Client: Downtown Detroit Partnership
Location: Detroit, MI, United States
Completion date: 2019
Project Team
Public Art Agent
Alexandre Lemieux
CREOS
Client + Commissioner
David Cowan
Downtown Detroit Partnership
Artist
Esrawe + Cadena
Overview
Los Trompos features eight larger-than-life, three-dimensional spinning tops in a variety of colors and shapes. It draws its inspiration from a toy that has been popular with children around the world since the dawn of time. This large-scale, interactive artistic installation engages visitors in a way that is both meaningful and playful. Functioning as both artwork and rotating platform, each sculpture acts as a gathering place for relaxation, social interaction and entertainment. Through interaction and collaboration, Los Trompos comes to life and gives new meaning to the art of play.
Goals
First commissioned in 2015 by the Atlanta High Museum of Art, the International and interactive art installation Los Trompos' journey continues as the DTE Energy Beacon Park Foundation and Downtown Detroit Partnership decided to commission 8 original pieces of Los Trompos, to be presented at their Beacon Park Public Space, in the frame of its inaugural Cinco de Mayo Celebration. Direct from Mexico City, Los Trompos encourages play and enables communities to celebrate its many cultures together. The pieces talk about the traditions and skills of the craftsmen in Mexico, as an inheritance of creators' culture. Los Trompos cultivates an environment where people, from a variety of backgrounds, can connect, relax, and play. And it reflects DDP's mission to appreciate - and celebrate - all cultures.
Process
In 2015, the Atlanta High Museum of Art unveiled the second large-scale, interactive design installation by contemporary Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena on The Woodruff Arts Center’s Carroll Slater Sifly Piazza. Later on, in 2019, the Los Trompos journey continues as the DTE Energy Beacon Park Foundation and Downtown Detroit Partnership decided to commission 8 original pieces of Los Trompos, to be presented at their Beacon Park Public Space. A good opportunity for DDP to commission art but also contributing in energizing other public spaces around the world by partnering with Creos, a world leading agency for public interactive installations in urban spaces. Since the beginning of this partnership, these Los Trompos 8 units has been presented Montreal, El Paso, and several new destinations planned in 2021-22.