COURTESY JTG DETROIT PROJECT
Culture Lab Detroit, a nonprofit that facilitates socially-minded dialogue, has announced its fifth annual discussion series for two sites in the Motor City on October 5-6. This year’s panelists—including the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Hilton Als as well as artists Martine Syms, Mel Chin, Coco Fusco, and more—will engage in two separate discussions addressing the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year for 2016: “Post-Truth.”
The all-too-familiar term “Alternative Facts” provides the title of the first night’s dialogue, at the former film production house known as the Jam Handy. The talk will feature Syms in conversation with fellow artist and filmmaker Edgar Arceneaux as well as the architects Christopher and Dominic Leong, founders of Leong Leong design studio. Juanita Moore, president of the the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, will serve as moderator.
“The Lie That Tells the Truth” is the title of the second night’s discussion, at the repurposed 50,000-square-foot Woods Cathedral. For that talk, Als will be joined by Chin and Fusco as they, according to a statement, unpack the “border between art and reality” at a time when “the lines between the real and the unreal are more volatile than ever.” Deana Haggag,United States Artists’ president and CEO, will moderate.
Culture Lab Detroit founder Jane Schulak said that these participants “represent a diversity of creative practices. They are well-equipped to discuss the complexities of this contemporary moment, and we’re thrilled to welcome them here to Detroit for this globally relevant conversation.”