Grand Arts

Grand Arts was a nonprofit contemporary art space in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, whose mission was to help national and international artists realize projects considered too risky, provocative or complex to otherwise attract support.[1] It was co-founded by Margaret Silva and Sean Kelley in 1995 and operated until 2015 with sole funding from the Margaret Hall Silva Foundation.[2]

Facilities included a 4,000-square-foot fabrication studio, exhibition spaces, offices, and an on-site apartment available for visiting artists.[3]

## History

[edit]

Margaret Silva and Sean Kelley co-founded Grand Arts in 1995 to give artists "a place for radical experimentation, without the constraints of too little time and even less money".[4] Kelley left Grand Arts in 2003.

Stacy Switzer served as artistic director from 2004 until the gallery's close.[5]

In total, Grand Arts produced 90 exhibitions with more than 120 artists. Projects often took years to produce, from concept to realization, and the organization's full-time staff tended to each phase of the process: research, design, fabrication, programming, publicity and beyond. Grand Arts' practice of long-term collaborative project development is in part what distinguished it from other granting organizations, according to Switzer: "That's what was special about the Grand Arts process. It wasn't that an artist would propose something and we would fabricate it according to the artist's specs. Often, there was a long conversation about how to push, pull, and tease the idea, pull out the most provocative threads and find other people in other fields who could help us enhance it in other ways".[6]

Following exhibition, projects produced at Grand Arts belonged solely to the artist.[1] The works were often then exhibited in museums, commercial galleries and/or art fairs. For example:

* Isaac Julien's 1999 Long Road to Mazatlan was co-produced by Grand Arts and ArtPace in 1999 and exhibited as one of two Julien works at Tate Britain in 2001, when the artist was short-listed for the Turner Prize.[7]
* Patricia Cronin's  Memorial to a Marriage, a three-ton marble mortuary statue produced by Grand Arts in 2002 and installed thereafter at Woodlawn Cemetery, has been shown in more than 35 exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Museum, Palmer Museum of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, and the FLAG Art Foundation; and is in several museum collections, including Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, in Washington, DC; Pérez Art Museum Miami; and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, in Glasgow, where it is on permanent view.
* Sanford Biggers' Blossom, produced by Grand Arts in 2007,[8] was acquired by the Brooklyn Museum in 2011.[9]
* Laurel Nakadate's Stay the Same Never Change, produced by Grand Arts in 2008,[10] was a selection at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and then screened at MoMA’s New Directors/New Films series.[11]
* William Pope.L's Trinket, produced by Grand Arts in 2008, was re-staged at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2015 and featured in a performance by Kendrick Lamar at the 2015 BET Awards.[12] Christopher Knight writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Nearly seven years on, the sculpture still resonates."[13]
* Cody Critcheloe/SSION's feature film BOY was produced by Grand Arts in 2010 and screened at Peres Projects, in Los Angeles and Berlin; Smart Museum of Art, in Chicago; Hole Gallery, in New York; and Vyktor Wynd Fine Art, in London.[14]
* The Propeller Group's 2015 A Universe of Collisions — Grand Arts' last-ever show[15] — was included in the Venice Biennale that year.[16]

Upon Grand Arts' closing, Silva donated the building, a former auto shop located at 1819 Grand Boulevard, to the Kansas City Art Institute.[5]

## Exhibition timeline

[edit]

