Detroit's Art Mile Announces Inaugural Curatorial Fellow, ICI Guest Curators, and Exhibitor List

For the first time, Art Mile will host a special Curatorial Fellow exhibition, organized this year by inaugural Art Mile Curatorial Fellow Juana Williams.

By: May. 27, 2021
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Today, Art Mile-a citywide arts festival that champions Detroit's vibrant and diverse arts community through public programs and online exhibitions-has announced the participants for its second edition, taking place June 14 - July 11, 2021.

For the first time, Art Mile will host a special Curatorial Fellow exhibition, organized this year by inaugural Art Mile Curatorial Fellow Juana Williams; a suite of keynote panel discussions organized by Art Mile Programming Partner, Independent Curators International (ICI), led by members of ICI's curatorial network, including curators Monica Marin and Sadie Woods; and Art Mile Editions-a new exhibition category showcasing artist books, zines, screenprints, and other printed matter submitted by local artists-which this year will additionally feature special exhibitions curated by Barbed Magazine and Maamoul Press.

To complement the live events produced by Art Mile Programming Partner ICI, Red Bull Arts will present a conversation between art historian Samantha Noel, artist Akeem Smith, and artist Damon Davis about the artistic practice of collecting expressions of Black identity, moderated by artist and MOCAD Senior Curator Jova Lynne; Becoming Dion, a live-streamed performance by Red Bull Arts Detroit Resident Artist Darryl DeAngelo Terrell, exploring self-care and self-desire as a form of healing for femme-identifying, fat, Black, queer folk; and AMANECER de AQUARIO, a screening series of contemporary Puerto Rican video works organized by Red Bull Arts Detroit Resident Artist Cristina Tufiño.

The inaugural Curatorial Fellow was selected by a committee comprising ICI's Executive and Artistic Director, Renaud Proch; Art Mile Co-Founder and Reyes | Finn Partner, Bridget Finn; and Red Bull Arts Detroit's Curator of Public Programs, Jessica Allie.

"Art Mile is an opportunity to connect with the vibrancy of the Detroit art scene," says Proch. "ICI is excited to highlight this unique energy and its reach across the US and beyond, through a series of curatorial dialogues as well as the online exhibition curated by Juana Williams as part of her fellowship."

"Detroit has always been at the heart of creativity and culture. Art Mile acts as a vehicle to amplify the work Detroit's artists, curators, galleries, and museums are contributing to the world at large," says Finn. "Art made in and around Detroit has a sustaining impact on all who encounter it and with Art Mile we hope to offer more people the opportunity to engage. We are so honored to welcome all of the participants that put in that work on a daily basis and continue to shape Detroit's unique voice."

Organized by Reyes | Finn and Cultural Counsel in partnership with Red Bull Arts, Art Mile launched its inaugural festival in the summer of 2020, providing over 55 of Detroit galleries, institutional non-profits, museums, and artist-run spaces with free access to Art Mile's exhibition platform, with sales made directly through exhibitors on an inquiry basis. The inaugural Art Mile celebrated with a week of digital exhibitions, artwork sales, and public programs, including virtual museum tours, film screenings, and live panel discussions and musical performances. Its second edition will be held over the course of a month, featuring over 75 exhibitors.

First-time exhibitors include: Ceramic School, Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit Research, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, Jeffs, Library Street Collective, Mott-Warsh Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Pewabic Pottery, ProjectArt, Talking Dolls, and What Pipeline, among others.

Returning Art Mile participants include: 333 Midland, Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Bryce Detroit, BULK Space, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum, David Klein Gallery, Detroit Artists Market, Hamtramck Ceramck, Hatch Art, Hill Gallery, Lawrence Street Gallery, M Contemporary Art, Mint Artists Guild, NEXT:SPACE, Paul Kotula Projects, PLAYGROUND DETROIT, Popps Packing, Red Bull Arts Detroit, Reyes | Finn, Simone DeSousa Gallery, The Carr Center, and Wasserman Projects, among others.



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