Diversions: Detroit-Windsor Conversations on Borders Traffic Circulation

While Detroit's urban legacy is widely recognized, the city is rarely regarded as a part of a cross-border metropolitan environment. Across the US-Canadian border, Windsor's urban character has been closely tied to Detroit's rise and fall. With continual changes in the security and economic climate, these two cities are increasingly separated, subject to border policies imposed from their respective national security mandates. Nevertheless, the Windsor-Detroit region is largely absent within the rich discourse on borders that has emerged from the US-Mexico borderlands and regions elsewhere in the world. Likewise, the substantial artistic and intellectual artistic activity from Detroit focuses on the city's internal divisions, yet the international boundary on its southern edge remains ignored. This symposium seeks to change the conversation about borders in the Windsor-Detroit region through inviting prominent artists and researchers to consider the obstacles and mobilities that have emerged in this urban locale.

Diversions is organized by: The Art Gallery of Windsor, IN/TERMINUS: Media, Art, and Urban Ecologies (University of Windsor), The Border Bookmobile (Windsor-Detroit) and Media and Urban Life in Montreal (McGill University)