Highly esteemed and critically acclaimed Belgian artist Jef Geys (b. 1934) will present a new body of work specifically based on Detroit entitled Woodward Avenue. Geys rarely exhibits in the United States, making this project a remarkable and unique opportunity for visitors to engage with the artist's extraordinary work, which encompasses conceptual approaches, educational activities, experiments and cooperative formats. Woodward Avenue is both an expansion and a departure from his Quadra Medicinale project, an interdisciplinary exhibition presented at the Belgian Pavillion at the 53rd Venice Biennale. For the Detroit project, Geys asked Dr. Ina Vandebroek, an ethnomedical research specialist, to collect weeds at twelve intersections along Woodward Avenue beginning at Cadillac Square, in the heart of the city of Detroit, and ending at Saginaw Street, nearly 30 miles north in the neighboring city of Pontiac. Woodward Avenue's installation includes the collected and dried plant specimens with their corresponding scientific descriptions, photographs and specific maps. The exhibition also features two new films that record an ethnobotany workshop with traditional health practitioners run by Dr. Vanderbroek in Bolivia.
The Kempens Informatieblad (Kempens Informational Journal) is a downloadable PDF version of the catalog that accompanies Jef Geys' 2010 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Woodward Avenue.
