Photo by Ali Elisabeth Lapetina
Flier design/ conception by extraordinaire Sean Yalda featuring A2Z Auto Repair vs. The Mechanics Shop
Photo by Sarah Sidelko
Porous Borders Festival
2015
The Porous Borders Festival (PBF) was a two-day public art festival that took place along the entire border between Hamtramck and Detroit in May 16-17, 2015. Curated by The Hinterlands, PBF used food, dance, pageants, installation, conversation, performance, spectacle, and sports to explore the unique municipal boundary cutting across Michigan’s most internationally diverse zip-code. Visitors and residents viscerally experienced this invisible marker between Detroit and Hamtramck through a celebration of the unique spatial and cultural interactions between these two communities.
All events were walk-able, free and family-friendly. The over 40 participating artists and organizations included: KT Andresky, Maia Asshaq, Bangla School of Music, Ryan Barrett/Lauren Hood, Border Blasters, Alexander Buzzalini, Tom Carey, Halima Cassels, Esteban Castro, James Cornish, Ana Cukovic, Cutter’s Bike Club, Detroit Folk Workshop, Detroit Homeland Security, Detroit Party Marching Band, Detroit Pleasure Society, ditto ditto/Francis Kulikowski/Power House Productions, Ludmila Ferrari/Juan Leal/Félix Zamora, Jessica Frelinghuysen, Victor Ghannam, Oren Goldenberg and Erin Giley, Hamtramck Free School, Hardcore Detroit, A Host of People, Iyengar Yoga Detroit, Emilia Javanica, Amy Kelly/Jay Jurma/Bob St. Thomas/Susan Giradeau, Felani Khatun, Greg Kowalski, Lac La Belle, Andy Malone, Mariachi Juvenil Detroit, Billy Mark, Katie Grace McGowen, Virginia Melnyk, Tess Miller/KEINHAUS, Toby Millman/Andy T, Joel Mockovciak, Marsha Music, Open Eye Theatre/Carrie Morris Arts Productions, Only a Quartet, Public Pool, Casey Rocheteau, Rosie Sharp, Ross Sinclair/Cedri Tai, Gregory Stasiak, Eitan Sussman, The Golden Horns, Upended Teacups, Shoshanna Utchenik, Walter Wasacz, WAWAD, Eleni Zaharapoulos
Organized by Richard Newman, Liza Bielby, Dave Sanders, Billy Mark, Corina Fadel, Shoshanna Utchenik, KT Andresky, Gina Reichert/Power House Productions, Faina Lerman/Popps Packing, Carrie Morris Arts Productions and numerous, numerous volunteers
Check out this beautiful review of the festival by Marsha Music in Infinite Mile.
PBF was a 2013 winner of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge (Detroit) and recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts 2014 Our Town grant as well as support from the Erb Family Foundation.