In Detroit, the creative impulse to work in and around sites of ruin presents both aesthetic and ethical dilemmas. Creative practices that make use of ruined sites in the city are controversial to the extent that they present aesthetically attractive representations of real, unresolved social and environmental problems. This article examines the extent to which "ambivalent" modes of moving, writing and thinking about creative practice in Detroit's ruinscapes might contribute to an enriched understanding of the function of EcoART in traumatised environments. Exploring four types of ambivalence (down/up; inside/outside; here/there; back/forth), the author investigates the relationship between failure and transformation in EcoArt practices in Detroit. (Contains 4 notes.)