is an assistant professor of graphic design at Wayne State University in Detroit. Lana is a practicing graphic designer who works in Zagreb, New York and Detroit.

Describe your work in three sentences.

Our work consists of mostly print graphic design work for clients mostly in the arts — museums, theatres, galleries, arts festivals, etc. With our union we are experimenting with a model of practice that enables us to explore and question the money/technology/social conditions of graphic design labor today. Unlike a studio practice, our union is loose – we both do other work and collaborate with other people too.

How do you collaborate with other Detroit artists?

We have collaborated many times with photographer Corine Vermeulen, who is based in Detroit. She shot all of the photos for a catalogue we designed for MOCAD in 2008 for the show ReFusing Fashion: Rei Kawakubo. Danielle had worked with her before that on the publication Detroit: Imaginary Cities (MOCAD, 2007).

Corine also took some beautiful photos for a book we are currently editing with our colleague, Natasha Chandani, called Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies about the people who live in Lafayette Park, Detroit.  We are working with many other Detroit writers, designers, and artists on this project, including one of the Rogue HAA founders, Melissa Dittmer, who happens to be a resident of Lafayette Park. Other contributors to the book are Toby Barlow,  Marsha Cusic,  Megan Deal,  Janine Debanné,  Paul Elliman,  Jim Griffioen,  Kerstin Niemann,  Joe Posch,  Noah Resnick,  and Hilary Robie.

Last Spring we worked with the architecture fellows from the University of Michigan on materials for an exhibition of their work on a house in Detroit. We “designed” Google map directions for them to leave in the gallery to lead people from the exhibition to the house. We also designed a set of stamps that said “FELLOW” in five different colors and instructed them to stamp and color-code their materials.

What other creative disciplines would you like to work with in the future?

This is a difficult question to answer… As graphic designers we come into contact with people working in other areas, and it helps us to see what we like and what we don’t like. Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies is a bit of a new thing for us. The three editors (Natasha Chandani, Lana Cavar, Danielle Aubert) are all graphic designers. But we had each worked on so many books and publications that we felt ready to try our hand at editing and drive the content ourselves. So far it has been a really great experience, we’ve enjoyed doing research and conducting interviews with residents.

Why Detroit?  Has the city (people, place, economy, etc) influenced your work? Please give at least one specific example.

Detroit has definitely influenced our work. We met while we were in school but we actually started working together when Danielle was in Detroit and Lana was in New York. Lana flew out to Detroit so we could work together on the exhibition materials for the ReFusing Fashion show at MOCAD, and we realized pretty much right away that this city offered unique possibilities for us. For one, Danielle had acquired used printers, including a 36” plotter, from a secondhand office furniture store downtown called Franklin Furniture. We used the plotter to print posters for the show. We would never have been able to afford printing as many posters as we did if we had gone to Kinko’s.

Both of us had spent a fair amount of time living and working in New York City and it was hard for us not to compare the two places. Although we love New York, it could feel artificial and inhospitable compared to Detroit. In New York many of our friends were working long hours at ad agencies in order to make money to pay for their rent. In Detroit we had more than enough space, access to equipment, and also to a kind of energy that seems to come only from not worrying so much about money. Detroit sometimes feels like the future that the United States is heading in, but that the rest of the country hasn’t necessarily caught up to yet. It’s the place that used to be the “arsenal of democracy” but is now a kind of empty shell. But then sometimes it also feels like some version of the 1970s, where laws are more relaxed and big box stores have not yet arrived and people still smoke a lot. Then again maybe the future will look like the 70s.

How can the artistic community help regenerate Detroit?

In a way it seems that it already is helping by changing the national narrative about the city. The recent article in the New York Times seems to point in that direction. But also I think the artists in Detroit, and also the urban farmers, who seem to overlap a bit with the artists, generate a kind of sense of possibility here. They remind us that it’s a fertile place, things can grow easily here (sometimes even a bit wild).

If you could design one thing for Detroit, what would that be?

This is maybe not exactly something to design but we are always talking about opening up a print shop in Detroit, with secondhand printers and remaindered paper, where we would provide free printing services.  We were inspired a bit by stories of a mimeograph machine at the Detroit Artist Workshop in the late 1960s.

Contact:

Website: http://www.internationaltypographicalunion.org/

Artist X. As part of this blog’s ongoing mission to raise the level of design discourse, rogueHAA has created a new series of posts entitled, “Artist X”.  This series will highlight local artists, showcasing unique and innovative projects found within the city.  By presenting multiple creative disciplines, we hope to build community relationships, spark Detroit specific design dialogue, encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration, and ultimately, strengthen the existing Detroit creative class.

Ryan Schirmang lives in Lafayette Park in Detroit. Currently, he works at Team Detroit and M1/DTW part-time. Originally from Chicago, Ryan earned his Master’s of Architecture from U of M.

Describe your work in three sentences.

I work as a Creative Project Manager for Team Detroit, one of the region’s largest ad agencies. My job is to figure out how to make interesting projects happen- projects that will make the city better – or highlight some of our cultural assets. I also learn how to put buildings together one day a week at my part-time job at M1/DTW.

