Everybody's favorite, from our perspective + experience--a look into the place we go to escape, our own little island, our Detroit Jewel...
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
August 3, 2026
architecture, culture, columns - detroit city
Gabrielle Banzhaf and Jon Gott founded SHED Projects in 2021 in the backyard of their home in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Over the course of one year, they hosted artist residencies, workshops, artist talks, and exhibitions that blurred the boundaries between family life and social practice. Their relocation to Cleveland in 2023 was prompted by their drive to establish a long-term art space dedicated to experimentation and knowledge-building around visual culture...
An Interview with Gabrielle Banzhaf and Jon Gott of SHED Projects, Cleveland
July 27, 2026
art, culture - great lakes region
during the summer of 2025 i photographed models in detroit bathrooms. i shot abt 15+ rolls of film and in 15 bathrooms total I think. the inspo came from the insta page “detroitbathrooms”...
tearyeyed
July 20, 2026
fashion, culture - detroit city
Nearly all member cities are in Europe, but the US has begun to follow suit, with programs in Las Vegas, Ithaca, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. Laura Kraftowitz is the co-founder of City of Asylum/Detroit. In the following interview, she shares insight into the experiences of establishing this kind of program here in our city...
A conversation with Laura Kraftowitz, Founding Executive Director of City of Asylum/Detroit
June 15, 2026
literature, activism, culture - detroit city
This year, I had the privilege of photo-documenting the 20th anniversary of Movement, produced by Paxahau. One of the most distinctive things about Movement Music Festival is the coordination of 6 different stages that give festival-goers the chance to choose their own adventure in electronic music...
E-Man Bates
June 8, 2026
culture - detroit city
Movement is just one of the city’s annual festivals where civic pride is demonstrated, and this year, I captured some of the symbolism that was displayed by ravers throughout Memorial Day Weekend 2026...
Mark Cook
June 5, 2026
fashion, culture - detroit city
Samara is an artist and curator whose work is deeply rooted in building sustainable, community-centered support systems for artists in Detroit. She founded Buffalo Prescott in 2024 in collaboration with Leto Rankine, and together, they have developed a model that combines residency, exhibition, and public programming to meet artists where they are, with particular attention to care, long-term practice, and accessibility...
A Conversation with Samara Furlong
June 1, 2026
art, culture - detroit city
Summer finally gave us a sneak preview, and when the weather broke, we decided to go for a walk to see some neighborhoods and bask in the nuance that is so effortlessly Detroit, and inherently, Black...
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
May 25, 2026
architecture, culture, columns - detroit city
On April 28, 2026, RATHAUS Films announced three Detroit-based filmmakers as the recipients of the 2026 Rathaus Film Grant. This funding opportunity was started by the company in 2023 as a way to support independent projects by local producers...
A Spotlight on the Winners
May 23, 2026
film, culture - detroit city
Trinosophes is one of the greatest cafes known to man. A vacuous space tastefully filled with the type of postmodern art I love (giant jigsaw pieces and a hi-fi soundsystem)...
Michael Hirsch
May 22, 2026
culture, columns - detroit city
In 2023, the team launched the eugenie Designer Grant in an effort to elevate local creators through financial and professional support. This grant is a natural extension of their commitment to nurturing a sustainable future through conscious design, seeking to support early or emerging designers from Detroit who work in the fashion, textile, and accessory industries. Panelists look for applicants who have a clear vision, professional experience, and a compelling brand story...
A Spotlight on the Winners
May 19, 2026
fashion, culture - detroit city
Lexi Bishop, the founder of Middle Node, announced her project in October 2025 as a “Pittsburgh-based digital publication and gallery guide focused on contemporary art in, by, and for the Rust Belt.” She has been working to establish a foundational platform from which a number of resources can grow...
A conversation with Lexi Bishop
May 15, 2026
art, culture - great lakes region
Paulina Petkoski, Owner and Director of PLAYGROUND DETROIT, shares her experience as a Detroit-based arts professional who has worked for more than a decade to showcase contemporary art, provide representation and influence the Detroit creative economy through her social enterprise...
Ashley Cook
April 23, 2026
art, culture - detroit city
Fritz would tell me about a Vietnamese restaurant that was cooking food out of a dilapidated Coney. I would half-listen because I was a snob who thought he knew more than anybody. When I returned home, we went and it became one of the more important moments of my entire life. Immediately below getting cancelled and a few notches above my bar mitzvah...
Michael Hirsch
April 20, 2026
culture, columns - detroit city
To celebrate women’s history month, we wrote a love letter to the women of Detroit, to express our gratitude and embrace their influence...
