Germans like Detroit grit: Visionaries there are thinking of retooling an abandoned factory into a dance club. And they're exploring sending their creatives to the city as resident artists.
Excerpt:
"On each of his last 15 visits to Detroit, Dimitri Hegemann has visited his old friend, Fisher Body 21...
Fisher Body 21 is a decrepit six-story building that is covered in graffiti, lined with smashed windows and, according to state authorities, dangerously contaminated. Built in 1919, the former auto-parts plant in Detroit was deserted two decades ago.
But where others see a case for the wrecking ball, Mr. Hegemann and his friends see the first step toward the revival of America's abandoned city...
Mr. Hegemann, founder of a Berlin nightclub and record label, is spearheading a project called the Detroit-Berlin Connection, an effort by the movers and shakers in this city's music scene to help restart the Motor City. The Berliners compare Detroit to their city after the fall of the Berlin Wall and say it has all the ingredients for a similar rebirth as a center of underground culture: deserted buildings, cheap rents and a gritty reputation...
Katja Lucker, head of the Berlin Music Board, a government-funded agency that promotes the city's music scene, said she is discussing funding a Detroit residency for German artists with officials in both cities. Ms. Lucker, a political appointee who wears Adidas high-tops and a Detroit Tigers jacket around town, said her trip to Detroit this May made her see the city as "a healing place" that would rejuvenate burnt-out artists. "People are jogging in the streets because there are no cars," she said. "It's so inspiring."
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