48 | MARCH 25 • 2021 

A

n art installation linking Passover with the 
environmental issue of single use plastics will be 
on display March 25-April 4 outside MOCAD 
(Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit).
The piece, titled At Our Table, suggests that Jews give 
up more than unleavened bread for the eight days of the 
holiday. It asks that they suspend the use of plastic in the 
same time frame.
Olivia Guterson, a Detroit artist who has been active 
with The Well, designed the piece for Reboot, the arts 
and culture nonprofit reimagining and reinforcing Jewish 
thoughts and traditions. Reboot counts Guterson as a 
member and considers her work part of its national proj-
ect, Dwelling in a Time of Plagues, to advance site-spe-
cific projects in various cities.
Local Reboot board member Gretchen Davidson, 
introduced to the organization by friends, connected 
Reboot with MOCAD. The project is sup-
ported by CANVAS, which advances Jewish 
arts and culture. Other supporters include 
the Jim Joseph Foundation, Joyce and Irving 
Goldman Family Foundation, Righteous 
Persons Foundation, Schusterman Family 
Philanthropies and William Davidson 
Foundation.
“The visual experience is planned as a 
20-foot table set for four socially distanced observant 
guests with place settings of single-use plastics,
” explained 
Guterson, who collected discarded plastic in her neigh-
borhood to construct the piece. ‘The tablecloth is made 
out of braided and woven single-use plastic bags.
“I wanted to examine plastic as a material we 
use for five or 15 minutes but lasts forever, and it’s 
becoming a plague for our time that we desperately 
need to deal with.
“I have so many memories of Passover as the time of 
questioning and sacrifice in order to secure liberation, 
but I also want it to be a time for people to consider and 
talk about how we secure our future and the sacrifices 
we need to make in order to do that.”

Art installation 
advances ‘Plastover’ 
holiday theme.

A Modern Plague

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ARTS&LIFE
ART

DETAILS 
At Our Table will be on outdoor display March 
25-April 4 at MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary 
Art Detroit), 4454 Woodward. mocadetroit.org.

LEFT: Olivia Guterson works on the installation that will 
be on view in front of MOCAD.

Olivia Guterson

SAL RODRIGUEZ

Gretchen 
Davidson

