WHAT IS MARIAN SPORE? Marian Spore is an accumulative museum of contemporary art in Industry City, Brooklyn founded by Michael Connor in September 2009. New artworks are regularly added to a steadily-growing exhibition housed in a 16,000 square foot space.
IS MARIAN SPORE A COLLECTION? We think of Marian Spore as an art collection, although the works have not been purchased. Instead, they are all on loan from the artists until the space closes in December 2010. At that point, we aim to sell the collection as a whole into the care of a larger institution.
PROJECT 1: FLOAT! BY THOM KUBLI One at a time, members of the audience float in a custom-designed isolation tank, listening to an audio composition about politics and zero gravity. We need $2200 to bring this unique project to Marian Spore. This will go towards tank transport, installation, salt and equipment.
PROJECT 2: PARADOXICAL SLEEP BY MARINA ZURKOW Zurkow will 'submerge' Marian Spore by digitally compositing floodwaters into video footage of the space. The resulting videos, which may be taken as haunting visions of the future, are played on monitors that hang on specially fabricated steel armatures in the space. We need $1000 to pay for a professional videographer and camera rental as well as the modification of the steel armatures.
PROJECT 3: MODELS FOR A HISTORY OF LIGHT BY JOE WINTER Artist Joe Winter makes beautiful abstract photograms (cameraless photographs) by exposing ordinary construction paper to household lights over long periods of time. The work has been on view since December at Marian Spore; we need $800 to pay for installation materials (wood, display cases, framing, further light fixtures).
OUR NAMESAKE The space is named after the wife of Industry City's founder, Irving T. Bush. Spore (1878-1946) was a visionary artist who claimed to commune with the spirits of dead artists. Working from their instructions, she made surrealist-tinged paintings that offered stark visions of the future. She is our 'patron saint', but there is no direct connection between the space and her estate.
We will include your name and a link to your website on a Marian Spore 'backer's page'.
We will send you a beautiful 6” x 9” postcard with a reproduction of a photogram by Joe Winter or an image from Marina Zurkow's piece (+ credit and link)
We will send you a beautiful limited edition poster designed by burneverything (http://burneverything.co.uk/) (+credit and link +postcard)
Drink for free all night at the Marian Spore summer opening and party on July 30! (+postcard +credit and link)
Pre-book a session in Thom Kubli's 'FLOAT!' during normal Marian Spore hours, beginning 31 July. Normal hours are Saturdays, 2 to 8 PM. This reward is available to all funders above the $35 level. (+ credit and link +postcard)
Limited edition Marian Spore boxed set. This boxed set will be the official 'documentation kit' for the Marian Spore project, including images, a DVD of Paradoxical Sleep, text and artist multiples. (+postcard + credit and link +wristband).
Private tour of Marian Spore including a flotation session in Thom Kubli's FLOAT! Book anytime, not just during Marian Spore hours. (+postcard +link +wristband).
A unique, signed work by Joe Winter from the 'History of Light' project. (+postcard +credit and link +wristband)
Archival 16x20 photographic print from Marina Zurkow's 'Paradoxical Sleep' project, edition of 25, unframed. (+postcard +credit and link +wristband)
Marina Zurkow will digitally 'flood' one room in your house, creating either an archival 16x20 print or a video. (+postcard +credit and link +wristband) (limited to Greater New York).
Brooklyn, NY
Marian Spore is an art space in Industry City, Brooklyn. It's a 16,000 square foot space where we periodically add new artworks to a slowly-growing "collection." You can find out more on our website (link below).
The photo is a picture of Michael Connor (that's me), the founder of Marian Spore. I'm a writer and curator focusing on the intersections among art, film and new media. I lived in the UK for five years, where I worked as Curator at FACT (Liverpool) and Head of Exhibitions at BFI Southbank (London). Since I've been back, I curated this touring show and co-curated this show in Melbourne about the history of the moving image.