DESIGN in the D Event (Squaring the Deck for DESIGN Thinking!)

DESIGN in the D

Festival showcases city’s creativity with exhibits, lectures, theater,pop-up installations and more

By John Monaghan Detroit Free Press Special Writer

   The Detroit Design Festival launches its third year this week, and director Matt Clayson thinks the world is quickly taking notice.

   “The festival continues this ongoing dialogue about Detroit being a center of good design and creativity,” he says.

   Organized by the Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3), the event will continue its mission of showcasing the city’s still-emerging design industry by offering more than 60 events, including mini-conferences, lectures, exhibitions, theater presentations, fashion shows, workshops and panel discussions.

   They’ll be held at venues all over town and most are free. Temporary studios and installations, often called pop-ups, are also a big part of this year’s lineup.

   According to Clayson, the festival celebrates the “gray area where design meets fine art. This is a forum to discuss what is design, what is art, and what does all of this look like in relation to the city.”

   The event launches tonight with a kickoff party from 6 to 10 p.m. at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education at the College for Creative Studies (485 W. Milwaukee St.). Studio displays from local designers will be featured and entertainment will be provided by DJ Erno and the Inferno. Organizers promise lots of marketing and networking opportunities for artists, designers and aspiring designers.

   Here’s a sampling of notable events from the wide-ranging lineup. You can find details on these and many more offerings atwww.detroitdesignfestival.com  .

   Exhibit

   “Nothingtoseeness: The Visual Art of John Cage” consists of drawings, watercolors and prints by avant-garde artist, composer and writer John Cage (1912-92). The works are being seen in Detroit for the first time and will be accompanied, in the words of organizers, by “a Cagean chance-derived score which will randomly alter the installation throughout the run of the exhibition.” (10 a.m.-5 p.m. today- Saturday, Center Galleries, Manoogian Visual Resource Center, College for Creative Center, 301 Frederick Douglass)

   Installation

   Giant balloon trees that soar high above expected crowds will be the centerpiece of Citypark, a pop-up park near the site of the old Hudson’s store in downtown Detroit. It’s the creation of John Skidmore Studio. (Opening reception, 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, 1206 Woodward)

   Film

   “The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller,” a film about celebrated architect, inventor and futurist Fuller (1895-1983), will include live narration by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Sam Green (“The Weather Underground”) and a performance of the film’s score by veteran indie rock band Yo La Tengo. (7 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Detroit Film Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward. Both screenings are sold out.)

   Nighttime fun

   Thirty creative enterprises — everything from restaurants to gal leries — will showcase their offerings during Eastern Market After Dark. A free shuttle will be available to help guests navigate the 24-acre farmers market just east of downtown. (7-11 p.m. Thursday)

   Transportation design students from the Center for Creative Studies had aerodynamics in mind when they fabricated vehicles for Friday’s Cable Car Race. The cable cars, made of foam rubber, will be raced on descending cables in a school parking structure. Speed and overall design will determine the winners. (4:15 p.m. Friday, Ford Campus Parking Structure, fourth floor, 201 E. Kirby Road)

   Shopping

   Entrepreneurs, artists and designers have joined to transform parts of Livernois Avenue into the Avenue of Fashion that it once was. Friday’s Light Up Livernois will feature eight hours of art, shopping and entertainment at pop-up storefronts set up by creative types from Detroit and elsewhere. (3-11 p.m Friday, Livernois Avenue between 7 Mile and 8 Mile)

   Theater

   New company Fratellanza sets out to turn theater on its head with “String Up the Moon,” a mashup of absurdist theater and commedia dell’arte that employs music, dance and acrobatics. The play is based on works by two celebrated Russians: “Diary of a Madman,” an 1835 story by Nikolai Gogol, and “Mozart and Salieri,” an 1832 play by Alexander Pushkin. (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jam Handy building, 2900 E. Grand Blvd. $15, $5 for playgoers under 30. The show will be followed by a Russian tea.) Biking

   The cycling enthusiasts at Detroit Bike City, the group that sponsors weekly bike rides through Detroit that it calls Slow Rolls, are getting in on the DDF fun. Saturday evening’s Slow Roll: Special Edition will take participants on a tour of key festival locations. Stops include Midtown, Corktown and Grand River Avenue. (6:30 p.m. Saturday, Downtown Detroit Bike Shop, 1420 Fisher Fwy. Helmet, extra bike tube and lights required.)

   Hanging out

   Make dPOP! Workeasy, located in Detroit’s Chrysler House, your home base as you explore festival offerings downtown. You can recharge your creative batteries there and enjoy free coffee, snacks and WiFi in a speakeasy-like atmosphere. (8 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 719 Griswold).

   See DESIGN, Page 2D

Amural by Katie Craig was featured in the 2012 Detroit Design Festival. It was created in conjunction with the Better Blocks Project. This year’s festival events will be held at venues all over town and most are free. J SINGLETON

DETROIT DESIGN FESTIVAL

   Tuesday-Sunday at venues across the city, including downtown, Midtown, the Cass Corridor and numerous neighborhoods. Many events are free.

   Full details: www.detroitdesignfestival.com  

Indie rock band Yo La Tengo will perform the score at the showing of the film “The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller” Thursday at Detroit Film Theatre. DFP

Sango Tajima, left, Jim Manganello and Paul Manganello will perform “String Up the Moon” from theater group Fratellanza. COSTA SIRDENIS