Detroit Part 2: Mike Kelley's "Mobile Homestead"

I was pleasantly surprised to see Mike Kelley's Mobile Homestead at MOCAD. The painted blue wall behind the recreation of his childhood home, combined with the gray sky, made my photographs look even more unrealistic.

From MOCAD's website:

"It's both a public sculpture and a private, personal architecture – based on the artist's childhood home on Palmer Road in Westland, a neighborhood which primarily housed workers for the Big Three auto makers: Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. In a largely disinvested city with many abandoned houses and dilapidated buildings, Mobile Homestead enacts a reversal of the 'white flight' that took place in Detroit following the inner city uprisings of the 1960s. It does so at a time when the city is exploring new options of renewal by assessing its singular post-industrial conditions in an attempt to articulate a new model for American cities."

The porch was not wider than two feet (= loose translation of the original).

The yard was perfectly manicured and everything was so new and shiny, it accentuated its oddness.

The metal bar running through the middle of the photograph (beneath this fabulous couch) is where the house can be separated for travel.

Fake plants congregated in a room that was possibly a dining area. My photograph of the garage is blurry and we were unsure if the contents were MOCAD storage or there to simulate a real garage.

The living room is full of books that we were able to check-out permanently. I spent a great deal of time looking at every single title. I couldn't find the perfect volume but settled on this  because it reminded me of New Zealand.

I don't particularly want to read or keep this book but I love where it came from as signified by the stamp below.

Looks like a photograph in the making before the book heads to another home.