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"Two of the most exciting developments I saw in Detroit also embrace the city’s grit, but in much more intriguing ways. The Dequindre Cut is a one-mile remnant of a commuter rail line that ran from the suburbs into downtown until the early 1980s. With its network of concrete-anchored overpasses, the sunken, overgrown path became a mecca for graffiti artists and urban spelunkers. This August, the Cut will open to the public as an official link between the riverfront and the city’s beloved Eastern Market. While the path will be paved, a large swath of natural grass will run alongside it for the length of the trail. The best part, though, is that the city has elected to celebrate, rather than sandblast, the Cut’s most interesting feature: The graffiti will remain.
"Up the road is the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). Located in an old automobile dealership, MOCAD sports a few requisite art gallery trappings—funky doors, sans serif signage, an organic cafe—but architect Andrew Zago eschewed any major renovations of the cavernous space. (It is reported that this was due to budgetary, as well as aesthetic, concerns). The New York Times’ Nicolai Ouroussoff praised Zago’s “intentionally raw aesthetic”—the exposed pipes, the open floor plan, the scuffed original flooring, the flaking white paint. I agree with Ouroussoff, but what I love most about MOCAD is Zago’s unselfconscious approach. MOCAD feels like many other places I love in Detroit—buildings bought on the cheap by friends and converted into studios or galleries or performance spaces. Zago didn’t keep MOCAD’s space “raw” because that was the hip thing to do. He did it because it’s the Detroit thing to do. And that’s way cool...."
