OVERVIEW

EARLY ARRIVALS

Welcome to the Motor City!

Our program officially begins on Thursday, September 25 at 2 PM, but you can get a head start on Detroit’s offerings with a few suggestions. Please arrange for your own transportation and use the WhatsApp channel to meet up with fellow travelers.

Getting started at your own pace…

For rest //
Schvitz Detroit
Open to guests since 1930, The Schvitz is Detroit's original urban health club and the only historic bathhouse left in the city. Hours vary, check the website to make a reservation.
schvitzdetroit.com

For art //
Detroit Institute of Arts Museum
Largely considered one of the top 10 encyclopedic museums in the country with over 65,000 works. Open as early as 9 AM.
dia.org

For food //
Selden Standard
Facts: “At Detroit's Selden Standard, chef Andy Hollyday nails a thoughtful menu filled with local vegetable dishes, fun pastas, and great grilled chicken.”
seldenstandard.com

For a speakeasy //
Bad Luck Bar
Where everything is polished and intimate. The interior is dark and cinematic, lit by candlelight and amber tones that create a luxurious, moody atmosphere.
badluckbar.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
PROLOGUE

5:20 PM
Library Street Collective
Meet up in the lobby of The Siren to visit Library Street Collective and sister gallery Louis Buhl & Co. nearby. On view is the first solo exhibition of Detroit-based artist James Benjamin Franklin.
lscgallery.com

AFTER
Drinks at Candy Bar
The Siren
Wurlitzer Building
1509 Broadway St.,
Detroit, MI 48226

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

1:45 PM
Meet our host hotel for transportation to Season fair
The Siren
1509 Broadway St.,
Detroit, MI 48226

Group transport 15 minutes

2—3:45 PM
Season fair
Soho House VIP Preview
Michigan Central Station
2001 15th St.,
Detroit, MI 48216

Group transport 45 minutes

4:30—6 PM
Cranbrook Art Museum
Behind-the-scenes & collections tour
39221 Woodward Ave.,
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Have you ever wondered where all of the artwork lives when it’s not on display? Or thought about how it is moved from place to place? Cranbrook’s Collections Wing opened in late 2011, making it one of the first museums in the world to allow public access to its storage facilities. Read about it in the NY Times.

Group transport returns to The Siren.

Rideshare from The Siren (approx. 6 min ride) and/or meet up at Vecino’s for dinner. Travelers staying at hotels outside The Siren should meet directly at the restaurant for ease.

8 PM
Dinner at Vecino
4100 3rd Ave.,
Detroit, MI 48201
A Relaxed, high-end eatery serving contemporary Mexican fare cooked over open flames, plus wine and cocktails. Family style, $75pp + beverages, taxes, and gratuity. For ease, Commissioner will pay the bill and can be reimbursed via Venmo/Zelle per person.
vecinodetroit.com

AFTER—midnight
Off-Season After Party
Periodicals
4892 Grand River Ave.,
Detroit, MI 48208

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

10 AM
Meet up at The Siren for an inspiring day with artists, curators, and organizers who are working in the full spectrum of the art world multiverse—more on that when we see each other—and collecting art on their own terms. Please dress for comfort as we have a full itinerary of activities that will inspire you. Transport leaves at 9:40 AM.

Group transport 15—20 min

10:30—11 AM
Pastries & coffee with Asia Hamilton and Toni Moceri
WARDA at The Shepard
1265 Parkview St.,
Detroit, MI 48214
Learn more about Asia Hamilton’s incredible story here, and meet Toni Moceri, a Commissioner member and executive director of Allied Media Projects—a generative organization is championing meaningful ecosystem work for media liberation. Cherry on top: treats from the James Beard Award Winning pâtisserie, focused on local ingredients with global flavors and techniques inspired by travels and lifetimes in Algeria, France, and Asia.

11 AM—12 PM
Seen/Scene: Artwork from the Jennifer Gilbert Collection
The Shepard
Curated by Laura Mott, Chief Curator at Cranbrook, and artist Nick Cave. The title of the exhibition—Seen/Scene—nods to the thematic focus on portraiture and also an homage to Cave’s epic and culture-changing Detroit project “Here Hear” presented throughout the city a decade ago. The official opening is October 5 so please pardon the dust that often comes with an early view.
lscgallery.com

Group transport 15 min

12:15—1 PM
Unit 1 &
Studios of Anders Ruhwald and Jova Lynne
3583 Dubois St.,
Detroit, Michigan 48207
Be transported. “Inside the installation Unit 1, the structure and the sense of the interior seems as if it has been raged by fire. On closer inspection, visitors will realize the interior is made out of carefully crafted wood, metal, glass, and glazed ceramic. This dream-like portal embraces the transformative qualities of fire as destructive and constructive in relation to the domestic and intimate.” 
andersruhwald.com/unit-1
jova-lynne

Group transport 10-15 min

1:30—3:45 PM
Lunch & collector home tour with
The Whitakers
Private Residence
”Detroit’s rich and vibrant visual arts scene owes a lot to those who collect and preserve local works, and one couple has taken that mission a step further, nurturing young talent even as they honor past greats.” We can’t wait to introduce you to the Whitakers. Read the full article in the Detroit Free Press.

