House Of Mirrors In A Building (Gone)
Detroit, Michigan
In 2017 Los Angeles artist Doug Aitken erected "Mirage," a 1950s-style suburban home built entirely of mirrors, inside and out, on the outskirts of Palm Springs. He said the mirrored surfaces of the California Ranch house fulfilled its architectural destiny of evoking the long vistas of the West. But the house was removed after only a few months, the victim of the intensified, blinding desert sun and angry Palm Springs neighbors.
On October 10, 2018, the house-of-mirrors appeared again, this time hidden inside a cavernous, empty, abandoned bank in downtown Detroit. Devoid of vistas, and far from the West, Aitken now says that the purpose of the house is to "reflect the industrial past" and "activate this seminal historic building," meaning the abandoned bank. All of the bank's huge old windows have been covered; the mirror house is only illuminated by shifting, choreographed artificial light. Aiken covered the marble floor of the bank with earth and stones, which he said returned it to its "raw state." Visitors are asked to wear sensible shoes.
Setting aside Mirage's artistic purposes (whatever they may be), a house of mirrors is just a fun thing to visit. Now that Mirage is free of the negative effects of weather and people, perhaps this time it will stick around for a while.
August 2019: It didn't stick around.