These two jobs seem a bit unrelated, but they work well for me– I’m admittedly not the best designer– so I get to learn at M1/DTW, while simultaneously using my writing & communication skills at Team Detroit. I was an English major in college. Jumping between these two jobs helps keep things fresh and gives me plenty of problems to solve.  I like that.

How do you collaborate with other Detroit artists?

I was a part of Disturbed Sleep, a local furniture company that recently took a hiatus. And when I have the time, I am also a part of Los Pistoleros.  In addition, I’m getting ready to jump into the pool of people collaborating on design projects around Lafayette Park.

Most recently, I’ve helped design & construct these collaborative projects:

• A small park at the corner of Michigan Ave & 14^th St with Los Pistoleros and 50 volunteers from Daimler Financial
• A tall-grass oasis in front of the Train Station with Los Pistoleros, uRbanDetail, and the Daimler crew again
• The patio of Slows Bar-B-Q with Los Pistoleros (in all these projects we use native plants and reclaimed materials to spruce up the city with vegetation)
• A vertical garden called the ‘Hanging Gardens’ on an abandoned architectural treasure in Midtown, Detroit.  I coordinated this project, bringing 50 volunteers from Team Detroit to work with the Greening of Detroit, the UCCA, and a handful of local design & construction friends.
• An opportunity for volunteers to watch music videos being filmed. On the Hanging Gardens volunteer day, we arranged for Single Barrel Detroit to come to the site and film performances by the Juliets.  Single Barrel films Detroit-area musicians performing in interesting (mostly abandoned) locations around the city. This collaboration gave volunteers the chance to watch this creative process unfold.  It also helped give the work day some interesting flavor. I think volunteer efforts should be more like celebrations.  For Single Barrel’s video, click here.  For an additional music video, click here.

What other creative disciplines would you like to work with in the future?

Large-scale sculptors, like Michael Heizer-scale.

Why Detroit?  Has the city (people, place, economy, etc) influenced your work? Please give at least one specific example.

Detroit is the city with the most opportunity I’ve ever seen. It’s a great place for young people with strong convictions to make a difference. There’s something truly American about that. And you can’t deny the city’s soul. It’s got a great feel, in spite of what history tells you. I think that’s something that people pick up on when they come here – it takes you by surprise.

This city’s influenced not just my work, but my life. I moved here two years ago to help a project for a month or two.  Since then, I’ve decided to stay here and adopt the city as my cause. I bought a house here, and I rent out two rehabbed properties in Midtown.

People seem to participate more here than in other place.  Most people I know don’t just sit back and expect the place to work for them. They make the city their own.

How can the artistic community help regenerate Detroit?

Work with the city’s strengths.  Communicate a vision clearly and get as much input as possible.  Jump right in.

If you could design one thing for Detroit, what would that be?

I’d build an Airstream RV hotel along the Dequindre Cut for visiting journalists.

Contact:

Blog:  Remains of the D

Email:   ryan.schirmang@teamdetroit.com

Artist X. As part of this blog’s ongoing mission to raise the level of design discourse, rogueHAA has created a new series of posts entitled, “Artist X”.  This series will highlight local artists, showcasing unique and innovative projects found within the city.  By presenting multiple creative disciplines, we hope to build community relationships, spark Detroit specific design dialogue, encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration, and ultimately, strengthen the existing Detroit creative class.

Brian DuBois is currently the owner of 2:37am studios, a multi-disciplinary studio that he started in 1999. His shop focuses on design/build/models that range in small to medium scaled projects. His belief within his shop is that you should understand the materials, details, and production techniques before you design, which in the end will help the design process and overall construction budget.

He was born and raised in River Rouge, Michigan (a small factory town near southwest Detroit) and received his 5-year B.A. Arch. from the University of Detroit Mercy.  Currently, he is working towards his M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Arts, focusing on furniture/product design.  He has worked in a variety of trades that range from carpentry, electrical, roofing, managing the architecture woodshop at UDM, and auto show/retail exhibition designs.

In 2006, Brian ventured beyond the typical architectural products by creating his :2:37am: clothing line.  With his clothing line, he showcases the industrial aspects of the Detroit metropolitan region while collaborating with local and international talent.

Describe your work in three sentences.

I like to keep items clean and simple, to a point where the details are the main features of the work. Utilizing basic materials, but exploring different avenues of construction, would be the key point in any project. We can all draw, but in the end, it has to be built and certain moments, forces, and techniques have to be understood.

How do you collaborate with other Detroit artists?

I tend to team up with folks that have complimentary skill sets. There is no point in having everyone at the table with the same skill set and trying to move ahead. I have no problem in bringing on a person that is serious about their work and that I can learn from. It’s really about building a strong team on a per project basis and utilizing skill sets that are effective the first time around.

What other creative disciplines would you like to work with in the future?

Along with fashion and furniture, I have been looking into the exhibit industry. For me, these industries tend to have a more efficient design approach that quickly places items into a market.  If I want to make a furniture or fashion piece, the design and construction process might take me a few days, but then I have the option of selling it or giving it away.   The exhibit industry takes a little bit longer due to coordination, clients, etc but results in a buildable product.  I would still like to work in the architecture industry, but I have learned over the years that it’s good to diversify yourself.

