{"id":8869,"date":"2020-03-30T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T11:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/?p=8869"},"modified":"2020-03-31T13:41:02","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T12:41:02","slug":"chloe-browns-soft-rebellions-the-detroit-dinner-service-and-a-toast-to-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/chloe-browns-soft-rebellions-the-detroit-dinner-service-and-a-toast-to-detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Chlo\u00eb Brown\u2019s \u2018Soft Rebellions\u2019: \u2018The Detroit Dinner Service\u2019 and \u2018A Toast to Detroit\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Welcome to the third in a series of researcher blogs detailing Chlo\u00eb Brown\u2019s Soft Rebellions. See the first here<\/a> and the second here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

About the author<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Chlo\u00eb Brown<\/a> is an artist and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University, 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). She has exhibited internationally over the last 30 years including three international biennials (Istanbul Biennial, Mardin Biennial and the British Ceramics Biennial) with work recently included in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Using a range of media including film, sculpture, book works and drawing, Brown\u2019s research examining the relationship to sociopolitical questions that focus on the post-industrial city from an auto-ethnographic feminist perspective. She has become interested in how acts such as dancing, eating and applauding can be seen as a playful subversion, a form of liberation. This was explored in her exhibition \u2018Dancing in the Boardroom\u2019 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) from January 15th to April 24th 2016 and has gone on to inform her ongoing research and practice.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The Detroit Dinner Service<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This subtly subversive event\/performance took place in one of the Lodges in the Masonic Temple in Detroit on the 4th of April 2016. The event comprised of a dinner party for 12 inspirational women \u2013 women who are responding to the negative situation in Detroit with positivity and creativity \u2013 and centred on a meal prepared by the Detroit-based chef and food activist Alison Heeres<\/a>. The choice of location for the dinner party is significant \u2013 it took place in Palestine Lodge that included Henry Ford in its\u2019 membership as well as other key figures of the industrial patriarchy in Detroit. The dinner-party-as-art questions the failure of this hidden exclusively male power in relation to the severe situation the city finds itself in, through an event that is exclusively female, in order to draw attention to the largely Do-It-Yourself initiatives that these women are developing, in response to this situation.<\/p>\n

The guests included artists, poets, activists, filmmakers, urban farmers, journalists, writers, the founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit<\/a> (MOCAD), Marsha Miro and the world famous Motown singer Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas. The guest list was also designed to reflect the current demographic of Detroit, with a population of approximately 80% people of colour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The meal was served on a bone china 36-piece dinner service that I designed, also entitled \u2018The Detroit Dinner Service\u2019<\/em>. Made in Stoke-on-Trent, it uses my drawing \u2018From Alfred Street to Temple Street, Detroit\u2019<\/em> to decorate the dinner service, referencing the traditional use of images of classical ruins on china tableware. The set used during the dinner party is now in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts<\/a> (DIA).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Each woman was given an apron to wear throughout the meal that referenced the ceremonial regalia worn by freemasons. Rather than being made of leather, (the freemasons preferred material), I made the aprons from fine white linen, decorated with purple and green ribbons, the colours of the suffragettes.<\/p>\n

\n

A Toast to Detroit<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

During the evening the women were asked to deliver a \u2018Toast to Detroit\u2019. Audio recordings of each toast were made and the production of \u2018A Toast to Detroit\u2019<\/em> as a 12-track vinyl LP record, one track per \u2018Toast\u2019, represents the only document of the event that took place. Since it is a limited edition artefact this allows the work, and therefore the idea, and ultimately the voices of the women involved, to be disseminated to an audience outside the event itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Martha Reeves delivering ‘A Toast to Detroit’<\/p><\/div>\n

I see the originality of the research in its interdisciplinary approach to the field of artistic research and place making, through a unique methodology that examines the role of community as a narrative voice in order to contribute and communicate new perspectives on how we constitute identity. The research situates itself in relation to particular works that examine the role of the female voice in narrative identity, particularly in relation to Judy Chicago<\/a>\u2019s seminal \u2018The Dinner Party\u2019<\/em> 1974-79. \u2018The Detroit Dinner Service\u2019<\/em> event sought also to highlight and question a number of historical and current issues relating to Detroit as a post-industrial city, echoing the experience of many post-industrial cities throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The guests included:<\/p>\n