Group transport 10-15 min

4—8 PM
Romeo Okwara at Middle Gray Photography Residency
Off-Season program
1548 Belvedere St.,
Detroit, MI 48214
Okwara’s nonprofit photography residency is where much of the former New York Giants and Detroit Lions’ collection lives. He found his two great loves in college: football and fine art. Read more about our host in architecturaldigest.com.

Stay at Middle Gray as little or as long as you like. Rideshare from there and meet up for dinner at Barda restaurant at 8 PM. We’ll use WhatsApp to carpool and coordinate.

8 PM
Dinner at Barda
4842 Grand River Ave.,
Detroit, MI 48208
A neo steakhouse—with pescatarian and vegetarian-friendly options—for adventurous diners. Here, ancestral live-fire cooking takes center stage under the warm neon glow. Family style, approx. $75—$90pp + beverages, taxes, and gratuity. For ease, Commissioner will pay the bill and can be reimbursed via Venmo/Zelle per person.
bardadetroit.com

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

9:30 AM
Meet at The Siren for our second full day of activities, including a panel conversations, studio visits, and walking tours—the whole ecology of art encounters!

Group transport 15 minutes

9:45—10:15 AM
Tyrrell Winston and Scott Hocking Studio Visit Brunch
Off-Season program
Stanton Yards
9666 E. Jefferson Ave.,
Detroit, MI 48214
Presented by Library Street Collective and Season, enjoy a private studio visit with Scott Hocking and Tyrrell Winston as part of the fair’s VIP Off Season programming. Coffee and light bites from James Beard award-winning WARDA patisserie will be served.

Group transport 15-20 minutes

10:30—11:30 AM
In the Life: Black Queerness Looking Back, Moving Forward
Private Tour led by Wayne Northcross and Patrick Burton
The Carr Center Contemporary
15 E Kirby St.,
Detroit, MI 48202
”Spanning artists from the past 75 years, the exhibit takes its name from the phrase ‘in the life,’ a coded way of identifying Queerness rooted in Harlem’s Black Queer community from the early 20th century.” Read the full article at detroitnews.com.

Group transport 10 minutes to lunch. Or, skip pizza and get a rideshare directly to Season to catch some talks. Scroll below for Saturday’s panel conversation schedule or visit the website.

12—1:30 PM
Lunch at Supino Pizzeria
6519 Woodward Ave.,
Detroit, MI 48202
Authentically east coast style pizza. Order à la carte.

Group transport 10-15 minutes

2—3 PM
Season Talks
Who Is the Art World For? with Dejha Carrington, Allison Glenn, Akua Hill, Christian Rattemeyer
Michigan Central Station
2001 15th St.,
Detroit, MI 48216
This panel invites a critical examination of access, equity, and power within the structures of the contemporary art world. Through the perspectives of gallerists and cultural workers, the conversation will interrogate who benefits from existing systems and remains excluded. Topics will include gatekeeping in institutions and markets, the role of education and social capital, and emerging strategies for building a more inclusive and accountable art ecosystem. Panelists will reflect on how the art world might be reimagined to better serve its publics.

Stay for more talks at Michigan Central, rest and replenish, or keep the party going with a visit to the innovative Bulk Space and a walking tour with editorial photographer Bre’Ann White. Rideshare 9—15 minutes.

3:45–5 PM
Bulk Space with Jessica Allie
& walking photo tour with Bre’Ann White
2857 E Grand Blvd., Unit 101,
Detroit, MI 48202
bulk-space.com

Rideshare from The Siren and/or meet up at Periodicals for Commissioner’s rolling community dinner. Travelers staying at hotels outside The Siren should go directly at the venue for ease.

Running early? Pop-in to Materià nearby for some pre-dinner design inspo. It’s only a 3 minute-walk from Periodicals.
4725 16th St Unit B,
Detroit, MI 48208
materia-art.com

7—10 PM
Commissioner Season Dinner
Periodicals
4892 Grand River Ave.,
Detroit, MI 48208
A casual dinner that begins intimate with Commissioner peeps and invited guests, and grows with artists, arts workers, and industry over time. Think of it as a rolling gathering for exchange, to decompress, and to chill out after an active few days of artgoing.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
EPILOGUE

Our Commissioner program may be over, but it’s still Season! Enjoy Sunday brunch, within walking distance of The Siren hotel.

10:30 AM—12:30 PM
Season Brunch, hosted by Wilson Chandler
Off-Season program
Xhibition
1251 Griswold St.,
Detroit, MI 48226

12—6 PM
Season
Michigan Central Station
2001 15th Street
Detroit, MI 48216
Catch the last of the fair and seriously consider taking home that artwork you had your eye on…

SATURDAY SEASON TALKS SCHEDULE

12—12:45 PM
Detroit as Curator / Kelly Kivland, Taylor Renee Aldridge, Neil Barclay, Katie Pfohl

1—1:45 PM
Collecting Outside the Coasts / Julie Rosthstein, Wilson Chandler, JJ Curis, Gretchen Gonzales Davidson, Nathan Mersereau

2—2:45 PM
Who is the Art World For? / Dejha Carrington, Allison Glenn, Akua Hill, Christian Rattemeyer

3—3:45 PM
Beyond Praise: Rethinking Criticism in Communities of Color / Taylor Renee Aldridge, Camille G. Bacon, Devin T. Mays, Seph Rodney

4—4:45 PM
Reimaging the Artist’s Economy / Mario Moore, Amna Asghar, Davariz Broaden, Jamea Richmond-Edwards