The lineup of artists for Alley Culture’s Fall 2014 opening.

Kitty-corner from each other on an unassuming stretch of Willis between Trumbull and Lincoln, the low-key art outpost Alley Culture and “Detroit’s sexiest anarchist collective,” known as Trumbullplex, have been coalescing talent and embracing alternatives since the early ’90s. Founded in 1995 by Sherry Hendrick and her husband, Alley Culture has quietly thrived off a combination of art and activism, the twin wellsprings of the culture at Trumbullplex, which became a collectively owned entity in 1993. As Hendrick puts it in AC News, V16 #1 (Fall 20414), “Perry Mallette, a life-long proponent and director of community theater, sold the house and theater on Trumbull in 1993 to a couple or three people who lived in the attic. He sold it as a Collective, meaning anyone who lived there, or in the future was accepted to live there by the Collective, was immediately a part owner. When Perry told his neighbors what he’d done, we were collectively surprised, but he was confident.” This relationship has come to bear beautiful fruit in the form of a group show at Alley Culture that has been collectively curated by members of Trumbullplex. The opening will take place tonight, Friday, October 31, starting at 7 p.m., and the show will run through November 22nd, with regular hours on Fridays and Saturdays at 3-6 p.m.

Collage work of Matt Conzett, curated by Andrew Damaske.

Detail from “Playing the Black Keys #1, 2, 3” by Liza Jayne, curated by Scott Farrow.

One of two zoetropes by Dave Fentriss, curated by Leslie Wacker.

“Bear Mask” weaving by Megan Diviney, curated by Liz Lewis.

Get lucky and you might catch Hendrick. She’s too modest for a photo op, but a bottomless font of knowledge on the old guard of Detroit’s art scene and environs; an impassioned activist in her own right—see an intense dialogue with Christine Hughes on the all-too-relevant subject of gentrification; and an advocate of daily chocolate. Come for the art, stay for the conversation, as well as a reception that is as warm as the wood-burning stove in the heart of the gallery.

Some infographic prints by Alex B. Hill, revealing shocking trends in Detroit’s current redevelopment efforts, curated by Mikey Elster.

Additional food for thought will be provided on Saturday, November 8th. At 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., Alley Culture will be screening “THIRST,” a character-driven documentary on water rights as a catalyst for community resistance to globalization.

“A Meeting with Fate,” one of wonderfully dislocating trio of works by Kelley Mitchell Gadzowicz, curated by Ethan Cronkite.

Don’t miss this meeting of two of Detroit’s most-loved and most original institutions!

Alley Culture: for directions please contact [email protected] Trumbullplex: 4210 Trumbull, Detroit; trumbullplex.org