These days it seems as though everybody is talking about Detroit, and Xia Gao is no exception. As the guest curator for the MSU Museum, she created “Urban Factors,” an exhibit about urbanization and population in Detroit.
Gao got the inspiration when she moved to Michigan and saw the population trends in Detroit and the surrounding areas.
“I am international faculty here at MSU,” Gao said. “Before I started teaching here, I taught and studied at various other places, so my work is really reflecting my migration and relocation into different cultures.”
The “Urban Factors” exhibit resides in the Art-Science-Creativity Gallery. Living up to its name, the gallery shows pieces that try to incorporate art and science while being creative.
“We really want to explore the overlap between art and science,” said Lora Helou, interim director of the MSU Museum. “A lot of the time people think of the two as real opposites, but what we find especially in a university environment is there is really a blurred line; an overlap between and across the two disciplines.”
The Urban Factors Exhibit is open at the MSU Museum in the Art-Science-Creativity Gallery until Jan 23.