Why Detroit?  Has the city (people, place, economy, etc) influenced your work? Please give at least one specific example.

Detroit has made me look at the city as a place of opportunity. The city has resources to make practically anything, but ironically, items are still not bought or fabricated locally.  There are foundries to cast metals, shops to mill/cut/weld, factories to stamp out designs, shop owners willing to talk to you and give you a tour of their production facilities.  Over the years, I have visited these shops in order to better understand fabrication methods and incorporate that knowledge into my design process.

How can the artistic community help regenerate Detroit?

The architectural design community is instrumental in the restructuring of Detroit neighborhoods. You cannot paint a mural if there is no wall, you cannot gather folks if there is no space, and you cannot move ahead if there isn’t a realistic vision.  Most importantly, the idea is to start small and let it grow. Take care of your neighborhood and keep a positive energy in your day to day activities.

If you could design one thing for Detroit, what would that be?

If I could design one thing for Detroit, it would be to design a process that empowers residents, allowing individuals to facilitate physical changes within their own communities.  The architectural design community can build and build, but in the end it’s about the families that have been dealing with the multi-generational downfall of Detroit. This current mindset has to change and the smaller sectors have to be re-energized.

Contact:

www.237amstudios.com for design, build, and models contact information.

www.237am.com for clothing and features contact information.

Artist X. As part of this blog’s ongoing mission to raise the level of design discourse, rogueHAA has created a new series of posts entitled, “Artist X”.  This series will highlight local artists, showcasing unique and innovative projects found within the city.  By presenting multiple creative disciplines, we hope to build community relationships, spark Detroit specific design dialogue, encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration, and ultimately, strengthen the existing Detroit creative class.

Noah Resnick currently teaches and practices in the city of Detroit, Michigan. He is a full-time professor of architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy, and a principal of uRbanDetail, a small research based architecture and urban design studio that operates under the interrelated concepts of the architectonics of multiple scales; the architect as urban collaborator; and the architect as community builder.

Noah grew up in Miami, Florida, where he attended the Design and Architecture Senior High magnet school (D.A.S.H.). He earned his BArch from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and completed his Masters of Science in Architecture Studies (SMarchS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Architecture + Urbanism stream. In addition to Detroit, Noah has lived and practiced in Chicago, Boston, and New York, as well as Berlin, Germany where he worked in the studio of Daniel Libeskind.

His professional experience in architecture and urban design ranges from the conceptual and design development of a two hundred thousand sq ft mall/ spa complex in Switzerland, to in depth urban design studies and proposals for very high profile Central Artery sites above the ‘Big Dig’ in Downtown Boston, to the full service design and construction administration of a high-end townhouse building in New York City, to the landscape design of the City Hall Plaza and nearby park in Downtown Brockton, Massachusetts. Most recently, Noah has been a founding member of the design team working to transform Roosevelt Park in Detroit through the design and implementation of a new master plan.  uRbanDetail is also currently designing the 2^nd location of Slows Barbecue, in Midtown.

Describe your work in three sentences.

I approach my practice under the theory that the entire city wants to be a building. One that is designed and constructed organically with an amalgam of architectural and landscape interventions, as an emergent solution to a community’s needs. Through this viewpoint, I strive to exploit the potential for a detail at the human scale to create a new type of public space at the urban scale.

How do you collaborate with other Detroit artists?

One concept at the core of my practice is to accept architecture as a predominantly collaborative endeavor. I appreciate that my design efforts can only be manifested as architecture through an engagement with those who will engineer, construct, finance, and use the building. And, just as the designer must work in concert with these agents, so should the architectural intervention engage with its surrounding urban condition and its cultural, historical, economic, and philosophical context – which is achieved by working with artists and other creative individuals outside of the construction industry.

What other creative disciplines would you like to work with in the future?

With regards to the ongoing Roosevelt Park project, my goal would be to engage landscape artists in developing the physical presence of the space, as well as musicians and other performers who would help activate the program via our proposed bandshell.

Why Detroit?  Has the city (people, place, economy, etc) influenced your work? Please give at least one specific example.

Detroit, to me, is the only really interesting city in America.  It is conceptually the most advanced city in the country, consistently 50 years ahead of all the urban trends.  At the height of national industrial urban growth in the fifties, Detroit was already becoming a post-industrial landscape with a declining population.  And now, the city has the opportunity to reconceptualize the notions of a modern urban landscape, both physically and programmatically. Within these conditions, architects and designers also have he potential to reinvent the nature of our practice.

How can the artistic community help regenerate Detroit?

The city government, as a bureaucratic body, is incapable of finding programmatic solutions for most of the vacant land and structures throughout Detroit.  It is up to the creative community to propose and implement innovative and sustainable adaptive reuse strategies for this vacancy, that can usurp the city’s former reliance on manufacturing and single-family housing.

If you could design one thing for Detroit, what would that be?

A viable mass transit system comprised of multiple modes of transportation.  Without this, no city has any hope of long-term economic, cultural, and ecological sustainability.

Contact:

noahresnick@urban-detail.com