The DIA Inside/Out Exhibit comes to a close
Ending on November 30, 2010, chances are that if you haven’t seen all 40 Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) reproductions in their 40 diverse outdoor locations by now… well, you’ll need to hustle.
The entire greater Detroit area has been playing host to a unique DIA event since September 10th. Forty famed, framed, life-sized and waterproofed reproductions from the DIA collection have been adorning outdoor locations in Wayne, Macomb, Oakland and Washtenaw counties for almost 3 months. With the help of SM/ART Editions, the DIA has put on this singular outside showing to mark its 125th anniversary.
My discovery of this exhibition was during an October afternoon of wandering. I’d driven out to Northville to seek out what was new. Not a frequent visitor of this attractive town, a free Saturday seemed the perfect time to explore beyond my normal haunts. It was a delightful exploit. A slew of new stores and eateries had opened since my last visit. I was grinning broadly as I headed up Main Street when I quickly pulled up short to stare at an unexpected sight. A Fredrick Edwin Church painting? Hung against a brick wall? As I stared, a businessman briskly walked by. “Isn’t that delightful?!” Yes, indeed it was. But what was going on?
Reading the blue plaque that was attached to the ornate frame wasn’t much of a clue as to why an acclaimed Hudson River School painting was on view on a Northville, MI exterior wall. My first impression was that this was an ad for SM/ART Editions. SM/ART, is the firm that printed the DIA reproductions. And indeed, the Inside/Out exhibit is a marketing campaign. Primarily, it is a marketing campign for the Detroit Institiue of Art. And as with any advertising campaign, the purpose is to motivate the consumer to seek out the brand. Since this was a good advertising campaign, that is exactly what I did.
The DIA website held some answers.
On the site I found: A short article on the Inside/Out event. Plus, a 2-page pdf map, of the 40 locations and 40 works of art.
And regrettably, that was the extent of information.
Nothing about the individual works of art. No elaboration on the artists. The subject matter. The time period the works were created in.
No clue as to where one could find the originals inside the DIA museum.
No community page where people could post their comments and their pictures of the pictures.
No collection of articles written about the exhibit from outside sources.
No Apps to help navigate or inform.
I printed the pdf map, still intrigued but disappointed that the DIA had not taken full advantage of my curiosity regarding this event.
Over the next month, I traveled to all 40 locations. And I had a ball.
So many of the places I had never visited before. Clinton Township. Riverside Park. Lower Huron Metro Park. The Detroit Riverwalk. Wyandotte. The Orion Oaks Dog Park. The Novi Public Library. And not all the art was outside. Some of the Inside/Out was inside places such as the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and the Fox Theater. And one reproduction was hung outside but inside Greenfield Village.
Not only did I have fun discovering new places, old artworks and traveling on new roads, but I also met all sorts of lovely people. People seeking out the art like I was. Others who talked about their love of art and creating. And two young girls who brought their grandmother to an Oxford city park because of Grandma’s love of Van Gogh.
It was a delightful adventure full of discovery.
I made one personally profound discovery regarded how I view art. No, not philosophically how I consider art, but how I actually look at works of art. Honestly, most of the works in this Inside/Out exhibit I would stride right by in their museum setting. I’m often in search of more contemporary works. Walking through vast galleries chock full of these works, only to access the galleries with works bearing a more current completion dates. But the Inside/Out Exhibit had me looking intently at each work on display. After all, I had traveled a fair amount of distance to find this work, I might as well really look at the piece. And I might as well document that I had made this journey. So I took lots of pictures of the artwork and its environs. Puzzling out why this work was placed in this location, was also fun to contemplate. More time was spent with each of these works then I ever would have spent in a museum setting. I am better for spending that time. And maybe next time, I’ll be bypassing the newer collections for these older ones.
My wish is that the DIA makes this a yearly event. But the next time they do this (if they do this), I ardently hope that they build a more complete experience. You’ve got my attention, now really make me a fan of the DIA.
(Additional photos on this exhibit can be found on my Flickr page. Look for DiA on LittleDesignsArt on Flickr.)
