Heidelberg Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Heidelberg Project - Research Paper Example The Heidelberg Project has persisted despite this notion. Hope Among the Ruins 3 Hope Among the Ruins: The Heidelberg Project and Urban Renewal Detroit belongs to the phantom legacy of American cities whose best days have always seemed to lay ahead. From its earliest days, Detroit has been a â€Å"city of the future† that never quite got there, starting with the imposition of the grid system in the 18th century to the near-mania for urban renewal of the 20th century. In a sense, Detroit’s â€Å"renewal† has been just around the corner ever since the Depression era, from which David Sheridan claims the city has never fully recovered (Sheridan, 1999). Economic disparity and the blight that accompanies it are part and parcel of this lamentable phenomenon, symptoms of a seemingly unattainable future. In this reality, all that’s left to those who live in poor and forgotten neighborhoods is a form of aesthetic protest that makes itself felt by decorating the bli ghted landscape, by reminding those in power that giving over rundown buildings to artistic expression can, in a real sense, bring about â€Å"urban renewal.† A sardonic comment The persistence and popularity of Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project is a spectacular manifestation of what has been called an angry artistic expression of frustration over willful civic neglect. Guyton’s organic creation is what Robert Zecker has called a sardonic comment on â€Å"the poverty existing in the parts of postindustrial cities that have all but been abandoned by cash-starved civic governments† (Zecker, 2008). The art that was created from abandoned houses and refuse â€Å"were often harsh critiques of the abandonment many Detroiters felt, facing vacant 4 houses; weedy fields overgrown with discarded refrigerators and baby buggies; and a city administration incapable of offering city services†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ibid, 2008). But the Heidelberg Project is more than just conf rontation, it is a revolutionary gesture that says the future is not a thing that mayors, city councils and chambers of commerce bestow on a city. Guyton and those who have followed his example have reserved for themselves the power to effect change†¦even if change comes via the imposition of polka dots. Evidently, the city of Detroit, which dismembered the project on two occasions came to agree, if only in a tacit way. The city â€Å"gave up on its original goal of bulldozing the Heidelberg Project houses and finally started marketing (Guyton’s) artistic creations as tourist destinations† (Ibid, 2008). Art as urban renewal In a very real sense, the Heidelberg Project became art as urban renewal, though it didn’t start out that way. The notion of art and architecture sanctioned by the city was turned inside-out in Detroit. If it wasn’t bulldozed or razed and rebuilt as part of an ambitious political initiative, renewal couldn’t be considered l egitimate if it didn’t come out of an urban planner’s computer. This was the way Detroit had always planned for progress. But the throngs of locals and out-of-town tourists that experienced Guyton’s creations, and the newspaper and journal articles that chronicled the project, could hardly be ignored. And when the Detroit Institute of Art accepted some samples of the project as exhibits, there was no denying that traditional concepts of urban renewal and civic identity had been