DETROIT, MICH.- Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead, a unique public art project by internationally renowned artist Mike Kelley, will venture from its permanent home on the grounds of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit into the neighborhoods and parks of the city on Saturday, September 6, 2014. The neighborhood tour will celebrate and share the joys of reading by dispensing free books for people of all ages during the first of its planned annual tours to directly engage and enliven the communities of Detroit.

Designed as a full-scale replica of the 1950’s ranch-style home in suburban Westland just outside Detroit where Mike Kelley was raised, the Mobile Homestead features a detachable façade on wheels intended to travel around the city offering various kinds of socially beneficial, free public services. For its first public mission in Detroit, the Mobile Homestead seeks to draw attention to the importance of public libraries, literacy, self-directed life-long learning, and active participation in the sustainability of healthy and vibrant local communities.

Departing the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit on the morning of Saturday, September 6, the Mobile Homestead will travel to popular community gathering spots throughout the city making stops throughout the day at Eastern Market on Alfred St., Clark Park, and Belle Isle. At each stop the public will be treated to free donuts and apple cider along with impromptu live musical performances as they peruse a wonderfully unique selection of books donated to MOCAD throughout the year. September is National Library Card Month and information about Detroit Public library cards and services will be available. Additionally information about voter registration will be on hand courtesy of the League of Women Voters.

Follow the daylong journey on Twitter @MOCAD to find out exactly where and when the Mobile Homestead will stop and be the first to tell your friends about this fun, free opportunity.

MOCAD is also launching a new initiative this fall titled ART AS SOCIAL FORCE. Inspired by Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead and the People’s Biennial, MOCAD embarks on a multi-year examination of artists who seek to establish participatory and socially transformative art. Known primarily as social practice, its practitioners freely blur the lines between object making, performance, political activism, community organizing, environmentalism and critical journalism, creating a deeply participatory art form that often flourishes outside the gallery and museum system.

The mission of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit is to present art at the forefront of contemporary culture. As a non-collecting institution, MOCAD is responsive to the cultural content of our time, fueling crucial dialogue, collaboration, and public engagement.