Project Details
- Project Name
- The Mothership
- Other
- AKOAKI
- Project Types
- Other
- Project Scope
- Preservation/Restoration
- Year Completed
- 2014
- Shared by
- Jean Louis Farges
- Project Status
- Built
- Room or Space
- Other
- Style
- Other
Project Description
Akoaki has designed and fabricated a P-Funk inspired Mothership to serve as a mobile DJ booth and broadcast module in Detroit’s epic North End neighborhood. Channeling the Afro-Futurist sensibility and playfulness of the legendary funk emblem, the Mothership marks the beginning of the O.N.E. Mile project, a collaborative urban scale initiative that stages year-round experimental cultural events.
Conceived as an easy-to-assemble, deployable unit, the Mothership fastens together using a simple aluminum paneling system and bolts. Its cosmetic finish coopts techniques from car customization, blinging the surface with gold vinyl and dichroic film. The resulting effect is an exterior that self-consciously couples popular embellishment with a psychedelic interior. Smoke and lighting add to the allusion and scenographic tectonics.
In support of the project, twelve members of Parliament-Funkadelic got together to perform at the launch. The unprecedented event, free and open to the public, took place at an unlikely location: an unmarked garage on Oakland Avenue. Currently, the Mothership is stationed and on view there. It continues to make scheduled landings in support of Detroit’s exceptional musical production.
