Tim Hailey snags a photo-op at the opening of his show for Public Pool’s 5th anniversary!

Culture mavens, revelers, music lovers and intellectuals needed look no further than Hamtramck this weekend, where an astounding confluence of culture left the city awash in action, even as the first stirring of spring started to break down the winter ice packs. Public Pool was celebrating its five-year anniversary with a mural installation by founding member-at-large, Tim Hailey. “I only want to see you Underneath,” which will run through April 18th, features not only large, small and t-shirt-scale works, but also an oddly profound installation, “The ChallengerFlower Mistletoe,” built by Alex Buzzalini, and recreates the notorious explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in cauliflower. Hailey was on hand for the opening, encouraging viewers to kiss underneath the installation.

“The ChallengerFlower Mistletoe” above, and Buzzalini, center right, in the blue cap.

The work makes for a natural bedfellow with a solo opening at Hatch, “Let Me Tell You” by Jessica Frelinghuysen. The show–both an event and participatory installation–continues Frelinghuysen’s efforts at social facilitation (and documentation) with guided “bar crawls” in Hatch’s gallery. These artist-led excursions are hotbeds of social interaction, which the observant Frelinghuysen uses as source material for her ongoing ‘Other Conversation’ series. Also on view were her “Hamtramck Bar Sketches,” charming and detailed renditions of the scene inside some of the city’s go-to watering holes.

“Those Ladies Could Drink,” Jeans bar (2014), by Jessica Frelinghuysen.

The artist in her signature tour-guide vest and self-designed hood, holding court behind the lifelike bar installation at Hatch.

The artist was in her element, having installed a full bar in Hatch’s main gallery (with the help of Alex Buzzalini, who is surely due the weekend’s award for Best Supporting Artist). She furnished viewers with napkins to draw on, as well as handy “Conversation Starter” cards, in case things got awkward. The napkins will later be installed on the gallery walls, creating a map-like document of the evening’s conversations. Spots are still open for a “Let Me Tell You” bar crawl, to be led by Frelinghuysen and Public Pool’s Steve Hughes on Friday, March 20th.

Conversation was flowing freely, with ever more napkins piling up as “art-ifacts” of the evening’s progress.

There was also artist Rose DeSloover’s presentation, “Desert As Dividing Space: Walt Disney to Bill Gates”—a project developed in the context of a six-week seminar on “Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project: Commodity Fetishism, and the Aesthetics of the City.” The seminar, which brought together 20 scholars from around the country, required each participant to deliver a “work-in-progress” relating to the work of Benjamin, with DeSloover—the only artist in the group—presenting initial research into the L. Dream House, Museum, Spa and initial research into the gated communities of the Coachella Valley in southern California. She subsequently expanded the latter group as a part of a 2010 academic seminar, “Walls, Borders and Boundaries” at Marygrove College.

You’ll have to check in at Lo & Behold Records (10022 Jos. Campau; 734-664-1186) for highlights of the music festival that was packing venues on Caniff and Jos Campau. Also, drop by Cafe 1923 (2287 Holbrook St.; 313-319-8766) for a cup of coffee and a look at “Come Visit Beautiful Hamtramck,” new paintings by one of Hamtramck’s resident jewels and champions, Emily Jane Wood. Stay tuned for Friday, to hear all about the intense one-woman show over at the Play House. It’s clear that with the onset of spring, Hamtramck turns to thoughts of art!