The Heidelberg Project
Tyree Guyton
In the Heidelberg Project, artist Tyree Guyton covers vacant lots of the 3600 block of Heidelberg Street in Detroit with thoughtfully placed clusters of junk, in order to draw attention to the devastated streets and make this marginal area of Detroit safer. Beginning in the late 1980s, Guyton began to rejuvenate this community wracked by urban decay. Heidelberg Street, once home to a diverse and working class community, was overrun with violence, racism and poverty due to high unemployment. Guyton changed the existing landscape by covering vacant houses and cars with refuse from everyday life such as broken and butchered objects, worn shoes, parts of cars, signs, old toys, and painted pictures. Although the objects seem to be randomly placed, Guyton actually makes many careful and artistic choices in his arrangement, carrying motifs across the project, the most famous being the polka-dot motif. Guyton uses generous amounts of red paint on mannequins and dolls, “suggesting that a massacre has taken place.” (Vergara, 190) A massacre of disregard for these once lively streets that now stand as ruins. Guyton is calling attention to the area in order to end this massacre and repair the resulting damage. He makes the artistic choice to have recovered street signs stick out of debris, a way to remind passers-by of the state of ruin these once flourishing streets have come to. The scene is a physical manifestation of what the community has come to, barely hanging on, reaching out after years of neglect for help.
Many neighbors are not happy with Guyton’s artwork. They do not appreciate their surroundings being covered with spray paint, junk, and the smell of old objects. Neighbors have complained, and city officials have fined him for littering to discourage his work. They have even gone so far as to demolish the houses with his work. A few of the houses have been burned down. Some would like his work to be fenced in. However, in Vergara’s opinion, “a fence would surely dilute the impact of the Heidelberg Project, which comes from catching people by surprise. People have become accustomed to driving devastated streets without looking at them. Tyree Guyton has made them visible again.” (Vergara, 190) Would those who oppose Guyton’s work prefer the abandoned houses on their streets to be left alone with broken windows, collapsing roofs and burned walls? The purpose of Guyton’s art is to be so eye-catching that it is hard for passers-by not to look. Guyton and the Heidelberg Project’s mission statement is “[t]he [Heidelberg Project] believes that a community can redevelop and sustain itself, from the inside out, by embracing its diverse cultures and artistic attributes as the essential building blocks for a fulfilling and economically viable way of life.” (The Heidelberg Project) Guyton’s vision has been a success so far. Residents became educated about art and participate in the project. The project has provided jobs and space for community members to join together and communicate with visitors from all over the world, giving residents a sense of dignity and self-respect. (The Heidelberg Project) His artwork brings thousands of visitors, and this area of Detroit has become safer, as much of the crime, drugs, and prostitution has moved away.
Sources
Community members. Digital image. The Heidelberg Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 15.
House of Soul. Digital image. Michigan Radio. N.p., 12 Nov. 14. Web. 14 May 15.
Steger, Cara, and Reynolds Farley. Guyton's Heidelberg Project. Digital image. Joe Braun Photography. Web.
Vergara, Camilo J. "The Heidelberg Project, Detroit: Tyree Guyton's "Illegal Junkyard"" In American Ruins. New York: Monacelli Press, 1999.
"The Heidelberg Project." The Heidelberg Project | Non Profit | Open-Air Art | Art Education | Detroit. Accessed March 31, 2015.