LAND, Inc. presents the Mack Avenue Green Thoroughfare Landmarks Public Arts Project, taking place from March – June 2015. With support from Bank of America, Land Inc., officially opened the call for entries for the public art installation on March 1. Local artists are invited to submit proposals to the organization between now through April 1. The Public Art installation, located at the 13300 block of Mack Avenue (between Coplin and Lakeview) will be constructed by May 31.
The Landmarks Public Art Competition is designed as part of a larger strategy to address Detroit‚s blighted, vacant and unused commercial corridors. The Mack Avenue Green Thoroughfare project blends the work of local organizations with artists and art organizations, and demonstrates how art can be used as a tool to eliminate blight and improve community perception.
The art project will blend in among other Mack Avenue “greening” projects as part of its transformation into a Green Thoroughfare, a green, well-lit, ecofriendly corridor that accommodates all traffic, provides way finding signage and connecting busy locales. The art installation will take place simultaneously with the construction of Detroit’s first and only curbside bioswale: a 22 foot by 6 foot in-ground bioswale which will divert storm water from a section of Mack Avenue, filter and retain the water to encourage infiltration, and store some or all the excess for testing and subsequent use. The bioswale will capture water from 10,000 square feet of Mack Avenue and will have the ability to remove about 1,500 gallons of water from the combines sewer system during a .25 inch rainfall event. This amounts to a cost savings of several thousand dollars annually versus treating storm water in conventional ways.
The Landmarks Public Art Competition and the Demonstration Bioswale are both possible because of the generous support of Bank of America Charitable Foundation “Removing blight isn‚t the only step to revitalizing a neighborhood, you need to rejuvenate the space and the people,‰ said Matt Elliott, Michigan market president, Bank of America. „The Mack Avenue Green T Public Art Competition will help showcase the extraordinary artistic talent we have in Detroit. Bank of America’s support of the arts reflects our belief that the arts in all its forms often lends vitality to or rejuvenates a city by transcending economic and cultural barriers as well as inspiring and celebrating diversity.”
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