Abstract

In this essay I will read one of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera's (1886-1957) most important works, 'Detroit Industry' (1932-33, Detroit Institute of Arts [DIA], Detroit, Michigan, USA), as a work about the nature of community construction. 'Detroit Industry' depicts a car factory in Detroit in the early 1930s, the labour processes that are involved in the production of the car, and the community's labour that sustains and reproduces itself. Rivera is a communist straightforwardly depicting labour and alienation in the capitalist mode of production, and the problems that this presents for building a community. The Marxist critique of the bourgeois state is at the core of the problematic of community construction, though not the sole difficulty.

How to Cite:

McKay, J., (2005) “On Rivera's 'Detroit Industry': community beyond knowledge”, Law Text Culture 9(1).