Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit
Encyclopedia
The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit or CAID is a community based non-profit organization. CAID fosters and promotes the link between contemporary art
s and contemporary society through exhibitions, performances, critical and public discourse and the funding of contemporary arts and art related activities.
In 1980, CAID sponsored Exhibition Sites 1, 2, and 3. This show included performance, conceptual and video art at Hart Plaza during the Republican Convention. In 1984, CAID crossed the border to work with Artcite in Windsor. In both 1984 and 1985, CAID sponsored A Road Show, an exhibition that toured a number of Michigan cities, as well as Chicago. A four part lecture series was held at the Detroit Institute of Art in 1989, and again in 1991. In that same year area artists were invited to create art for the Art Time Capsule, buried in Harmonie Park, as well as a plethora of other visual, musical and performance art events throughout the past 26 years.
After little activity during the mid to late 1990s, CAID re-emerged on the Detroit art community in the fall of 2002 with the four-part series LINK. LINK included an exhibition of Detroit-based artists at the Detroit Contemporary gallery, a symposium on Detroit music at Wayne State University
, an electronic-music party called Frequency at the Detroit Contemporary, and Motor City Breakdown, a live-music show at the Magic Stickhttp://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=4326.
In the winter of 2004, CAID presented unCAGEd: the exploration of non-intention, a mixed-medium event based on the theories of John Cage
, presented in collaboration with Ann Arbor's University Musical Society in celebration of a performance by New York's Merce Cunningham
Dance Company. unCAGEd featured a varied group of Detroit and Ann Arbor-based exploratory artists, musicians and performers working/playing in the Cage frame of chance, reflecting the pure energy felt in Cunningham's guided improvisation.
In November 2004, after 25 years of nomadic existence, CAID took up residence at 5141 Rosa Parks Boulevard, in the space formerly occupied by the Detroit Contemporaryhttp://www.thedetroiter.com/nov04/caid.html. The newly remodeled gallery serves as an exhibition and performance space and headquarters for the organization.
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
s and contemporary society through exhibitions, performances, critical and public discourse and the funding of contemporary arts and art related activities.
History
CAID was founded in 1978 by a group of Detroit area artists, including Charles McGee and Jean Heilbrunnhttp://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=8694. In the years since its inception, CAID has existed in several different forms, and has generated many events that have directly supported the arts in Detroit.In 1980, CAID sponsored Exhibition Sites 1, 2, and 3. This show included performance, conceptual and video art at Hart Plaza during the Republican Convention. In 1984, CAID crossed the border to work with Artcite in Windsor. In both 1984 and 1985, CAID sponsored A Road Show, an exhibition that toured a number of Michigan cities, as well as Chicago. A four part lecture series was held at the Detroit Institute of Art in 1989, and again in 1991. In that same year area artists were invited to create art for the Art Time Capsule, buried in Harmonie Park, as well as a plethora of other visual, musical and performance art events throughout the past 26 years.
After little activity during the mid to late 1990s, CAID re-emerged on the Detroit art community in the fall of 2002 with the four-part series LINK. LINK included an exhibition of Detroit-based artists at the Detroit Contemporary gallery, a symposium on Detroit music at Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
, an electronic-music party called Frequency at the Detroit Contemporary, and Motor City Breakdown, a live-music show at the Magic Stickhttp://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=4326.
In the winter of 2004, CAID presented unCAGEd: the exploration of non-intention, a mixed-medium event based on the theories of John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, presented in collaboration with Ann Arbor's University Musical Society in celebration of a performance by New York's Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
Dance Company. unCAGEd featured a varied group of Detroit and Ann Arbor-based exploratory artists, musicians and performers working/playing in the Cage frame of chance, reflecting the pure energy felt in Cunningham's guided improvisation.
In November 2004, after 25 years of nomadic existence, CAID took up residence at 5141 Rosa Parks Boulevard, in the space formerly occupied by the Detroit Contemporaryhttp://www.thedetroiter.com/nov04/caid.html. The newly remodeled gallery serves as an exhibition and performance space and headquarters for the organization.