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Open
House
For more than fifteen
years, Guyton has worked at the Heidelberg
Project, an ongoing public art installation
where he reclaims neglected houses in
a Detroit neighborhood. For Open House,
Guyton has erected a building reminiscent
of local houses. Campaign posters, newspapers,
toys, brightly painted shoes, and other
found objects attached to the black skeletal
frame define the house’s form; they
allude to society’s cast-offs and
the necessity of "making do."
Inside is a model of the White House,
decorated with Guyton’s trademark
polka dots and capped with a painted shoe.
A soundtrack written
and engineered by Alfonzia Maclin emanates
from inside, with religious and philosophical
statements punctuating Detroit music and
city noises. The audio environment challenges
conventional values with the refrain of
Marvin Gaye’s Motown recording "What’s
Going On?" and conveys the idea that
our collective moral emptiness is masked
by the slogans and artifacts of popular
and dominant culture. Yet at the same
time, the soundtrack infuses the installation
with a sense of hope.
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