The future of Detroit, appearing extremely bleak at the moment, is inescapably linked to the fortunes of its automobile companies. And it seems the fate of the automobile companies is also linked to who the next president is going to be.

In a recent interview with NBC News, Barack Obama was asked, “Does America need American car companies?”

“I think we do need American cars,” Obama answered. “We started the auto industry. We revolutionized the auto industry again and again and again. And it built our middle class. It was the core of our manufacturing base for decades. The notion that we can’t compete in an industry that we created I think is you know, unacceptable.”

“You’ve got an entire Midwest, Ohio, Michigan, big chunks of Indiana, parts of my home state of Illinois, that the entire fabric of those states’ economies are built around the auto industry. So we can’t just say we’re gonna wash our hands of the industry.”

“What I’ve said starting at the beginning of this campaign, I went to Detroit and took some heat for saying it, is we will provide you loan guarantees. We will provide you with the resources you need to retool. We’ll help you with some of your legacy costs in terms of healthcare and pension costs for your workers. But in exchange, that money has to be reinvested in creating the high energy, the high-efficiency cars of the future.”

Only 24 hours till the future…

The Heartland exhibtion has been opened on the 4th of October. The last two weeks of installing and working intensively together with the artists, most of which could come to share with us the pleasureable moment of the opening, were fantastic. The opening was a great day in which we were able to show the public eye what we, as curators, organizers, museum staff, artists, musicians, cultural institutions and others involved in the process have accomplished in the last two years of intensive research and collaboration. We would like to say Thank You to all the people that we have met throughout our research travels so far - your hospitality and insights about the Heartland as well as your engagement and participation in the process was inspiring and made it possible to realize this large-scale interdisciplinary exhibition project.

All of you who did not yet have a chance to visit the exhibition, come and visit us at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven to experience Heartland yourself, as Regine Debatty did from blogging about her visit in the museum: we make money not art.

Hard to believe, but only a couple of more days and the political future of the United States and therefore the next US president will be elected. This elected person is not only going to be the president of the United States, but also the person upfront dealing with the affects of the economical crisis.

The day after, if you want to discuss the election with us, you should come to our election brunch on the 5th of November in the museum.

Workshop outline

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After practicing driving in the parking lot behind my house, I started to venture out to other parking lots in the area. The following pictures are a selection of the booths I came upon in these lots, mostly deserted, but not always. The booths were interesting to me as reminders of the perceived need for security—and the actuality of a financial insecurity, which long evident in Detroit is beginning to make itself felt all over the United States.

Jaswant & Shamsher, Detroit - 2008

Khan, Detroit - 2008