The Heidelberg Project is a neighborhood art project in the middle of Detroit. The artist Tyree Guyton started the project 20 years ago as a way of cleaning up his neighborhood and as a protest against the way the city ignored its neighborhoods. Guyton basically took all the garbage in the neighborhood and all the abandoned houses in the neighborhood and made them his materials and canvases. As you drive to Heidelberg Street down Mt. Elliot, you see a very bleak city - burned out buildings, collapsing buildings, garbage everywhere and then you come to something different. A burst of color and debris put into an order making some sort of statement. You can't help but come away from the neighborhood with a smile and a good feeling. Guyton made a profound statement about the state of living in Detroit - and this was actually a universal statement about people in forgotten communities. Because of his great statement city administrations have done everything they can to stop him. They have knocked down some of the buildings that he had used as a part of his projects. It has been a big fight for him and he has been recognized throughout the world for his work.
As luck would have it, Tyree Guyton was out in the street when we visited. I had a chance to talk to him about how the fight with the different city governments only made him stronger. He also mentioned that he wanted people to confront what they are afraid of. I took this to mean the problems between the suburbs and city and the fear of people in the suburbs to come and rejoin the city of Detroit. We talked about the role that art plays in making changes in the world. Mr. Guyton couldn't have been more welcoming or inspiring : thank-you Tyree !
Some pictures of the Heidelberg Project:
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