It’s no mystery that the Detroit area is pretty depressed. Jobs are being lost left and right as the auto industry and all related businesses slowly implode. It seems like every other day I hear about someone else I know that’s out of work. People are leaving Michigan in droves, and as of this summer I will be gone myself out for a Pacific Northwest adventure.
Detroit does still have it’s fair share of cool things, however. Chief amongst these in my mind is the DIA. The Institute of the Arts is a world class museum with an enormous collection of art ranging across all styles, periods and regions. They’ve recently completed some major construction, which gave them a huge increase in space allowing for display of an even bigger selection of pieces from storage. I’ve done some volunteering there before, pointing people towards whatever they were looking for (usually the bathrooms, haha) and I still feel like I find something new there every time I go.
Another of the reasons that I love the DIA so is that they have a really liberal photography policy. Anything that’s in the general collection is fair game for photos as long as you’re not using a big external flash or a tripod. So that pretty much leaves special exhibits and visiting stuff as the only place where photos are prohibited.
And I guess that brings me to the book for today. This is a collection of photos obviously from the DIA, showing off some of the highlights of the museum. The piece shown here is a 15th century chinese sculpture of the Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha, returning from a long time practicing asceticism in a mountain retreat.
Chet 11:03 am on April 30, 2009 Permalink
Yeah, I’m a total nerd for Shirow’s work. I still have my intron depot lunch box.