MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. – Lubeznik Center for the Arts (LCA) received a generous $15,000 grant from Notre Dame Arts Initiative to support an upcoming exhibition, “Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now?” The exhibition will feature work by Tyree Guyton, the 2026 Kresge Eminent Artist, and will open in March of 2027.
LCA’s grant is one of the 38 awards designed to foster sustained growth in the arts through partner programming for the inaugural Notre Dame Arts Biennial, scheduled for January through June of 2027. The biennial — thematically focused on the concept of symbiosis — is produced by the Arts Initiative and curated by Initiative Director Michael Schreffler and Managing Director Rebecca Struch.
For Guyton, polka dots represent people, diversity and unity. Covering his childhood home on Detroit’s Heidelberg Street, the dots act as a hallmark — an indicator of the place’s difference from other streets in the city. Guyton began the Heidelberg Project in 1986, after returning home to find his once-vibrant neighborhood succumbing to poverty, violence and drugs. Over the next forty years, he transformed the street into a living museum — turning abandoned houses, lots, sidewalks and streets into canvases and pedestals for his found-object assemblages.
Rooted in Heidelbergology — or “the study of discarded material incorporated into the fabric and structure of a community, and the effects on the community” — “Heidelbergology: Is it Art Now?” presents several of the project’s most iconic and long-standing sculptures, removed from the site for the first time. Guyton’s role as an artist complements his position as a community leader and social activist. The Heidelberg Project is a catalyst for arts education, community empowerment and economic development.
This exhibition brings together works that, until quite recently, were found outdoors along Heidelberg Street in Detroit, Michigan. The John Michael Kohler Arts Center carefully cleaned and conserved these works before bringing them to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for the inaugural exhibition “Heidelbergology: Is It Art Now?,” curated by Laura Bickford.
Courtesy of the grant support from the Notre Dame initiative, LCA is able to borrow most of the works from that groundbreaking exhibition for this second iteration of the extraordinary show and, in addition, will host community days of painting dots on the gallery walls, as well as a featured talk by Guyton and Jeneene Whitfield, Director of the Heidelberg Project. The exhibit and programs will take place March through June 2027.
Occurring every two years, the biennial is an international arts festival rooted in the creative spirit, intellectual energy and iconic traditions of Notre Dame and the region. Predominantly free programming across the visual, spatial, literary and performing arts will contribute to the region’s long-term flourishing by enhancing quality-of-life and quality-of-place and by providing new platforms for arts research to positively impact the public.
For more information, please contact LCA’s marketing director, Jessie Sexton, at jsexton@LubeznikCenter.org, or to schedule a group visit, contact jbloch@lubeznikcenter.org.