Michael McGillis
Michael McGillis is a Detroit-based installation artist whose work focuses on the chaotic intersection of nature and human culture. He received a BFA from the Center for Creative Studies, now College for Creative Studies, in Detroit in 1989. He is known for his installation projects in public settings in the United States, Europe, and Taiwan, and has received project funding from several organizations, including the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Jerome Foundation, and the Danish Arts Foundation.
Michael McGillis Statement
In my immediate universe, the early pandemic slowly opened up a muted ‘intermission’ from daily life. And into that uncertain space was inserted, of all things, a catastrophic dam failure. With those two events unfolding simultaneously, I experienced a kind of ‘tragedy vertigo’, absorbing the immediate, visceral destruction of a familiar place, while a global tragedy raged in the background. All of it was disorienting, fascinating, and strangely invigorating, as both events invited all levels of reflection and strengthened existing friendships.
My interest has always been in landscape, human scale and our collective impact on the environment. Bearing witness to the devastation of the Edenville Dam failure, granted a chance to experience all of them at once...like a roller coaster ride through geological time, compressed into a single summer. The resulting work formed as a way to process taking in so much ‘epic’ in such a short time.
Michael McGillis Statement
In my immediate universe, the early pandemic slowly opened up a muted ‘intermission’ from daily life. And into that uncertain space was inserted, of all things, a catastrophic dam failure. With those two events unfolding simultaneously, I experienced a kind of ‘tragedy vertigo’, absorbing the immediate, visceral destruction of a familiar place, while a global tragedy raged in the background. All of it was disorienting, fascinating, and strangely invigorating, as both events invited all levels of reflection and strengthened existing friendships.
My interest has always been in landscape, human scale and our collective impact on the environment. Bearing witness to the devastation of the Edenville Dam failure, granted a chance to experience all of them at once...like a roller coaster ride through geological time, compressed into a single summer. The resulting work formed as a way to process taking in so much ‘epic’ in such a short time.