Artist(s) | Exhibition title | Year | Essayist

|
|
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Glenn Goldberg | (untitled) | 1995 | Tad Wiley
Hirokazu Fukawa | Like and Ethereal Transfer | 1995 | Barbara Bloemink
Brad Braverman | RawShock | 1995 | Ann Wylie
Alice Aycock | New Works | 1995 | Monroe Denton
Ryuhei Rex Yuasa | (untitled) | 1995 | Kazuhiro Yamamoto
Lester Goldman | (untitled) | 1996 | Roberta Lord
Jane Lackey | In Code | 1996 | Laurie Palmer
Kimberly Austin, Brad Braverman, Rossana Jeran and Jim Pennington, John O’Reilly, and Seth Rubin | Body Double | 1996 | Monroe Denton
Jeff Aeling | The Layman’s Guide to the Passage of the Millennium for the Preservation of Hysteria | 1996 | Peter von Ziegesar
Mel Kendrick | (untitled) | 1996 |  Klaus Kertess
China Marks | (untitled) | 1997 | H. L. Hix
Chris Larson | (untitled) | 1997 | Ronald Jones
Nick Cave | (untitled) | 1997 | Karen Searle
Phil Argent, Linda Besemer, Ingrid Calame, Sally Elesby, Sharon Ellis, Jack Hallberg, Michael Pierzynski, Monique Prieto, Adam Ross, Pauline Stella Sanchez, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Yek | Spot Making Sense | 1997 | curator David Pagel
Seton Smith | (untitled) | 1997 | David Pagel
Kimberly Austin | (untitled) | 1997 | Roberta Lord
GALA Committee | In the Name of the Place | 1998 | Joshua Dector
Beth B. | Monuments | 1998 | Roberta Lord
Michael Rees | (untitled) | 1998 | Dominique Nohas
Tim Rollins and K.O.S. | in collaboration with Kansas City youth | 1998 | Michael Toombs
Kirsten Mosher | (untitled) | 1998 | Alexander Gray
Stuart Netsky | (untitled) | 1999 | Bill Arning
James Drake | (untitled) | 1999 | Bruce W. Ferguson
Zesty Meyers, Evan Snyderman, and Jeff Zimmerman | B-Team | 1999 | Stephanie Cash
Ricci Albenda, Polly Apfelbaum, Erica Baum, Lucky DeBellevue, Steven Evans, Tony Feher, Rachel Feinstein, Eric Hanson, Rachel Harrison, Jonathan Horowitz, Chuck Nanney, Rob Pruitt, and Anthony Viti | New York: Neither/Nor | 1999 | curator Bill Arning
Walter Zimmerman | (untitled) | 1999 | Roberta Lord
Jesse Kaminsky, Demetre Keros, Jennie Pakradooni, Kristine Veith, and Michael Yglesias | En Masse | 1999 | Andrew Wells
Jim Leedy | War | 2000 | H. L. Hix
Isaac Julien | Long Road to Mazatlan | 2000 | Okwui Enwezor
Larry Buechel | Eye to Eye | 2000 | Roberta Lord
Kimberly Austin, Alice Aycock, Brad Braverman, GALA Committee, Glenn Goldberg, Lester Goldman, Dennis Oppenheim, Roxy Paine, Tim Rollins and K.O.S.,  Heather Schatz and Eric Chan | Fast: Five Years at Grand Arts | 2000 | Roberta Lord
Dennis Oppenheim | (untitled) | 2000 | Mary Beth Karoll
Tara Donovan, Jyung Mee Park, and Achim Mohné | De Tempore | 2000 | Angela Anderson Adams
Jesse Rosser | (untitled) | 2001 | Ingrid Schaffner
Troy Richards | (untitled) | 2001 | Roberta Lord
Jamex and Einar de la Torre | Anacronistas | 2001 | Leah Ollman
Roxy Paine | (untitled) | 2001 | Tan Lin
ChanSchatz | (untitled) | 2001 | Bennett Simpson
John Newman | (untitled) | 2001 | Raphael Rubinstein
Marek Cecula | The Porcelain Carpet Project | 2002 | Roberta Lord
Oliver Boberg, James Casebere, Catherine Chalmers, Gregory Crewdson, Anthony Goicolea, Yoshio Itagaki, Craig Kalpakjian, Izima Kaoru, David Levinthal, Florian Maier-Aichen, Didier Massard, Tracey Moffatt, Vik Muniz, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Edwin Zwakman | Constructed Realities | 2002 | curator Barbara J. Bloemink
John Powers | Operations of the Marvelous | 2002 | Philip Glahn
Patricia Cronin | Memorial to a Marriage | 2002 | David Frankel
Richard Van Buren | Spirit Mold | 2002 |  Klaus Kertess
Sam Easterson | Animal, Vegetable, Video: Where the Buffalo Roam | 2003 | Lisa Fischman
Ian Dawson | (untitled) | 2003 | David Humphrey
Teresita Fernández | Immersion | 2003 | Rochelle Steiner
Catherine Chalmers | American Cockroach | 2003 | Tan Lin
Allan McCollum | The Kansas and Missouri Topographical Model Project | 2003 | Rhea Anastas
