“Value Proposition,” is an exhibition of three site-specific installations from artist duo Hygienic Dress League that explores the disconnect between humanity, value and the environment. Through various large scale sculptures featuring precious natural resources such as diamonds and elephants they create a surreal landscape that makes the viewer question societal norms and values placed on these objects themselves.

Conceptual artist -duo Steve and Dorota Coy, who operate under the moniker Hygienic Dress League will offer the opportunity to discover their largest works to date in a single, immersive outdoor environment.  The unique installation exhibit will be available to the public on starting on Thursday, Oct. 18th through Sunday, Oct. 20th from 6 to 10 p.m. The installation will take place at DTE Energy’s retired Conners Creek Power Plant (enter via the Edison Boat Club, 100 Lycaste St.) situated on Detroit’s east side on over 75 acres of waterfront land.

Hygienic Dress League, Limited Edition, 2018

Marking a continuation of Hygienic Dress League’s visual lexicon, the exhibition takes as its point of departure the question of what humans value. On view will be Diamond II, a large-scale, diamond-shaped light installation. This work references the diamond-water paradox of value, which asserts the contradiction that although water is more useful regarding survival than diamonds, diamonds are considered more valuable on the market.

Also on view, will be Limited Edition, a life-size model elephant covered with more than 350,000 aurora borealis (AB) rhinestones and weighing 600 pounds, in addition to Spirit of the Forest, a sculptural installation of several human figures with deer heads that are cast in aluminum and composed of UV lights and UV paint.

Hygienic Dress League, Spirit of the Forest, 2018

Presented within the context of DTE Energy’s decommissioned power plant, and against the backdrop of Detroit’s industrial geography, the exhibition is thus charged with symbolism and far-reaching metaphorical implications. “Value Proposition” has been made possible by the generous support of the Knight Foundation.

Hygienic Dress League (HDL) is an American corporation registered in 2007 by husband and wife visual artists Steve and Dorota Coy. HDL uses its status of the corporation as an art medium, serving as a platform for critiquing contradictions in contemporary society through symbolism and public interventions, ranging from fleeting projections, guerrilla marketing, video holograms, augmented reality, television commercials, and installation art. HDL’s public interventions have appeared around the world, in twenty cities and ten countries, spanning across three continents.

Steve Coy holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Michigan and an MFA from the University of Hawaii. He currently works as Associate Professor at Lawrence Technical University.

Dorota Coy holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Vermont. The couple’s public installations have been exhibited on numerous occasions in Detroit, MI, and they have appeared internationally in cities including Beijing, China; Berlin, Germany; Montreal, Canada; Madrid, Spain; and Vannes, France, among others. In 2017 their work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Bogota, Colombia. HDL has been featured in notable outlets including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Economist, NYLON, CityLab, HuffPost and Politiken.

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Featured image: A large-scale, diamond-shaped light installation that references the diamond-water paradox of value, which asserts the contradiction that although water is more useful regarding survival than diamonds, diamonds are considered more valuable on the market. DTE Energy Decommissioned Power Plant. Photo credit,  Jon Deboer.