Katie Hornstein is a professor of art history at Dartmouth College and the author of Picturing War in France (Yale, 2018) and, more recently, Myth and Menagerie: Seeing Lions in the Nineteenth Century (Yale, 2024). A collection she co-edited with Daniel Harkett, Animal Modernities: Images, Objects, Histories, is forthcoming from Leuven University Press in 2025.

A specialist in the long nineteenth century, Katie’s current work engages with contemporary debates in art history and the humanities more broadly, including post-humanism, the intertwined logics of empire and ecological destruction, and the representation and uses of non-human animal bodies in modern material and visual culture. She is currently developing a new project dedicated to carrier pigeons and their expansive labors in service to humans.

Katie received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

France/2024—directed by Louise Courvoisier | 90 min.

Winner of a special prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the enchanting Holy Cow tells the story of 18-year-old Totone (Clément Faveau) who’s thrust into the unexpected and very adult role of looking after his younger sister and their family farm in the Jura section of France. 

Totone assumes even more responsibility – and anxiety – when he enters a cash competition for creating the best Comte cheese made in this part of the French Alps. An engaging and immersive glimpse into the hardscrabble life of French agriculture, this assured debut from director Louise Courvoisier is a beguiling coming of age story and, above all, an ode to the mystery and magic of cheese. In French with English subtitles.

“A charming, moving and humorous coming-of-age story told with brio. Delicious!” –John Bleasdale, Time Out

Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art Annual Meeting, Artist Conversation, and Reception

Presented by the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art and Michigan Central Art

Schedule

5:30–6 p.m. | FMCA Annual Meeting, Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall

• For FMCA members only; advance registration required.

6–7:30 p.m. | Artist Conversation: Ash Arder & Kevin Beasley, Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall

• Free and open to the public; no registration required.
• Join contemporary artists Ash Arder and Kevin Beasley for presentations on their work, followed by a conversation moderated by Kelly Kivland, Director and Lead Curator at Michigan Central, and Katie Pfohl, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the DIA.

7:30–9 p.m. | FMCA Member Reception, Rivera Court

• For FMCA members only; advance registration required.

Artist Bios

Ash Arder (she/they) is a Detroit-based artist whose work explores ecology, industry, and labor through installations, sound, and material experimentation. Their recent solo exhibition Flesh Tones was presented at Cranbrook Art Museum in 2023.

Kevin Beasley (he/him) is a New York-based artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, sound, photography, and performance. His recent installation PROSCENIUM | Rebirth / Growth: The Watch / Harvest / Dormancy: On Reflection is on view at Storm King Art Center until November 2025.

Hailing from Flint, Tunde Olaniran is a creative force whose work spans music, dance, film, literature, and performance art. Filled with vibrant costumes and catchy lyrics, their performances are surrealist spectacle, blending genres like pop, dance, folk, hip-hop and R&B. Expect intricate dances, soaring vocals, throbbing basslines, and sweat-soaked sequins on the stage.

Olaniran's albums have earned critical acclaim from outlets including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and NPR. Their most recent album, Chaotic Good, features a collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, the first original composition by the world-renowned cellist. Tunde has created impactful collaborations with artists such as Mona Haydar, adrienne maree brown, Nick Cave, and Esperanza Spalding. A 2017 Art Matters Fellow, 2019 United States Artist Fellow, and 2020 University of Michigan Artist-in-Residence, Olaniran’s work for PBS earned a Regional Emmy in 2021. In 2022, they premiered Made A Universe, an experimental short film and exhibition commissioned by Cranbrook Art Museum.

This Friday Night Live! performance is proudly presented as part of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Pride Month offerings.

Pride Themed docent-led guided gallery tours will be offered one hour prior to event start time, meeting at the DIA Woodward lobby entrance. The tours will be approximately 45-minutes in length.

See "The Rooster's Crow" Automaton Clock come to life in the DIA's European Medieval & Renaissance galleries during its once-monthly day of operation!

Throughout the day, visitors can see this rare 16th-century clock's mechanical rooster flap its wings and open its beak every fifteen minutes, and witness the figures of seven princes parade around an enthroned emperor as the clock strikes each hour.

