The Heidelberg Project

The Heidelberg Project, founded in 1986 by artist Tyree Guyton, is an outdoor art project consisting of decorated, painted houses and found-art sculptures on Detroit’s Heidelberg Street. The project was created as a personal response to the Detroit Riots of 1967, and is in part a political protest. Guyton purchased many of the houses on this street (his childhood neighborhood) in attempts to transform it through art and community programs. The Heidelberg Project revolutionized the neighborhood, turning it into a safer environment, and has been the talk of the Detroit and national art scenes for decades.