Halima Cassells\u00a0<\/a>Artist and activist; <\/em>Imani Foster Urban farmer; <\/em>Kim Kozlowski Journalist at The Detroit News and literacy activist; <\/em>Cornetta Lane Community activist at Pedal to Porch;<\/i> Faina Lerman Artist and founder of Popps Packing;<\/em> Tiff Massey<\/a> Sculptor, rapper, designer; <\/em>Marsha Miro Art critic and founder of MOCAD; <\/em>Marsha Music Writer and Detroit advocate;<\/i> Rola Nashef Filmmaker;<\/i> Tawana Petty Poet;<\/i> Martha Reeves Musician and ex Detroit City Councillor; <\/em>Lori Sanders Literacy activist.<\/em><\/p>\n

Other participants:<\/p>\n

Alison Heeres<\/a> Chef and food activist; <\/em>Gwen Meyer Urban farmer; <\/em>Christina deRoos Host, artist and deputy director of Kresge Arts in Detroit and former co-director of Spread Art;<\/i> Grace Higgins Brown Artist;<\/i> Chlo\u00eb Brown<\/a> Artist.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the third in a series of researcher blogs detailing Chlo\u00eb Brown\u2019s Soft Rebellions. See the first here and the second here. About the author Chlo\u00eb Brown is an artist and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. She has an MA in Sculpture from Chelsea College of Art, London (1994), and a BA in Fine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12068,"featured_media":8871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[5,1493,161,494,162],"class_list":["post-8869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-researcher-blog","tag-art-and-design-research-centre","tag-adrc-design-journal","tag-chloe-brown","tag-detroit","tag-soft-rebellion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2020\/03\/detroit-dinner-service.png?fit=890%2C293&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8oFHo-2j3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8854,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/chloe-browns-soft-rebellions-from-alfred-street-to-temple-street-detroit-and-dancing-in-the-street\/","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":0},"title":"Chlo\u00eb Brown\u2019s \u2018Soft Rebellions\u2019: \u2018From Alfred Street to Temple Street, Detroit\u2019 and \u2018Dancing in the Street\u2019","author":"Laura Hetherington","date":"16\/03\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the second in a series of researcher blogs detailing Chlo\u00eb Brown\u2019s Soft Rebellions. 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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). She has exhibited internationally over the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Researcher blog"","block_context":{"text":"Researcher blog","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/researcher-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2020\/03\/soft-rebellions-chloe-brown.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2020\/03\/soft-rebellions-chloe-brown.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2020\/03\/soft-rebellions-chloe-brown.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2020\/03\/soft-rebellions-chloe-brown.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7341,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/chloe-brown-soft-rebellion-corridor8\/","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":2},"title":"Chlo\u00eb Brown’s\u00a0‘A Soft Rebellion in Paradise’ reviewed in Corridor8","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"26\/06\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A Soft Rebellion in Paradise\u00a0is a new short film by artist and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art\u00a0Chlo\u00eb Brown. The film was shot on location in Sheffield's Paradise Square and being internationally premiered in the form of an outdoor screening in partnership with\u00a0Sheffield Doc\/Fest\u00a0on Saturday 08\u00a0June 2019, in the Square itself.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Soft Rebellion in Paradise","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7083,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/premiere-soft-rebellion-paradise-chloe-brown\/","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":3},"title":"Saturday 8 June 2019 – A Soft Rebellion in Paradise – The International Premiere of a film by Chlo\u00eb Brown","author":"Kirsty Christer","date":"17\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"For one day this spring, Sheffield\u2019s historic Paradise Square is set to transform into an art gallery for a major outdoor screening event as part of Sheffield Doc\/Fest. A Soft Rebellion in Paradise, a new short film by artist and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art\u00a0Chlo\u00eb Brown shot on location in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Soft Rebellion in Paradise","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2019\/05\/Soft-Rebellion-in-Paradise.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":694,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/research-seminar-chloe-brown\/","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":4},"title":"Tuesday 15 November 2016 – Lunchtime seminar with Chlo\u00eb Brown (Fine Art, SHU)","author":"Alison Honnor","date":"15\/11\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Speaker: Chlo\u00eb Brown (Fine Art) Title: The Soft Rebellion Since August 2015 researcher and senior lecturer Chlo\u00eb Brown has been visiting and working in the US city of Detroit to conduct her on-going practice-based research into what she terms \u2018soft rebellions\u2019. 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