Stamps Shines Bright at DLECTRICITY
Inspired by Nuit Blanche arts festivals from around the world, DLECTRICITY is a spectacular outdoor visual light and art celebration that takes place in Detroit’s Cultural Center and DTE’s Beacon Park Friday, September 24 and Saturday, September 25, 2021 from 7 pm-Midnight.
Produced by Midtown Detroit, Inc. (MDI), attendees are immersed in a landscape of light through groundbreaking installations of video art, new media, lasers, interactive design and engineering, and captivating performance. Chrisstina Hamilton, Director of the Penny Stamps Speaker Series and Roman Witt Visiting Artist Programs at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, served on the 2021 DLECTRICITY Curatorial Committee.
Three Stamps School affiliated artists will be presenting work as part of the DLECTRICITY festivities, including:
Stephanie Dinkins — On Love and Data and Holding Space
In this new projection work, Dinkins illuminates the power and resilience in black women’s stories, reminding us that sharing and receiving stories is an act of resistance. This projection, shown on the U‑M Rackham Educational Memorial Building in Detroit, is part of a major survey of Dinkins work titled Stephanie Dinkins: On Love & Data, on view at Stamps Gallery through October 23, 2021. Curated by Stamps Gallery Director, Srimoyee Mitra.
Stamps professors Roland Graf and Nick Tobier, with Stamps Professor Emeritus Michael Rodemer — All Nite Tetherball
All-Nite Tetherball transforms a light pole into an interactive plaything and with it the surrounding urban space from utility to play. Wrapped in colorful LED strips similar to the art of urban knitting, the light effects displayed on the pole can be set in motion by interacting with an illuminated ball attached to it.
Abhishek Narula (MFA ’20) — All the light we cannot see
Everyday technologies like wi-fi, bluetooth, and cellphone signals radiate an invisible light, operating at such a high-frequency that it is imperceptible to the human eye. In this installation, Narula visualizes this invisible ambient phenomenon, through hundreds of LEDs lining the branches of trees on the lawn of the DIA. The lights glow, shimmer, and pulsate response to the ambient signals of smart phones, Bluetooth and Wi-fi devices in the vicinity.
An alum from the Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning also has an installation on view at DLECTRICITY. Patrick Ethen’s (BS Architecture, ‘12) Pulsar uses hand-wired LEDs and generative code to create an abstracted light object version of a pulsar, one which feels alien in nature, which oscillates and pulses to its own rhythm, creating a hypnotizing atmosphere that pulls the observer in with its gravity.
U‑M students interested in visiting DLECTRICITY can register for an Art Outta Town trip through Arts at Michigan, offering a bus trip to the festivities in Detroit on Saturday, September 25, 2021 from 6 – 11 pm. This trip is open to all current U‑M students, but seating is limited and registration is required.
DLECTRICITY takes place in Detroit’s Cultural Center Friday, September 24 and Saturday, September 25, 2021 from 7 pm-Midnight. Plan your DLECTRICITY visit online: dlectricity.com.