Mara Adamitz Scrupe | Back to Nature: Collecting the Preserved Garden | 2004 | Mary Jane Jacob
George Woodman | Camera Obscura Photographs | 2004 | Nancy Princenthal
Sanford Biggers, E.C. Brown, Christoph Büchel, C-Level, Critical Art Ensemble, Miranda July, Eddo Stern, Sarah Sze, Paul Vanouse, and Faith Wilding | Join Us: Calls to Ecstasy from the Edge of Oblivion | 2004 | Stacy Switzer
Rosemarie Fiore | Good-Time Mix Machine: Scrambler Drawings | 2004 | David Hunt
Michael Converse, Egawa + Zbryk, Rachel Hayes, Seth Johnson, and Jay Norton | Charlotte Street Awards Exhibition | 2004 | Stacy Switzer
Alexis Rockman |  Manifest Destiny | 2005 | Linda Weintraub
Archive (Anne Walsh and Chris Kubick), Bordermates, Brian Conley, Ammar Eloueini, The Evolution Control Committee, Fritz Haeg, Cameron Jamie, Yoshua Okon, Lucky Pierre, François Perrin, thedinnerparty.net, and Kerry Tribe | Mash-Up!: Eight Weeks of Mixing It Up and Throwing It Down (event series) | 2005 | curated by Nato Thompson
Alfredo Jaar | Muxìma | 2005 | Patricia C. Phillips
Aaron Gach/ Center for Tactical Magic | Tactical Ice Cream Unit | 2005 | Stacy Switzer
Nadine Robinson | Conclusion of the System of Things | 2005 | Christine Y. Kim
Aidas Bareikis | The Guard of Sorry Spirit | 2006 | Maria Elena Buszek
Neal Rock | Faith Culture Collection | 2006 | Christopher Miles
Arts Subterranea, Filip Noterdaeme, Bill Shannon, and Margaret Wertheim | Urban Test Sites (event series) | 2006 |
Michael Jones McKean | Riverboat Lovesongs for the Ghost Whale Regatta | 2006 | Alison de Lima Greene
CarianaCarianne, Mathilde ter Heijne, Laurel Nakadate, Mariah Robertson, and Siebren Versteeg | Haunted States | 2006 | Stacy Switzer
Sissel Tolaas | The FEAR of Smell/The Smell of FEAR | 2007 | Elizabeth Thomas
Fritz Haeg, Filip Noterdaeme, Micaela O'Herlihy, Chase Pierson, Spurse, Tavares Strachan, Travis Watson, Katherine Wright, Lynus Young, and Adam Zaretsky | From the Fat of the Land: Alchemies, Ecologies, Attractions | 2007 | Linda Weintraub
Sanford Biggers | Blossom | 2007 | Cay Sophie Rabinowitz
Cody Critcheloe, Jessica Kincaid, Emily Sall, and James Trotter | Charlotte Street Awards Exhibition | 2007 | Julie Rodrigues Widholm
Laurel Nakadate | Stay The Same Never Change | 2008 | Neil LaBute
Mary Kay and Rebecca Morales | (untitled) | 2008 | Sue Spaid
Annie Lapin | Parallel Deliria | 2008 | Lane Relyea
William Pope.L | Animal Nationalism | 2008 | Gregory Volk
Spurse | Deep Time Rapid Time | 2009 | Stacy Switzer and Spurse
Jeremy Deller, presented by Creative Time and the New Museum | It Is What It Is: Conversations about Iraq | Apr. 1, 2009 |
Pablo Helguera | The Juvenal Players | 2009 | Naief Yehya
Cody Critcheloe/SSION | BOY | 2009 | Stacy Switzer
Yael Bartana, Sharon Hayes, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, My Barbarian, Jeanine Oleson, Ulrike Ottinger, Adrian Piper, Dean Spade and Craig Willse, A. L. Steiner, and Ian White | Ecstatic Resistance | 2009 | curator Emily Roysdon
Tavares Strachan | Orthostatic Tolerance: Launching into an Infinite Distance | 2010 | Franklin Sirmans
Ryan Mosley | Painting Séance | 2010 | Elizabeth Thomas
Ari Fish, Sonié Ruffin, and Caleb Taylor | Charlotte Street Awards Exhibition | 2010 | Lacey Wozny
Lori Brack, Julia Cole, Sylvie Fortin, May Tveit,  Rob Walker, and Lacey Wozny | Dialogue by Design: Experimental Platforms for Intimate Conversations (event series) | 2010 |
John Salvest | New Cornucopia and The Big IOU | 2011 | Stacy Switzer
Mariah Robertson | Let’s Change | 2012 | Eva Respini
Sissel Tolaas | SmellScape KCK/KCMO (2007-2012) | 2012 | Annie Fischer
Anthony Baab | A Strenuous Nonbeing | 2013 | Stephen Lichty
Ellie Ga | Square, Octagon, Circle | 2013 | Lauren O’Neill-Butler
Mike Erickson, Erika Lynne Hanson, and Paul Anthony Smith | Charlotte Street Awards Exhibition | 2013 | Danny Orendorff
Stanya Kahn | Don’t Go Back to Sleep | 2014 | Ed Halter
Glenn Kaino | Tank | 2015 | Kate Hackman
The Propeller Group | A Universe of Collisions | 2015 |  Rob Walker