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
March 30, 2026
culture, columns - detroit city
On Joseph Campau there’s a restaurant we all know and love, with kinda-f luorescent lighting, murals of the mother country painted on the walls, zhug that can strip paint, toum that will ruin breath for the better part of a week…all perfectly delicious...
Michael Hirsch
March 20, 2026
culture, columns - detroit city
Isabelle Weiss is the founder and director of the I.M. Weiss Gallery, a Detroit-based exhibition space dedicated to representing artists whose work stands at the forefront of contemporary craft and design. Her education in the History of Art and Linguistics from the University of Michigan paired with an appraisal accreditation from International Society of Appraisers has equipped her as a crucial figure within Detroit’s creative community. This weekend she will be debuting her newest project, Art in Action...
An interview with Isabelle Weiss
March 4, 2026
art, activism, culture - detroit city
On Saturday, February 21, 2026, the team at Michigan Fashion Week held the Sustainable Fashion Experience Showcase as the finale to a series of events focused on earth-friendly practices of the Detroit-based designers and connoisseurs...
Ashley Cook and E-Man Bates
February 28, 2026
fashion, culture - detroit city
Respectful, collaborative relationships with the people of other cultures—especially when engaging in anthropological studies—has become an expectation across the globe since the onset of a growing movement called New Animism. This can be seen here in Detroit through the close collaboration between the curators of the DIA and an advisory council of contemporary Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi artists working across the Great Lakes Region.
Ashley Cook
February 16, 2026
art, culture - detroit city
Driving rear wheel drive in a blizzard is an elite level of fun. You kind of just spin around fishtailing and pretending like it’s a movie. Except the stakes don’t exist because the roads are empty and I’m running from nobody...
Michael Hirsch
January 26, 2026
culture, columns - detroit city
Last fall, Detroit Salon, a new city-wide arts initiative, flew 26 Detroit and Metro Detroit-based artists to France for Paris Art Week 2025. They were part of a cohort of 31 artists and 5 fashion designers whose work was selected for exhibition in three prestigious Parisian venues: the Hôtel de Talleyrand (October 21-23), the Grand Palais (October 24-26), and the Palais de Tokyo (October 18-November 9)...
Roopa Chauhan
January 22, 2026
art, culture - central europe
About one week ago, the “King of the West Side”—aka DJ Sussex Smooth The Selector—joined WeeGee Tha Hustla, DJ Culinary, and Street Certified DJs to throw the Paid Artist Showcase Winter Bash featuring over 25 artists from Detroit and around the USA...
Ashley Cook and E-Man Bates
January 16, 2026
music, culture - detroit city
I know Hunter House, Greene’s, Little Bros., and Telway; these are all staples in and around Detroit. They all look the same, built in the middle of the 20th century. White tile boxes with white tile interiors, usually some stools with chrome accents attached to the ground and the smell of grease and grilled onions giving olfactoringus to my nose.
Michael Hirsch
December 29, 2025
culture, columns - detroit city
Subgenre--Black Business, Mind Theirs: Christmas is not late, you are! But we got you covered with a shopping guide for those on CPT, shop local Black-businesses for your last-minute gifts that will really make someone smile!
Saybin Samone Roberson and Catie Goins
December 22, 2025
culture, columns - detroit city
Darting around the concourse after the first time out I spotted The Coop, an outpost serving up chicken tenders brought to you by the lovely people over at Tyson. How complicated could it be, eh? Chicken tenders are delicious and simple, just keep frying 'em up assembly line style and serving 'em out, right? No. Of course not. Things can’t be so simple.
Michael Hirsch
November 27, 2025
culture, columns - detroit city
.png "MeltdownMeals.PolishVillageCafe")
I’ve Friendzoned multiple Hinge matches just to have someone to get brunch with. So dining alone at Hamtramck’s Polish Village wasn’t something out of the ordinary. When I went down the basement stairs, I was skeptical, but immediately upon entering the dining room, I was converted. Twinkling lights and stained glass painted the room with a soothing bath of color. The notes of the Bill Evans Trio being played over the soundsystem dropped into the honey texture of the room like ice cubes plunking into a glass of Wiśniówka (Polish cherry liqueur)...
Michael Hirsch
October 30, 2025
culture, columns - detroit city
Joumana Joumana Joumana. Blessed are the billboard gods of Detroit, lining our skies with their faces and their promises of redemption. Joumana Kayrouz has long been an exciting face to gaze upon as we drive down the Lodge, drive home from the airport, or drive down the Boulevard. She’s always watching and we love it. Beloved bar venue Old Miami has shown their love for Joumana two years in a row by throwing the fabulous party House of 1000 Joumanas...
