Revamped DIA tells stories in new ways
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By ASHLEY WOODS Special to The Oakland Press
The Detroit Institute of Arts is poised to reintroduce itself as a world-class art museum when it opens its doors to the public Friday.
More than six years of renovation added 30 percent more gallery space to the museum, at an expense of $158 million. A new marble exterior glows in the sunshine, and a newly designed entrance on John R Street will serve tour groups. The Van Goghs and Rubenses, removed from storage, are as glorious as ever.
What’s more, the DIA staff installed more than 5,000 pieces of art in new areas of
the museum. The original theme-based galleries, with names such as “Splendour by the Hour” and “Grand Tour of Italy,” express the DIA’s hope to capture the imagination of the public.
“We’re the largest significant institution to make this kind of break,” said DIA Director Graham W.J. Beal, who led the transformation. “We’re trying to rethink those relationships between the art and the audience.”
“Splendour By the Hour” will allow visitors to picture a day in the life of 16th and 17th century Northern European aristocrats. It was life, as one sign notes, filled with fourhour lunches, feverish spending sprees and little responsibility.
Paintings, sculptures, vases, furniture, china and tapestries are collected together for perusal.
“Most of these objects were requested by someone, hundreds of years ago, for a reason,” Beal said. “There’s human reason for this artistry. Now, they can look at the stories that come from the works of art themselves.”
Visitors can imagine themselves at a languorous French luncheon when they take a seat at the virtual dining table. At the press of a button, servants in grey uniforms and caps set virtual courses in front of the viewer. A first course of steamed stuffed artichokes in butter sauce is followed by a massive roast pig. Prompts on the screen point the viewer’s attention to the porcelain dishes used for serving, identical to the dishes behind glass cases in the gallery.
The galleries also became more kid-friendly with the inclusion of new features such as “Eye Spy.” A visual clue, such as a a drum, is shown on a sign. Lifting the picture, a text clue is offered. “A young boy keeps rhythm by tapping my top/Creating sounds of rata-tat.” Kids can search through the gallery for the mysterious object, which appears in a painting of a 17th century French drummer boy.
“We made the ‘Eye Spy’ game for kids, but every adult I’ve taken through the galleries so far plays, too,” DIA Public relations Manager Pamela Marcil said.
Also new to the galleries are multiple viewpoint labels. Visitors can browse three different interpretations by leading scholars of selected pieces.
“It’s to show the general public that there are so many different ways to access art,” Marcil said. “If you’re a connoisseur, and you’re here to look at art, it won’t get in your way.”
“It’s the kind of thing that makes specialists cringe,” Beal said of the user-friendly galleries. The DIA staff teamed up with curators and educators from around the country to rewrite explanatory labels for visitors; most of whom, as Beal noted dryly, “lack an art history degree.” Signs showing art words, like “neoclassicism,” include phonetic pronunciations and simple definitions. “It’s one more way to bring art to the masses,” Beal said.
That visitor-friendly approach also extends to the museum’s architecture.
The DIA was “an astonishingly difficult place to get around,” Beal said. The original museum was built in 1927, and the north and south wings had not been renovated since the 1960s. Architect Michael Graves and the Smith Group in Detroit teamed up to make the museum walkable. The construction includes “spines,” as Beal called them; two massive corridors running north-south through the building, which serve as concourses for museum guests.
“If we make the building easy to get around,” Beal said, “we’re bringing the art and the people together.”
The architects removed the black granite, some of which was falling off the walls, from the north and south wings. Insulation, vapor barriers, and triple-pane glazing on windows were added to protect the art.
“People used to say that we were heating the Cultural Center in the winter, and cooling it in the summer,” Beal joked. He said he hopes the innovation will result in lower energy bills for the building.
The Kresge Court, once home to the DIA’s cafeteria, is now revised as a space for groups and events. DIA staff said it will be available for weddings in the future. A new cafeteria space will serve up museum favorites such as soups and sandwiches, along with Mediterranean fare and sushi. The museum shop also was expanded.
The DIA will open with an official grand opening ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday at the Woodward entrance. For 32 hours, the museum will offer free admission to visitors. Dancers, live jazz, local artists, and a basket weaver will be on hand to complete the experience, as well as griots, which are traditional African storytellers.
Yoga classes and fencing demonstrations also will be offered. “Art After Hours” kicks in from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. with DJs, Coney dogs and slider burgers.
