MOCAD is pleased to present the United States premiere of Chloë Brown's video work Dancing in the Boardroom (Turnin' My Heartbeat Up) and her large drawing From Alfred Street to Temple Street, Detroit. Dancing in the Boardroom uses the music and dance of Northern Soul to explore issues of class and hierarchy within the post-industrial landscape of Stoke-on-Trent in the United Kingdom, a city once known for the production of ceramics. Shot in the disused Spode ceramics factory, the video explores connections between the post-industrial cities of Stoke-on-Trent and Detroit, and asks: what happens when the economic engines of a city slow down, but the people don't?
Chloë Brown is an artist and Senior Lecturer/Course Leader in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University, living in Sheffield, UK. She has an MA in Sculpture from Chelsea College of Art, London (1994), and a BA in Fine Art from the University of Reading (1987).
The DEPE (Department of Education and Public Engagement) Space residency and exhibition series presents interdisciplinary art that serves as a catalyst for learning and transformative conversation about complex social issues. DEPE Space offers opportunities to reflect upon the personal relevance of these topics and how they relate to communities in Detroit and throughout the world.
Dancing in the Boardroom is supported by the international research project 'Topographies of the Obsolete' and the ADRC at Sheffield Hallam University.
DEPE Space is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the MOCAD Leadership Circle: Jennifer and David Fischer, Linda Dresner and Ed Levy, Marsha and Jeffrey Miro, Roz and Scott Jacobson, Danialle and Peter Karmanos, Sonia and Keith Pomeroy, Sandy Seligman and Gil Glassberg, and, Julie Reyes Taubman and Robert Taubman.
This exhibition has been organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and is curated by Amy Corle, Curator of Education and Public Engagement.
January 14th 2016