Detroit’s machine music comes alive in East Lansing

Hidden within the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union building in downtown East Lansing is a living, pulsating time capsule of Detroit techno music. Ride one of the shiny new elevators to the top floor, and you’ll find yourself in the sound.

The sixth-floor gallery is the temporary home of the MSU Museum, showcasing “Techno: The Rise of Detroit’s Machine Music” through July 12. Viewing hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Inside the gallery, four video screens ripple in time with a 45-minute sound installation composed by the pioneering Detroit techno collective Underground Resistance. The visuals, programmed to respond to the music, dance around glass cases displaying the machines that birthed the sound.

One recent evening, Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale, a trailblazing Detroit DJ and producer known as the “godmother of house music,” closed out an MSU Museum event celebrating Detroit women in electronic music with a set composed entirely of tracks produced by such women.

“I never had a crate like that before,” Hale said. In this case, her “crate” was a digital folder packed with music by Detroit women producers. “That has never happened. That was history.”

As she played, she named each woman behind the track as it dropped: K-HAND. DJ Minx. DJ Holographic. Jenny LaFemme.

“It was an instant learning moment for everyone there,” Hale said. “They wanted more. They applauded.”

“Techno: The Rise of Detroit’s Machine Music” opened in February and continues to draw students, electronic music fans and curious visitors from across the region. Developed over the course of a year, the show connects Detroit techno to both its local roots and global impact.

Mark Sullivan, creative director of the museum’s CoLab Studio, had been trying to bring techno to campus since the 1990s.

“We saw the connection between what the MSU Museum wants to represent and Detroit techno,” Sullivan said. “This really started 30 years ago, and now we’re giving the people who made the history the chance to tell the history.”

Museum director Devon Akmon, who grew up in Detroit’s rave scene, called the exhibition a full-circle moment.

“I think it was important to bring techno into the museum because it’s a vital part of Detroit’s cultural legacy — one that’s often been overlooked, misunderstood or, frankly, told incorrectly,” Akmon said.

“It had to be done with the people who created the sound, the movement, who are the pioneers,” he continued. “To truly honor Michigan’s cultural contributions, techno or otherwise, we have to center the people who lived it. That’s how you build trust, tell deeper stories and create something real.”

Julian Chambliss, the museum’s Val Berryman Curator of History and a scholar of Afrofuturism, served as the exhibition’s lead curator.

“When people ask, ‘What’s the goal of this exhibition?’ I usually say there are two,” Chambliss said. “One is to let people know that techno was created in Detroit by Black youth. And two, to challenge a misunderstanding. People often see Detroit techno as dystopian. But the youth making this music saw a bright future. The music is a projection into the future. It’s speculative. It’s Afrofuturist at its core.”

Chambliss defines Afrofuturism as “the intersection between speculation and liberation, born of the efforts of people of African diasporic descent in opposition to oppression.”

“The result of every Afrofuturist project should be a decrease in harm and an increase in care. It asks, in a very real way, ‘What would it take to make a better future?’” he said.

To bring that vision into the gallery, Chambliss teamed up with John “Jammin” Collins, a veteran Detroit DJ, member of Underground Resistance and board member of Exhibit 3000, Detroit’s own techno museum.

“I came on to present how things should be curated,” Collins said. “They relied on me to validate, to confirm and to get it right.”

He helped bring in Underground Resistance to produce the 45-minute sound installation.

“What we’re trying to capture is the history of techno music,” he said. “It starts off with Africa. If you really listen to the music, the lyrics and the words being spoken give you the history of techno.”

That history, he said, is still misunderstood.

“People still assume techno was created by white people, but this music was created by African Americans from Detroit. Getting that story, that narrative out, that’s always been key to me.”

He said Afrofuturism isn’t bound to any single moment.

“We’re in the future, yeah, but we still have another future. The future changes, and there’s always another future beyond this one. Afrofuturism is ongoing.”

Techno, he explained, matches that with its infinite potential.

“There’s no formula, no boundaries. It’s still new, and it’s not going anywhere. It’s here forever.”

To visualize the sound, the museum brought in Andrew Charles Edman to create a four-screen video installation. A generative artist from Detroit, Edman used audio-reactive programming tools to sync visuals with the music, creating movement across the space in a way that pulls the entire exhibit into the rhythm.

“I wanted the installation to feel like one solid mix,” Edman said.

He found his visual approach through one Underground Resistance track in particular.

“‘The Illuminator’ was probably my jumping-off point,” he said. “When I heard that in the mix, I found my center.”

After the exhibit opened, a group of MSU students approached museum staff to get involved.

“We’ve got a techno group on campus,” they told Sullivan. “We’ve been performing in the co-ops. Could we contribute?”

He invited them to DJ. “And sure enough, they’re gonna do it,” he said. “Three of the student DJs are gonna do an hour each.”

On Friday (April 11), Collins returns to perform a live set inside the museum.

“Whenever I DJ, I have to make that connection with the crowd,” he said. “It’s my job to take them on a musical journey, to help them escape into the future and think about things. Also to appreciate where we are now or maybe be a bit critical of where we are — but with the understanding that it can get better in the future.”

On April 17, Detroit techno DJ and producer Carl Craig and Underground Resistance co-founder Mike Banks will join Chambliss for a panel titled “Techno Futures: Detroit’s Afrofuturist Groove.” The night will end with a performance by Craig.

“One of the things that has been really impactful is discovering the deep conversations about techno with students and the community taking place right now. I’m struck by the ways we can create space for these conversations to happen,” Chambliss said.