## Problems and Provocations: Grand Arts 1995-2015

[edit]

In 2016, Grand Arts published Problems and Provocations: Grand Arts 1995-2015, co-edited by Stacy Switzer and Annie Fischer, with a foreword by Margaret Silva and an introduction by Switzer.

The book chronicles 30 of Grand Arts' projects — works by figures including Alice Aycock, Alfredo Jaar, Isaac Julien, William Pope.L, Sanford Biggers, Laurel Nakadate, Stanya Kahn, and Tavares Strachan — with archival materials and project documentation presented alongside newly written anecdotes and reflections by artists and other collaborators.

Essays by Pablo Helguera, Iain Kerr, Emily Roysdon, Gean Moreno and  Rob Walker consider the models, practices and ethics of art institutions. A critical study conducted by the research studio RHEI identifies and describes Grand Arts’ unorthodox organizational model.

## Successor organization

[edit]

In 2016, former Grand Arts associates Stacy Switzer, Lacey Wozny, Eric Dobbins and Annie Fischer relocated to Los Angeles to develop a new organization named Fathomers, similar in mission to Grand Arts but with a focus on long-term thinking and transdisciplinary practice.[17] Fathomers' founding board members are Margaret Silva, Andrew Torrance and Glenn Kaino. The organization's first project is a seven-year collaboration with artist Michael Jones McKean.[18]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Hello, Goodbye". GrandArts.com. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
2. ^ Lloyd, Ann Wilson (17 October 1999). "Time Off to Dive Into Reality Rather Than Retreat From It". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
3. ^ Herriman, Kat (27 August 2016). "Kansas City's Grand Arts Releases a Book on 20 Years of Art, Science, and Tech". The Creators Project. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
4. ^ Walz, Cara (6 July 2000). "Five Years and Counting". The Pitch. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
5. ^ a b Spencer, Laura (2 September 2015). "After A 20-Year Run Of Extraordinary Freedom For Artists, Grand Arts Closes". KCUR. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
6. ^ Janovy, C.J. (27 December 2016). "In 2016, The Brains Behind Grand Arts Sent Kansas City A Remembrance From Los Angeles". KCUR 89.3. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
7. ^ "Turner Prize 2001 - Exhibition at Tate Britain | Tate". Tate. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
8. ^ "Blossom". Sanford Biggers. 12 February 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
9. ^ "Brooklyn Museum: Sanford Biggers: Sweet Funk—An Introspective". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
10. ^ "Grand Arts presents a new film by Laurel Nakadate: Stay the Same Never Change" (PDF). Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
11. ^ Wojczuk, Montana (2 June 2009). "In Sight: Stay the Same Never Change Mumblecore Cinema and the Essay Film". bombmagazine.org. BOMB Magazine. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
12. ^ Weisblum, Vida (29 June 2015). "William Pope.L Flag Makes an Appearance at Kendrick Lamar's BET Awards Performance [Updated] | ARTnews". www.artnews.com. ArtNews. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
13. ^ Knight, Christopher (24 March 2015). "William Pope.L sets the U.S. flag waving at the MOCA/Geffen". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
14. ^ "Boy Genius: Ssion's Art of the Music Video". Interview Magazine. 7 April 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
15. ^ "The Propeller Group's 'A Universe of Collisions,' the Final Show at Grand Arts, Opens August 7". Hyperallergic. 27 July 2015.
16. ^ Rose, Frank (21 April 2016). "The Propeller Group Brings a Phantasmagorical Vietnam to James Cohan". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
17. ^ Indrisek, Scott (8 November 2016). "Fathomers Reinvigorates the Grand Arts Mission in L.A." Artinfo. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
18. ^ Cohen, Alina (31 October 2016). "Problems, Provocations, Roller Coasters, and Guns". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 14 November 2016.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Switzer, Stacy and Annie Fischer, ed. "Problems and Provocations: Grand Arts 1995-2015" (Kansas City: Grand Arts, 2016) ISBN 978-0692625538

## External links

[edit]

* Grand Arts website
* Fathomers website