Detroit’s ‘Ice House’ turns depressing blight into glistening art

So maybe this is what Gov. Jennifer Granholm means when she talks about the “terrible beauty” afflicting many parts of Michigan these days?

In a struggling Detroit neighborhood, a photographer and an architect have focused their creative powers on encasing a dilapidated two-story home in ice as a way way to draw attention to…. the city’s chronic home foreclosure problem. Or maybe just a shiny distraction from it. The unusual stab at urban public art is attracting attention ranging from local news outlets to the venerable BBC and several blogs in between.

Gregory Holm, the photographer and former resident of Detroit, and Matthew Radune, a New York architect, selected the house from the state’s land bank. They did so with official approval after the duo agreed to an act of transactional charity: They agreed to pay back taxes on another foreclosed home so that a Detroiter in need of housing was able to take up residence in that house.

In the video posted on the BBC’s website, Hold describes the project as a “tool for inspiration.”

Using heavy-duty water hoses, both men have sprayed who-knows-how-many gallons of water on the house for over two weeks. Later this week, they plan to crank up the glistening work of art by flooding it with lights. They told the Detroit News that the location will be made public on Sunday.