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Our history
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The idea for this institution came from an artist collaborative called Praxis (Brainard and Delia Carey). Praxis is a husband and wife team known for performance and installation work, such as the giving out of hugs and foot-washing at museums and galleries and immersive installations. They live in New York and New Haven, U.S.. Note- Praxis did a kickstarter project in 2011 to support the museum with actor James Franco which was successful and helped the idea get international attention. That campaign is here - https://goo.gl/ZSNUJZ
The Museum of Non-Visible Art is an artist project that will become an actual museum, an institution run by the founders. This is roughly how it will operate;
The museum will be set up like a traditional art museum with an educational department and a curatorial department, as well as administrative offices for capital project planning.
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Arts of Global Africa
Decorative Art
Decorative Art
American Art
Gardens
Gardens
Arts of Canada Arts of Asia
War History
War History
Classical Art
Kings of History
Kings of History
German Arts
German Arts
Each department will be explained separately below.
Curatorial
The Museum of Non-Visble Art (MONA) will show artwork that is text based and is
designed to be seen with the minds-eye using a brief text on a card mounted on a wall. In essence, the art work itself is what the viewer sees in their mind, but the cue for what they are imagining is written on a card, mounted on the wall like a traditional title card.
An example of two such art works are below, but it can be literally anything from a painting to a sculpture to a conceptual work to a fantasy that could never be physically made. Two examples are below, one by Praxis and another by another artist.
The curatorial department of the museum will be a physical space, and at the moment it is temporarily located in an apartment in Harlem in Manhattan, though we are not actively mounting shows there.
The museum plans on mounting different shows of artists and writers from all over the world that are commissioned to make works for the museums collection.
Educational Department
MONA plans on having workshops and classes for young students as part of its educational mission. That means that students can come to the museum and learn how to make non-visible art.
It would work like this;
Students (either children or adults) would come to the museum or museum staff would come to their classroom. They would hear a talk about non-visible art so they understand what it is, and then everyone will begin to create non-visible art. This is how ;
First, all participants write down a description of a painting in 75 words or less. Then the descriptions are shared with the class, which is the first non-visible art that is made by the students in the class.
Then it progresses. Each student writes down another description, this time a sculpture, then next they do an installation, and finally they make a conceptual work, all done with short descriptives texts.
Thus, in each workshop, each class, children and adults are introduced to making conceptual art. It is one of the few ways that children can also learn how to make conceptual art, opening the doors for them to think about what it means to be an artist, and today, that means to have ideas, not necessarily the ability to draw, as it used to be. It would probably introduce many non-art oriented adults to the idea as well.
The Educational Department would also create a PDF document for teachers to conduct a workshop themselves in their class, as a day long activity or over the course of a semester. Teachers anywhere in the world could download the class instructions for making non-visible art and teaching students how to make it.
Administration
The Museum had a Call to Architects, and many of the entries will soon be announced, but some of those designs are on these pages.
The call is design a space that will house the nonvisible art. The space could be part virtual and part physical or neither. But the competition is real, with cash prizes and honorariums. Since this project has an almost pataphysical quality, the submissions are varied. We plan on having the 5 finalists from the architectural competition present their ideas on stage in front of an audience. (Performance Space 122 in NY said they will host this) The finalists would explain their ideas which will create a dialogue with panelists who are asking questions, and the content will be abstract, stretching the limits of how we see architecture and art working together especially in such an unusual context.
Other “capital” projects could include having MONA museum in different countries, even in different apartments or stores at first. Also, a geo-tagged virtual museum has been discussed that would be “seen” entirely by walking around a piece of empty land with a phone and an app to experience the museum.
``Maintenant que la glace est rompue, causons.``
(Now the ice is broken, let's talk.)
-After shooting into a mirror
― Alfred Jarry