Windsor's message reminds both cities that they are in this together.
Excerpt:
Langlois calls the addition of the skyline an intentional choice.
The simple silhouette brings us to a subject close to his, and the
group's heart: communication with Detroit. Speaking from experience,
Langlois is quick to comment on the estranged relationship between the
city's residents, an alienation seen in the relative lack of
cooperation between artists, community activists, and business leaders,
given our physical proximity.
"I think the physical border lends itself to the mental," says
Brandon Walley, a local filmmaker. "It's much easier to say 'I'm just
going to go to an art opening at the Cass Cafe then undertake this
almost monumental journey across the border ... but I'd like to see the
relationship change." Further border restrictions, which began this
summer, seem to have only exacerbated things.
And while high unemployment rates, home foreclosures, and empty
factories continue to plague both cities, Langlois says the need to
communicate is desperate. Hence the idea for a large-scale message from
Windsor's citizens to Detroit's — a billboard-like communiqué
announcing that Windsor is still alive and would even like to have a
conversation with its similarly downtrodden cousin. The idea, involving
what is essentially a giant light projector, came after the group
rejected the idea of using actual billboards, but instead took a cue
from the experimental urban art of the Graffiti Research Lab, which
pioneered the use of LEDs to produce temporary street art.
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