As part of the 2016 programme ‘Collective Intention: Affirmative visions from communes, collectives and cults' Horse Hospital presents a celebration of the cultural roots of Detroit.

The short-lived Red Door Gallery (1963) and Detroit Artists Workshop Society were the first serious alternative, DIY, avant garde, co-op galleries to exist in the city of Detroit. The Artists Workshop Society was an artist run collective founded on November 1st, 1964, by John Sinclair, Magdalene Arndt (Leni Sinclair), Charles Moore, Robin Eichele, George Tysh, and ten others, who rented a house as a gallery and performance space on the campus of Wayne State University. They also produced their own books, journals and workshops. Through their various DIY ventures they introduced visiting avant-garde poets and musicians to Detroit, many for the first time.

This small independent and interracial group of poets, artists, and musicians were the seeds that would inspire a cultural revolution in Detroit, whose branches extended beyond its borders. This influence would find its way into jazz, psychedelic rock, heavy metal, noise and other experimental music, as well as poetry and the growth of Detroit’s new alternative presses.

A collection of book reprints, interviews, postcards and artefacts from The Work Box: A Commemorative Collection from the Detroit Artists Workshop will be available during this starkly unique exhibition curated by Cary Loren.