From Alfred Street to Temple Street, Detroit

'From Alfred Street to Temple Street, Detroit’, a 9-metre long ink drawing of a single street in Detroit using Google Map Street View to virtually ‘walk’ down the street, recording what is seen. This drawing charts a journey through Brush Park, Detroit, an area famous for its once grand, now derelict houses, ending at the world’s largest Masonic Temple. This arose from Chloë Brown's involvement in a significant international research project ‘Topographies of the Obsolete' initiated by Bergen Academy of Art and Design (KHiB), Norway, in collaboration with partner art academies in Denmark, Germany and the UK. This explores interpretations of the post-industrial landscape, initially in relation to the disused Spode factory in Stoke-on-Trent, resulting in Brown's film 'Dancing in the Boardroom (Turnin' My Heartbeat Up)', which was included in the British Ceramics Biennial, 2013. This drawing builds on this research moving the focus from Stoke-on-Trent to Detroit, the city famous for the manufacture of cars and for the music of Motown. Having lost over half of its population through the industry’s collapse, its reputation as a failed metropolis of abandoned buildings has superseded all others. This drawing was exhibited in the first ‘Returns’ exhibition at the Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, February 2015.