Sage Sherlock
October 13, 2025
culture - detroit city
On May 17th 2025, College for Creative Studies celebrated the 100th anniversary of its student exhibition with over three thousand works of art on view across both campuses. The wide range of disciplines showcased throughout the event represents one hundred and nineteen years of evolution; what began as a curriculum with only basic classes in drawing, design, and woodcarving now offers BFA, BA, MFA, MA and MPS degree programs in over a dozen different disciplines as well as precollege & continuing education training, and certifications in Art Education. The story of CCS offers insight into the development of art schools in the United States—particularly in relation to industrial manufacturing—and reveals the adaptation and innovation that was required to stay open, even through Detroit’s most tumultuous years...
Ashley Cook
October 6, 2025
art, culture - detroit city
The first time I went to Louie’s Ham and Corned Beef was the summer going into freshman year of high school– and subsequently every weekend after that until I graduated. Due to some 8th grade delinquency issues, the courts ordered me to complete 40 hours of community service which my mother insisted I complete in their entirety at Tyree Guyton’s Heidelberg Project...
Michael Hirsch
September 29, 2025
culture, columns - detroit city
For anyone who has ever noticed the small old-time wooden hut during a casual stroll through Shed 4 of Eastern Market may have wondered what goes on inside. Maybe the window was closed to reveal a hand-painted clock by Tyree Guyton, but if it was open, you could see stacks of shoes spanning eras and trends, all waiting to be tended to by Moe Draper, the Detroit Boot Cobbler...
An Interview with Moe Draper
September 1, 2025
culture - detroit city
A small space with an even smaller menu, Chenin calls itself a “small wine bar” and that is as true as it gets. I doubt the place could fit more than 14 full-sized adults at a time and the fact that it doesn’t accept reservations means it maintains a frenetic friction that alludes to a bustling tabagie in Paris...
Michael Hirsch
August 28, 2025
culture, columns - detroit city
Old Yeller turned ten years old this summer, and a couple of weeks ago, they threw their fourth annual Underwater Clown Rodeo. I had the opportunity to interview Alyssa and Kristen about their experience as tenants, property owners, and community leaders in Detroit who have transformed their home into a safe space for creative freedom and expression...
Ashley Cook
August 25, 2025
culture - detroit city
I can’t figure out what I want to say about this place. It was one of the first places I was craving in Detroit when I got back from 4 months of traveling across Asia and South America where I was eating some of the indisputably best street food in the world and I would safely put Gloria’s amongst their ranks...
Michael Hirsch
July 21, 2025
culture, columns - detroit city
Created after the March for Our Lives Protest in 2018, Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan (DAYUM) empowers young people to take control of social change by training them in political activism and leadership...
Leslie Cieplechowicz
June 26, 2025
activism, culture - detroit city
From the beginning, Detroit Techno music has been deconstructing sounds, and blending human and technology into creative hybrid entities. This movement of sonic samples quickly grew to include re-purposed spaces, signage and lights. Although this cultural genre, born in Detroit from abandonment and innovation, has evolved to incorporate sophisticated techniques to light the stages and dancefloors, many have figured out ways to keep the DIY spirit alive...
Ashley Cook
June 7, 2025
music, culture - detroit city
You don’t need to be hyper-informed about Star Wars to enjoy Space Dive. The mandatory costumes, the mercantile market with all Star Wars related handcrafted items, and the themed drinks and grub is a feast for the senses!
Sage Sherlock
May 8, 2025
culture - detroit city
It’s hard not to feel lucky to exist early in a musical genre’s timeline. With the birth of techno occurring almost half a century ago, we as clubbers and fans of techno have a rare opportunity to engage with this genre’s pioneers, many of whom are still among us. However, as most discussions about techno history tend to center on the musicians and DJs behind the decks, we often overlook the larger forces that shape the culture; it’s time to shift our attention to the dancers, the voyeurs, the bartenders, the door attendants, the designers – all techno enthusiasts who play a crucial role in sustaining and evolving the scene...
Tara Shafa
April 14, 2025
music, culture - detroit city
Alvarez is the Communications Director of the Detroit Disability Power (DDP) whose mission is to build the political power of the disability community and end disparities in employment, education, healthcare, housing, and transportation...
Leslie Cieplechowicz
February 17, 2025
activism, culture - detroit city
“We work to nourish, protect, connect, and cultivate the ecosystem of media for liberation of specific groups,” says Toni Moceri, the Executive Director of Allied Media Projects. AMP strives to “make the radical practical by providing highly specialized and politically competent administrative and project support to cutting edge Queer, Trans and BIPOC media makers who are working towards liberation”...
