A public ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on Thursday, September 6, 2018 to celebrate the installation of an energy-generating windmill outside of Eastern Market’s Shed 5. On Friday, August 24, 2018, Detroit-based metalsmithing workshop CAN Art Handworks worked with Eastern Market Corporation and a diverse team of experts and volunteers to install the windmill. Soon it will power a charging station where visitors to the market can charge their cell phones and other electronic devices.
At the ceremony, which will start at 10:30 am, Carlos Nielbock, CAN Art Handworks President & CEO, Dan Carmody, President of Eastern Market Corporation, professors from University of Michigan Dearborn and community supporters of the Detroit Windmill Project will gather to celebrate the successful installation of the first of two windmills to be installed at Eastern Market.
The second windmill will generate energy for a weather station for the Detroit Market Garden at Wilkins and Orleans. Both windmills were made from reclaimed or ‘upcycled’ materials and serve as functional public art that will help visitors to the Eastern Market visualize the potential to use existing materials to build green technology to power solutions for Detroit’s energy needs.
Installing the windmills is the first step towards a larger vision implementing upcycling and green energy projects in Detroit. CAN Art Handworks, Eastern Market Corporation and researchers from University of Michigan-Dearborn are partnering to assess the feasibility of scaling up the project.
The Detroit Windmill Project has been made through the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge, which funds ideas that engage and enrich Detroit through the arts, and a matching grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Public Spaces Community Places initiative.
For more information about the ribbon-cutting ceremony or Detroit Windmill Project, contact Paul Draus at draus@umich.eduor Janai Gilmore at 313-444-9317 orjanai.canarthandworks@gmail.com.
