“Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and Detroit

Activists in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood have targeted art galleries as a way to protest the area’s gentrification, while Detroit artist Tyree Guyton has drawn praise for his use of connections with local art galleries to broaden the economic impact of his Heidelberg Project. Why were ar...

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Main Author: Aaron Shkuda
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association for American Studies 2023-07-01
Series:European Journal of American Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/19679
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author Aaron Shkuda
author_facet Aaron Shkuda
author_sort Aaron Shkuda
collection DOAJ
description Activists in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood have targeted art galleries as a way to protest the area’s gentrification, while Detroit artist Tyree Guyton has drawn praise for his use of connections with local art galleries to broaden the economic impact of his Heidelberg Project. Why were art galleries criticized for their role in gentrifying Los Angeles, while an arts organization in Detroit was lauded for the way it directed capital investment into a disinvested area of the city? To fully understand the relationship between art and capital in an urban context, one must analyze the specific ways in which art brings capital into a neighborhood within the context of the historic, economic, and the policies that shape neighborhood dynamics. Art is often a metonym for capital, and these case studies demonstrate how the symbolic function of the arts can obscure the precise relationships between art and real estate investment.
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spelling doaj-art-89831e1c7a7d49769dbb8cec269886952025-01-06T09:07:51ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362023-07-0118210.4000/ejas.19679“Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and DetroitAaron ShkudaActivists in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood have targeted art galleries as a way to protest the area’s gentrification, while Detroit artist Tyree Guyton has drawn praise for his use of connections with local art galleries to broaden the economic impact of his Heidelberg Project. Why were art galleries criticized for their role in gentrifying Los Angeles, while an arts organization in Detroit was lauded for the way it directed capital investment into a disinvested area of the city? To fully understand the relationship between art and capital in an urban context, one must analyze the specific ways in which art brings capital into a neighborhood within the context of the historic, economic, and the policies that shape neighborhood dynamics. Art is often a metonym for capital, and these case studies demonstrate how the symbolic function of the arts can obscure the precise relationships between art and real estate investment.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/19679Los Angelesurban planninggentrificationDetroitartistsart galleries
spellingShingle Aaron Shkuda
“Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and Detroit
European Journal of American Studies
Los Angeles
urban planning
gentrification
Detroit
artists
art galleries
title “Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and Detroit
title_full “Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and Detroit
title_fullStr “Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and Detroit
title_full_unstemmed “Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and Detroit
title_short “Out With the Galleries, Out with the Sellouts:” Arts Organizations and Real Estate Investment in Los Angeles and Detroit
title_sort out with the galleries out with the sellouts arts organizations and real estate investment in los angeles and detroit
topic Los Angeles
urban planning
gentrification
Detroit
artists
art galleries
url https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/19679
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