Graffiti with a purpose
Abandoned structures, discreetly allowed to rot for decades with a faint "D" in chalk marking their derelict status while nothing happens to them are getting a fresh coat of paint from an an anonymous group calling themselves the DDD (Detroit, Demolition, Disneyland) Project-- "Tiggeriffic Orange" paint specifically, a color from the Mickey Mouse series, basically running a highlighter marker over the bits of Detroit left to urban decay.
"Each of these houses serves within the greater visual and social landscape of the city. If the city doesn't rebuild, will it be better to have nothing there rather than an abandoned house? In addition, each of these houses served as a shelter for the homeless at some point in time. Now there are, at least, two less houses for them. Why didn't the city simply choose to renovate? "
Via The Detroiter by way of We make Money Not Art
Comments
holy carp, have you ever been here? if you go into the central part of detroit that rings the downtown area, every other goddamn house is vacant and decrepit. I say bring back angels night wherein hooligans would d othe city a service and burn down vacant buildings. What this city needs most is relief from the owners who have abandoned these homes. distruction brings that. Otherwise each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of homes empty is held up in court battles to delare it city property. The homeless don't stay in them, the drug dealers deal out of them. destroy these empty and worthless places, make way for either urban agriculture, or urban deveolpment, otherwise, it will be decay, forever.
Posted by: wohho | February 21, 2006 8:14 PM