48207 - Detroit (A Thirty Year Fight)

"Art is a process, philosophy, and a lifestyle". This statement, presented in the beginning of the lecture, outlines the thinking behind the Heidelberg Project and this presentation: Tyree Guyton and the Heidelberg Project: A Thirty Year Journey. At the start of the lecture, the Heidelberg Project was described as a 'surprising interlude in the sparsely populated area', and a place that embodied sustainability, spirituality, and hope. Three specific ideas were shared and promoted to the audience of this lecture, and were included in what Janine, the project's executive director, called 'Heidelbergology': 1) Abstract Advocacy through Art. 2) The idea that Art is a medicine. 3) The notion that Art is a catalyst for change.  Janine advocates art as a way of life, and not a frill. The project hopes to transform social relations through art, and spread the idea that everyone has a right to grow and flourish. In many ways, the project has already done just that. Stories of how children of the area have been positively affected by the project were shared, and specific examples of success stories were told to prove that 'art is a catalyst for change'. 

The controversies regarding the Heidelberg project were briefly discussed. As far as Janine, Tyree, and other supporters of The Heidelberg Project were concerned, the project is "a fashionable issue for the city to mask all their other issues". The projects attracts over 275,000 visitors per year, and 140 of the 196 countries in the world have been represented. The project is seen as a community anchor, and at this point, has become too big and too global to be stopped. 

Guyton, as he spoke, asked the audience: "What is art today? What is creativity today?" His own questions were answered within the lecture - art is a heightened humanitarian attitude. Art is what you look at, not what surrounds you. Art emphasizes the question of power. The Heidelberg Project inhibits all of these qualities, and its very existence is changing what we know about art, and what we know about the world today.