Taubman College Sirota and MODCaR launch the Mothership
In September of 2013, assistant professor Anya Sirota won a Knights Arts Challenge with her proposal, MODCaR, the Metropolitan Observatory of Digital Culture and Representation. This platform hoped to produce vibrant civic spaces that united the community with architects through the power of collaborative, receptive design.
This concept led to the Oakland North End Mile project, or O.N.E. Mile, a collaboration with Oakland Avenue artists, with the purpose of a series of creative interventions along the iconic Oakland Avenue in Detroit’s North End. After successfully transforming a barber shop, Sirota and designer Jean Louis Farges set their sights on the creation of a new, iconic Mothership.
The Mothership, inspired by the classic P-Funk stage prop utilized by George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, touched down in the North End on October 11, 2014.
The unveiling of urban marker was immediately followed by a free and public concert by the reunited members of Parliament-Funkadelic in a nearby unmarked garage, who enraptured the crowd with their unique brand of funk. It marked a homecoming for the group, who used to perform in the nearby Phelp’s Lounge. The festive launch hoped to draw eyes to the plight of such landmark institutions.
More information on the project can be found here: http://www.onemile.us/news.html.
