An empty house from Stoepel Street 20194, Detroit, is now in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In this article for The Guardian, artist Ryan Mendoza describes his impetus and process for translocating a worn, abandoned former family home from one continent to another – as well as the statement he hoped to make. "When I arrived in Detroit in March 2015 I realised that this city – in the country I had left in 1992 out of distaste for its nationalistic, isolationist, police-dog mentality and its privatised prison system, [...] had, aside from the positive developments that were mostly in the downtown area, begun to look like a war zone."
When the house got to Rotterdam on 5 February 2016, it was windy and rainy. I wanted the house to be white. I had to protect the memories and cover up the ruin porn. I had to reflect the gaze of the porn-mining onlookers so that the memories and the love would be preserved. I painted the house in the rain to see the paint wash off the roof time and again, until it finally stuck.
Read the article in full, here.