Leslie Cieplechowicz
January 27, 2025
activism, culture - detroit city
Niki Williams is a photographer known for his dreamlike depictions of everyday life. In his photos we encounter humans in their daily pursuits, their everyday rituals, daily routines, celebrations and with their loved ones. Within Wheel is Niki William’s first photo-book. Most of the images were taken while he was living in Detroit, Michigan. Here, we present an interview with the artist about this work and his experience as a photographer currently working between Michigan and California.
A conversation with Niki Williams
January 13, 2025
art, culture - detroit city
Corrosion has come to define this place that was once the center of the Industrial Revolution in the US, with its metals now tarnished by extreme neglect and its communities plagued by disinvestment. Detroit, Michigan and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania flourished as engines of technical innovation in America before waves of economic abandonment left them jobless. Curator Kemuel Benyehudah’s newest exhibition Echoes from the Rust spotlights artists from these two cities, whose work touches on engineering, manual labor, and community as foundations of their blue-collar culture.
Ashley Cook
January 2, 2025
art, culture - detroit city, great lakes region
The city is full of multi-talented ladies, and this photo series is dedicated to them all!
tearyeyed
December 30, 2024
fashion, culture - detroit city
The Tuskegee Airmen earned the nickname as the Red Tail Angels for fighting fascists in the skies of World War II. They flew hundreds of patrol, escort and attack missions for the Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces, and were recorded as the fleet with one of the lowest casualty counts of all of the United States pilots. They were recognizable as a team because of the red tails of their planes, and because they were segregated from all of the other pilots for being primarily African American.
Ashley Cook
November 11, 2024
activism, culture - detroit city
Mr. Spotless celebrates it's fourth Halloween as Detroit's first haunted car wash. Here, Runner Magazine interviews Fathel Salha, who came up with the idea to start this spooky seasonal attraction at his family's buisness...
An Interview with Fathel Salha
October 23, 2024
culture - detroit city
Michigan Student Power Alliance is a hub for radical youth activism, existing within a broader statewide ecosystem of grassroots, progressive student organizers who are working to connect student struggles across higher education campuses and build a powerful youth movement that will enact change...
Emily Jones and Fiana Arbab
October 9, 2024
activism, culture - great lakes region
Art Clvb is a Detroit-based Market Network created in 2022 by Steve and Dorota Coy with the intention of facilitating connections between artists, collectors, curators, galleries, and individuals involved in the local art ecosystem...
Ashley Cook
September 23, 2024
art, culture - detroit city
Ghanaian American author Esinam Bediako has been honored for her debut novel Blood on the Brain, set to launch in September of 2024 in Brooklyn, New York. Born and raised in Metro-Detroit, Bediako’s story of a young woman, Akosua, who is also a Ghanaian American from Detroit, highlights challenges of growing into adulthood in the United States...
An interview with Esinam Bediako
September 9, 2024
literature, culture - detroit city
Hamtramck, Michigan is the home of a few different ceramic studios, with the newest one being Porcelinen. Vanessa Beard has been working as a ceramicist for many years, officially starting her business in 2019, and opening a storefront and studio in 2022...
An interview with Vanessa Beard
August 26, 2024
art, culture - detroit city
Setting foot into The Barbershop’s larval form on May 24th, I was met with the remnants of what once was, surely, a barbershop. The faded pink walls, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and large basins of granite counter-top which served as pedestals for chemical innovations destined to become groundwater. Despite this tragic beauty, I knew it all had to go, as I was there to meet with founder Jack Jacket to discuss possibilities for the soon-to-be gallery’s first show...
Jackson Gifford
August 19, 2024
literature, culture - detroit city
Property restoration in East Village is the focal point for a project called Little Village, with each of the locations having historically hosted businesses and institutions that were at one time staples of their community...
Ashley Cook
June 4, 2024
architecture, culture - detroit city
Social theorists around the world acknowledge Detroit as a complex place that was once built as a “utopian vision of the future” and now exists as utopia’s perfect antithesis. The city’s time-line has followed the devolution of many cities depicted in science-fiction tales, giving rise to cyberpunk, a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on a future of advanced technological and scientific accomplishments...
Ashley Cook
February 19, 2024
music, culture - detroit city
Delray Beyond Isolation is the story of the quiet loudness on the margins of total existence and economic chaos. A story that speaks of the indestructible spirit and the eternal search for inspiration that facilitates survival...
