Ice House Detroit project completed: Work of art, sign of hope?

The artists behind Ice House Detroit have finished an unveiled the location. The idea of encasing the house in ice came from them wanting to shed some light on Detroit's foreclosure woes. It's completed and people are taking note ... but will the city?

Excerpt:

The Brooklyn-based men behind the project — Radune is an architect; Holm, a photographer — began dousing the home in water a few weeks ago. After many failed attempts to properly disperse enough water to freeze around the vacant home, they finally succeeded with the help of city fire hydrants and hoses.

They paid for the estimated 20,000 gallons of water, Holm said, and worked with the police and fire departments to get the appropriate permits and oversight to create what Holm described as an art project-turned-gift to the rundown neighborhood in which it stands.

Holm, a former Michigander whose mother still lives in Macomb County, said he and Radune got the house from the Michigan Land Bank, a state program that aims to revamp blighted properties, after using donor dollars to pay back taxes on another Detroit home that single mom and community activist Laveda Hoskins was able to move into.

"You feel a responsibility when coming into Detroit," Holm said Sunday as about a dozen onlookers circled the home to snap pictures. "We wouldn't want to leave without giving something back."

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