Connecting the Dots: Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project (Hardcover)

Connecting the Dots, the first comprehensive collection of writings on the Heidelberg Project, attempts to get to the heart of Guyton’s project by considering it from a number of fascinating angles—including legal, aesthetic, political, and personal.

Purchase before May 17, 2008 and you will be reserved a signed copy of the book by artist Tyree Guyton.

In its twenty years of existence, the Heidelberg Project has inspired awe in visitors from around the world, drawn praise from the international art community, and provoked extensive discussions in its own backyard. In 1986, Tyree Guyton created the project with the idea of visibly transforming the environment of his decaying neighborhood, which was marred by crime, prostitution, and gangs. Using the materials around him cast-off toys, discarded car parts, and other debris along with his trademark brightly colored polka dots, Guyton eventually transformed several houses and vacant lots on Heidelberg Street into the city s most recognizable art environment and one of its leading tourist attractions. Connecting the Dots, the first comprehensive collection of writings on the Heidelberg Project, attempts to get to the heart of Guyton s project by considering it from a number of fascinating angles including legal, aesthetic, political, and personal.

In addition, a complete legal perspective on the Heidelberg Project is presented by attorney Daniel S. Hoops, and the city’s position on the project is explained by Marilyn Wheaton, former director of Detroit’s Cultural Affairs Department. Wayne State University professor of art history Marion E. Jackson also offers an aesthetic analysis of Guyton’s project, and Detroit native Aku Kadogo discusses bringing Guyton and his project to Sydney, Australia. Connecting the Dots concludes with an “inside view” of the Heidelberg Project in a piece by Jenenne Whitfield, the project’s executive director.

Connecting the Dots presents these essays along with a thoughtful introduction by Wayne State University professor of English Jerry Herron and an artist’s statement by Tyree Guyton. Numerous photographs of Guyton’s artwork are also included in this full-color oversized volume. Artists, art historians, and those interested in Detroit cultural affairs will enjoy this comprehensive and intriguing book.

“The Heidelberg Project raises issues of art, politics, community development, underdevelopment, conflict, anger, and love. Connecting the Dots does a fine job of presenting this complexity with care and objectivity.”

—Carol Becker
Dean of faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and author of Surpassing the Spectacle: Global Transformations and the Changing Politics of Art

$ 60.00

Out of stock