Dirty Show

Adventure: The Dirty Show
Place: Detroit
People: Shannon, Joe
Cost: $$

Lets do the time warp…. ok this adventure was from a couple months back but I think it is blog worthy.

When you think of Valentines day what typically comes to mind heart shaped boxes of chocolate, Fluffy teddy bears, love, romance…. sex? Well that’s what Detroit thinks about, for the past couple years during the month of February there is an International Art Exhibit for the wild at heart called “ The Dirty Show”

            The exhibit features both Media art and performance art. I have heard about this exhibit from some of my more adventurous friends that have gone in years past and decided that this year it was time for me to go and check out what all the buzz was about.

The exhibit is held in a warehouse that features a stage and 2 bar areas.

 It was a little pricey to get in but people were lined up around the corner to get in regardless.

Now I am a very open minded person and I say to each there own as long as they are happy, and I was surprised at all the different “ types” of people that were in the crowd. I felt like one of the plain Jane types in just my jeans and t-shirt. But there were couples that looked like Mr.& Mrs. Jones from down the street, there were a few people I would be scared to run into in a dark alley and they there were the more open people who had 2 or 3 girls on their arm. The thing I really like about the atmosphere was it seemed as though everyone was relaxed and enjoying himself or herself no one really felt out of place. I mean you are in a room with about 400 strangers looking at exotic art your so uncomfortable that you just have to be comfortable with the situation.

Joe and I decided to take a look around at the local artists work first, and see the show how it was supposed to be seen. The show is mainly focused on local artist but anyone from around the world can submit art as long as they can get it to the show.

There were some things I found to be quite interesting and even enjoyable to look at; there were some works of art that I found to be a little to out there for my taste. It seemed like the masses agreed with me since 3 of the pieces I would have considered purchasing were already purchased and the 4^th piece that I feel in love with was 2,500 and well I didn’t have a coupon for it.

            In order for the work to be considered “Dirty” it doesn’t have to be pornographic, there were many pieces of art that didn’t resemble pornography at all. As a matter of fact that is one of the “Dirty Shows” bad reputations is that it is just a bunch of porn. Which I can tell you it is not, most of the pieces I felt were true works or art, some could be debatable but I think the event coordinators do an excellent job of selecting pieces that work well for the show.

As Joe and I sat and watch a performer during their act we heard this very loud sound. It was only on for a couple seconds then it stopped…then it started again then it stopped and we just had to go and see what it was.

As we walked into the second bar area we realized that there was someone who had the worlds largest vibrating something or other and was giving rides on it for a $1 donation to charity. I don’t recall the name but evidentially this piece of equipment is pretty famous. We stood and watched as a few brave souls ride this large vibrating canister as Joe and few other man folk standing around tried to convince me to ride as well. I respectfully declined…. numerous times…and were just going to leave that at that.

At the back of the warehouse there is a print gallery where some of the more famous Dirty Artist have smaller print pieces for sale at a more reasonable price than the large ones on the main floor. We looked around for an Artist that I have been searching forever since I had wandered into his booth at Arts, Beats and Eats about 6 years ago. Lo and behold he had prints for sale there, however they were still out of my price range.

(Dear Dirty show next year please provided me with a coupon.) One of the more lighthearted things was that there was a photographer who would take your photo standing next to a giant penis. I thought this would be hysterical and a fun memory, however Joe did not share my enthusiasm for getting such a picture taken.

            All in all the show was pretty much what I expected it to be, I still feel it was a little pricey for the size of the show. I also would have liked to see more performers, which I know that only certain performer perform on different days of the show. No T-shirts or Pennies from this Adventure…onto the next….