Mobile Homestead (2011)

Mobile Homestead is a public artwork by Mike Kelley consisting of a fullscale replica of his childhood home in the Detroit suburb of Westland built upon a complex of secret subterranean tunnels and rooms Located on the grounds of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit MOCAD in Downtown Detroit the sculpture functions as a community gallery with a removable street legal façade that is mobilized periodically to provide various public services in and around the city Three Mobile Homestead videos document the maiden voyage of the mobile façades journey from MOCAD to Kelleys childhood neighborhood and back again in 2010 What emerges is a poignant portrait of the postrecession Motor City speaking to the citys cultural diversity history and socioeconomic stratification and detailing local establishments that run the gamut from a motorthemed strip club to the Henry Ford Museum