Karpov
November 6, 2023
culture - detroit city
In Beatrice’s time stewarding Arnold’s, the city of Detroit was re-narrativized at least 10 times, from all sides. It was a wild time to be alive in the world, and a wild world to be trying to make sense within, especially as a young artist...
Beatrice Von Rague Schleyer and Mïï Gunn
October 16, 2023
art, culture - detroit city
When you show up at the coney, expect more than just a meal. Since the first Coney Island opened in 1917 and operated above a speakeasy downtown, Detroit’s working class has grown their reputation into a staple of food culture...
Amelia Gillis
September 11, 2023
culture - detroit city
A series of photographs taken at Hart Plaza during Movement 2023
Marissa Jezak
June 5, 2023
culture - detroit city
Starting today, The Blueprint will be releasing a weekly mix and a profile from residents and family who we feel represent the work we’re trying to do in Detroit; disrupting and realigning the music ecosystem to better support people at the margins, be they woman, black, queer, and othered with a deep appreciation for those who have paved the way. For this first mix, Blueprint resident Blackmoonchild guides you through the sound of a quintessential BP party using all original production and edits.
The Blueprint
May 11, 2023
music, culture - detroit city
The Figure Club of Detroit provides the opportunity to sculpt from life...
An interview with Heather Anger and Rich Wiquist
January 30, 2023
art, culture - detroit city
The suburbs of River Rouge are situated between the Marathon oil refinery and the highly industrialized Zug Island located on the Detroit River; this makes the area one of the most polluted zip codes in the country...
Samuel Gulliver
November 21, 2022
culture - detroit city
With over 40 books in print, many of them sold out, there seems to be a vast array of different artists included in the Rotland Press collection, however there is a consistency in its visual and literary aesthetic, “mordant amusement and exuberant despair”...
An interview with Ryan Standfest
November 7, 2022
culture, literature - detroit city
On September 23, 2022, the exhibition With a Flick of a Tale opened at Loner, an unconventional exhibition space in Paris located in the attic above the apartment of Gilles Jacot, who directs and curates for the space. As a collaborative project between Linda Voorwinde and Ashley Cook, the show served as a recollection of a series of chaotic events in Detroit and Hamtramck that happened 5 years ago in 2017...
Linda Voorwinde and Ashley Cook
October 27, 2022
art, culture - detroit city, central europe
At Hearse Fest, one of the largest gatherings of funeral car aficionados in the country, one thing is clear, death is coming for us all. When it shows up, with its cold glare and hungry scythe, you might finally get to catch a ride...
Niki Williams
October 17, 2022
culture - great lakes region
A series of photographs taken on Belle Isle during the Detroit Kite Festival...
Daniel Ribar
September 12, 2022
culture - detroit city
‘A flower from home’ encourages discovery and learning through seasonal flora. Detroit-based foraging repurposes ephemera from the home garden, neighborhood alleys, abandoned lots, and landscaping debris to floral arrangements with sustainable and local material. Through a ‘gardener first’ floral mentality, native seedpods, fruits, foraged invasives, and lichen covered branches challenge what we consider beautiful.
Zoë Davis
August 8, 2022
culture - detroit city
A series of photographs taken at Hart Plaza in Detroit during Movement Electronic Music Festival 2022
Daniel Ribar
July 18, 2022
culture - detroit city
These five artists and curators decided to come together with a commitment to create platforms for their peers on the margins through as many ways as possible. Since 2017, they have organized talks, exhibitions, performances, workshops, publications as well as participated in already established initiatives around Detroit, the United States, and abroad...
Ashley Cook
May 2, 2022
art, culture - detroit city
The history of art in Detroit encompasses the story of C-Pop, an exhibition space that started when Michael Lask responded to Rick Manore's ad in The Metro Times about old concert posters...
Michael Lask and Rick Manore, narrated by Ashley Cook
April 18, 2022
art, culture - detroit city
B_KS@ is a Detroit-based bookstore that sources rare and high-quality magazines and books from around the world, offering locals the opportunity to access and acquire them in person...
A conversation between Ruben Cardenas and Ashley Cook
March 14, 2022
culture - detroit city
The heydays of the auto industry certainly led to Detroit being recognized as the Motor City. At that point, a new term called Fordism took over the world, which eventually led to the most recent one, which may not yet be completely known and defined - Detroitism...
Katarina Dačić
December 13, 2021
culture - detroit city
Planet Ant Theatre is a true survivor and no stranger to the many obstacles that face a non-profit community of creatives striving toward a common goal. After more than 25 years in operation, the Ant boasts the longest running improv comedy show in the Detroit area...
Matthew Copeland
November 8, 2021
theater, culture - detroit city