WASTEDLAND : DETROIT an exhibition of art and music featuring "Wastedland 2" by Andrew H. Shirley
Event is from 6:00pm - Midnight with an outdoor screening at 9:07pm sharp.
“A new Wizard of Oz for the Anarchist Street Youth.” Charlie Ahearn Director of Wild Style
In a post apocalyptic world, the last few remaining inhabitants are the spirit animals of graffiti writers. Three solitary nomadic vandals (played by: Wolftits, Avoid, and Smells) cross paths while on the hunt of the meaning behind the abandoned landscape’s prevailing enigmatic artwork left behind by UFO (internationally recognized vandal and artist). Roaming from one decaying zone to the next in a never ending search for beer, weed, and a wall to paint, these artists form a pact with the rest of the desperate survivors (played by Rambo, Noxer, EKG and others). Through the practice of their ritualistic art- they will seek to attain truth and ultimately receive the answer to the question of their futility- “what’s the point?”
As part of the 2nd Annual Murals in the Market, the WASTEDLAND: DETROIT exhibition will debut Andrew H. Shirley’s film Wastedland 2 in a 7000 sq foot space in Matt Naimi’s new “Make Art Work” facility at Recycle Here (1331 Holden St.). For this group exhibition, the film will exist as a centerpiece to a decaying post apocalyptic play land of kinetic sculptures and colorful graffiti pieces (from Detroit’s own hometown graffiti artists) along side artifacts and characters from the film. The show opens on the 2nd night of the festival, under a full Harvest moon- Friday September 16th at 9:07 pm. The Unstoppable Death Machines will be playing with local acts DJ Ihatejail.com (Crazy Jim from Wolf Eyes), Ishtar, Shit Life, and Dj's Abacus, Black Noi$e, Abby, Prismviews and 100% Halal Meat- at 10:30pm until late.
Exhibiting Artists: Adam Void, Amanda Wong, Amy Smalls and George Vidas , Ben Wolf, DARKCLOUDS, EKG, Greg Henderson, Hugo Domecq, NOXER, RAMBO, Ryan C. Doyle, UFO 907, William Thomas Porter, WOLFTITS, and Zak Warman
As with the original Wastedland (10 min/ B&W / 2008), for Wastedland 2 (30 min/ B&W and Color/ 2016) Shirley asked many prominent graffiti artists to create costumes and masks in the likeness of what they believed to be their spirit animals. Then, using the same landscape the artists typically employ as a backdrop for their work, they traveled from the Catskill mountains of New York to Black Mountain, North Carolina- filming in squalid buildings and freight train yards along the way, illegally. The mystical theme of the seeker was incorporated into the process of production, letting the film write itself from narrative exploration, chanced encounters, and unscripted improvisation.
Andrew H. Shirley, a native Detroiter, finds an obsession in living experimentation. His multi disciplinary artwork has appeared in PS 1, Museum of Sex, McDonald’s International, and Vogue and has had films screened at festivals in over 300 cities worldwide. As a social architect, he has curated the underground into public institutions such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music to a secret treehouse gallery in upstate New York. Though primarily nomadic, he sometimes resides in Brooklyn / NYC, with his cat Myrtle.
Music starts at 10:30pm after the viewing
WEBSITE: www.WASTEDLAND2.com