Winding the clock for one day each month is vital to maintaining its fully functional condition. This important conservation work offers a unique opportunity to see a work of Renaissance art and technology in motion.

“The Rooster’s Crow” Automaton Clock, present-day Germany (Augsburg or Nuremberg), ca. 1585, gilt copper, brass, engraved silver, steel with partial bluing. Museum purchase, Ernest Rosemarie Kanzler Foundation Fund, DIA. No. 2023.601.

On any given night in Detroit in the early Eighties, chances were good that Don Tapert and Tim Sparling could be heard in several Cass Corridor night spots — from the Song Shop and Café Detroit to the New Miami, Alvin’s, or downtown at The Soup Kitchen Saloon and Café Harmonie. First performing as a soulful guitar-and-piano vocal duo, and later as the rocking four-piece Tapert Sparling Band, they captivated audiences with Tapert’s original songs. Inspired by the Cass Corridor’s community of artists, writers, musicians, and actors, their unique arrangements combined acoustic guitar and piano, anchored by electric bass and drums.

The release of Cass Corridor Sunset, a 12” vinyl LP featuring eight songs recorded in the 1980s, celebrates the vibrant Wayne State music scene. Created in partnership with Cass Corridor artist Robert Sestok and Third Man Records, the project has brought Tapert and Sparling back together with the original band members: Don Tapert (guitar/vocals), Tim Sparling (piano/vocals), Mike Marshall (bass guitar), Greg Calder (drums), and Ray Goodman (electric guitar).

Blues and boogie-woogie pianist Mark Lincoln Braun has become one of the premier purveyors of a vanishing art form. Having learned his craft firsthand from the early masters, he is a rare living link to the first generation of blues and boogie pianists. Steeped in the rich legacy of this exhilarating music, Mr. B studied directly with legends like Little Brother Montgomery, Boogie Woogie Red, and Blind John Davis.

Join Ngoc Minh Ngo (author and photographer) and Ivan Shaw (Corporate Photography Director at Condé Nast) for a conversation about her career and lifelong engagement with flowers and gardens. Ngo’s work has appeared in The World of Interiors, T Magazine, Vogue, and Architectural Digest, and she is the author of three books: Bringing Nature Home, In Bloom: Creating and Living with Flowers, and Eden Revisited: A Garden in Northern Morocco, each featuring her own photography.

Ngo will also discuss her latest publication, Roses in the Garden. The inspiration for this series and book came from her father, a former colonel in the Vietnamese army and avid gardener who settled with their family in California in the 1970s. In his final days, Ngo tended his garden in hopes he would see his roses bloom one last time. After his passing, she returned to Brooklyn, New York, where she lives, volunteered at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and began photographing rose cuttings. What started as a personal meditation grew into a series exploring the rose’s cultural and historical significance, culminating in a book celebrating the iconic flower and the renowned gardens where it thrives.

Image: Ngoc Minh Ngo, Ninfa Garden, Italy, 2022. Courtesy of the artist. (c) Ngoc Minh Ngo, 2025.

Combo Daguerre, based in Brooklyn, performs original psychedelic chanson with a predominantly Latin crew and a hybrid style influenced by boleros, cumbia, 60s rock, French chanson, and 1930s surrealism. Their music is a blend of joy and darkness, deep grooves and dirges, nostalgia and futurism.

Combo Daguerre features:

• Olivier Conan (Chicha Libre) on cuatro and vocals
• Adele Fournet on keyboards
• Felipe Wurst (Banda Chuska/Tipa Tipo) on guitar
• Andres Fonseca on drums
• Neil Ochoa (Los Crema Paraiso, Chicha Libre) on percussion
• Dan Martinez on bass

Filled with all-things K-POP - music, dancing, games, food and more - this immersive event is your ultimate introduction to Korean culture. Supported by DIA’s auxiliary Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures, local Korean American community members come together to share this high-energy pop-culture that has taken the world by storm. 

Featuring performances by ArtLab J’s K-Pop dance team, interactive Korean games like Red-light, Green-light and Ddakji Chigi, and samples of Korean culinary treats, this event is sure to be full of excitement, learning, and delicious experiences!

Weekend Family Programs at the DIA are generously presented by the MSUFCU Desk Drawer Foundation.