A Toast to Detroit

On the evening of April 4th 2016 a group of twelve women from the city of Detroit, Michigan, USA met to take part in an event organised by British artist Chloë Brown at the Palestine Lodge within the city’s Masonic Temple – the world’s largest and a still active meeting place for Freemasons in The Motor City. This event was a unique piece of participatory art; a dinner party for twelve empowered women in a room that usually excludes their gender, in a place where many of Detroit’s male industrialists have met in secrecy for decades, in a space that witnessed discussions that shaped the history of a city, discussions that ultimately led to its industrial and social decline. The work highlights the failure of this hidden male power in relation to Detroit’s current situation, through an event that is exclusively female, in order to draw attention to the initiatives that these women are developing. Entitled 'The Detroit Dinner Service' this event sought to question contemporary Detroit as a city in post-industrial crisis, echoing the experience of many cities worldwide that are now experiencing the so-called ‘third industrial revolution’. This dinner party was tasked with considering the move from a ‘traditional’ manufacturing city to a ‘modern’ one and the alternative futures possible in a place such as Detroit through the activity of a group of women who sit outside the traditional power base of the city. 'A Toast to Detroit' Each of the women who attended The Detroit Dinner Service delivered A Toast to Detroit – a tribute to their city. Brown made audio recordings of the toasts and it is these recordings that form this 12 track LP, ensuring that the voices of these women can be heard outside the event itself, outside the room soundproofed for secrecy and in a format that reflects the richness of the city’s cultural history, particularly the soul music of Motown and Northern Soul. The LP concept and design references recordings of well-known Baptist ministers (including Jesse Jackson and the Rev. C.L. Franklin, ‘The Man with the Million Dollar Voice’ and father of Aretha) delivering sermons and speeches, found by Brown in vinyl record store ‘People’s Records’ in Detroit. 12-track vinyl LP record, limited edition of 200. Link to website: http://a-toast-to-detroit.co.uk