Members See It First!

The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World brings together 230 works from the Middle East, Egypt, Central and South Asia, and beyond to explore connections between art and cuisine from ancient times to the present day. Paintings of elaborate feasts, sumptuous vessels for food and drink, and historical cookbooks show how culinary cultures have thrived in the Islamic world for centuries. Highlighting the relationship of these works to preparing, serving, and enjoying food, the exhibition engages multiple senses and invites us to appreciate the pleasures of sharing a meal.

Image: India. Bowl with Handles, ca. 1640–50, Dark green nephrite jade. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase, M.76.2.2

© Museum Associates / LACMA

Composer/singer Sunitha Anathaswamy studied music in Bangalore and specializes in the vocal art of traditional Kannada Bhavageete and Ghazals, songs based on romantic poetry. Multi-instrumentalist Xiao Dong Wei became a ‘Master of the Erhu’ (a two-string violin) at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and also plays the pipa (a four-string lute) and guzheng (a 21-string zither). Both artists settled in metro Detroit and became influential performers, educators, and now collaborators. This joyous performance will fuse music from both their cultures and include guest appearances by their friends and family.

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

This year, the Don Was Allstar Revue takes on the theme of Peace, Love, and Understanding. The revue, a collection of anti-war songs that were chosen as a musical elixir of relief during troubled times, will be produced by Don Was and performed by legendary Motor City artists. Special guests include Marshall Crenshaw, Steffanie Chris’ tian, Milton Bennet, Herschel Boone, Carolyn Striho, Corktown Popes, Gretchen Gonzalez Davidson, Julie Benjamin, Kara Meister, MIK E.

Concert of Colors is Metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

Join us for an exclusive member lecture with renowned artist Tiff Massey as she shares the inspirations and stories behind her acclaimed exhibition 7 Mile + Livernois.

Gain unique insights from Massey as she explores the cultural and personal significance of her work, reflecting on Detroit's vibrant history and community.

The DIA's Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures invites you to an evening immersed in Korean tea culture. The evening will begin with translated readings of Korean Buddhist Monk Ch'oŭi's writings about green tea by poet Dr. Ian Haight, followed by a traditional dance performance and a presentation of the Korean Tea Ceremony by Donghee Kim.

With opportunities for audience participation and tea and snack sampling, this event, presented by Korean Connection, promises to enhance your appreciation of Korean Culture and please your taste buds! (90 min.)

Capacity is limited. Seating begins 30 minutes prior to performance.

USA/2023–directed by Jeff Zimbalist | 102 min.

The first film project with full access to Mailer’s family and archive of never-before-seen footage, outtakes, audio recordings, and interviews. How to Come Alive explores the rollercoaster life of the writer, literary outlaw, and unrepentant social provocateur Norman Mailer, whose very public life included six marriages, nine children, 11 bestsellers, four feature films, three arrests, one mayoral candidacy, and two Pulitzer Prizes.

Mailer’s ideas and writings about love, anger, politics, fear, and courage cut to the core of human nature while grasping the joys and challenges of American life. Laying himself bare on film with legendary bluster, humor and occasional self-effacement, Mailer encourages us to think adventurously and speak fearlessly.

South Korea/2023—directed by Hong Sang-soo | 83 min.

In Our Day alternates two seemingly unrelated stories: in the first, a disillusioned former actress hopes to recharge herself at the apartment of her longtime friend. In the second, a poet, being visited by a student making a documentary about him, is also host to an annoyingly naïve young man who drills him with questions about the meaning of it all—which tempts the writer to reach for a daytime cocktail, even though his doctors have warned him to give up booze.

From these two sets of encounters, Hong Sang-soo charmingly evokes a world filled with possibility, in which a minute detail can have unexpected repercussions. Hong’s 30th feature film is a sly and humane inquiry into the search for meaning and artistic satisfaction in an uncertain world. Official selection, Cannes and New York Film Festivals. In Korean with English subtitles.

“Exultant and revelatory.” —Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Italy/1946–directed by Vittorio De Sica | 93 min.

Prior to filming their Oscar®-winning 1948 classic Bicycle Thieves, the writing and directing team of Cesare Zavattini and Vittorio De Sica created the brilliant, groundbreaking Italian neo-realist masterwork Shoeshine (Sciuscia). A drama of two young street kids who become involved in Rome’s black market while scraping together a meager living polishing shoes in the chaotic aftermath of World War II.

Shoeshine has long had distribution problems in the US, but this stunning restoration—made possible by the Film Foundation, the George Lucas Family Foundation, and Cineteca di Bologna—marks a new era. Winner, Honorary Academy Award® for Quality of Production. In Italian with English subtitles.

“Radiant, compassionate, and above all, humane. If people cannot feel Shoeshine, what can they feel?” —Pauline Kael, I Lost it at the Movies

Sweden/Denmark/Georgia/Turkey/2024—directed by Levan Akin | 105 min.

Retired teacher Lia (brilliantly portrayed by Mzia Arabuli), who lives on the rocky Black Sea coast of Georgia, has made a promise to find out what happened to her long-lost niece, Tekla. A neighbor tells Lia that Tekla might be in Turkey, and they set off to find her.

In Istanbul they discover a beautiful city of connections, possibilities, and cats—but looking for someone who doesn't want to be found proves more difficult than expected.

The pair meet Evrim (Deniz Dumanli), a human rights lawyer and as the three weave their way through the city's labyrinthine backstreets, they discover Tekla may be closer than imagined. Jury Prize Winner, 2024 Berlin Film Festival. In English, Georgian and Turkish, with English subtitles.

“Elegant, stirring, emotionally affecting. A warmly humanistic new film.” —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

France/1968—directed by Melvin Van Peebles | 87 min.

Unable to break into a segregated Hollywood, Melvin Van Peebles decamped to France, taught himself the language, and wrote novels in French, one of which would be the basis for his stylistically innovative feature debut, The Story of a Three Day Pass.

Turner (Harry Baird), an African American soldier stationed in France, is granted a three-day leave and heads to Paris, where he finds whirlwind romance with a white woman (Nicole Berger)–but what happens when his furlough is over?

Channeling the brash exuberance of the French New Wave, Van Peebles explores the psychology of a relationship while examining France’s contradictory attitudes about race, all in a film that is playful and wryly subversive; it laid the foundation for the cinematic revolution he unleashed three years later with Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Restoration supervised by Mario Van Peebles. In English and French with English subtitles.

“A New Wave classic and one of the great American films of the era.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker