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Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee
Friday, July 30th, 2021 to Sunday, August 1st, 2021
Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee is a real time manifestation of Kolaj Magazine and Kolaj Institute.
From the evening of Friday, July 30th, 2021 to Sunday, August 1st, 2021, artists, curators, and writers will gather for a weekend of collage making, slideshows, exhibition visits, and storytelling that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement.
Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee is based in The Arc at Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel, the site of "The Money $how", an exhibition that uses collage to unpack ideas about cash, labor, and capitalism.
REGISTER TODAY!
HOST HOTEL
HOST HOTEL
Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel
Saint Kate is a unique, boutique arts hotel created by artists for artists. Saint Kate is a hub for the established and the emerging, the curious and the visionary. This is a place where creators can feel represented, where they can feel at home. A place where they can come together, meet, collaborate, and create.
Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel
139 East Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 274-8686 | HOTEL MAIN WEBSITE
NOTE: To reserve a room now and lock in the $209/night rate, call (414) 488-0540 and refer to the "Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee" group or book online HERE.
AT THE EVENT
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COLLAGE PROJECTS
Large, Collaborative Collage: I Was Here Until I Wasn’t
Deconstructing Legalese: Found Poetry
SPECIAL EVENTS
Welcome Reception & Book Launch in the AIR Space Gallery
BONUS PROGRAMS
SYMPOSIUM SESSIONS
Collage in Practice: PostCardPoems, Tiny Collage Zines, Queer Ecology, & Vintage Materials
Collage Communities: San Francisco Bay Area Collage Artists
Decolonization in the Diaspora
The Situationist International Today
Collage as Bridge Between Psyche and Cosmos
Hybrid is the Future: Digital to Analog to Digital to Analog
Program Book
The Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee Program Book documents the presentations and projects at the event. In these pages, you will find a schedule and descriptions of sessions, descriptions of evening events and special programs and some helpful information about being at Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee.
Click the cover image to download a PDF version of the Program.
AT KOLAJ LIVE MILWAUKEE
Welcome Reception & Book Launch in the AIR Space Gallery
Friday, July 30, 2021
7 to 10PM
Grab a drink at The Bar and meet us for hors d’oeuvres in the AIR Space Gallery for a welcome reception and book launch in the “The Money $how” exhibition.
Curators Ric Kasini Kadour and Frank Juarez will give a brief talk about the exhibition.
Kolaj Institute will unveil the book, Oh, Money! Money! by Eleanor H. Porter. To illustrate the book, Kolaj Institute organized a residency that brought together ten artists who worked collaboratively to make sixty-three collages that interpret Porter’s novel for a 21st century audience.
AT KOLAJ LIVE MILWAUKEE
Symposium
Saturday, July 31, 2021
10AM to 11:30AM & 12:30 to 2:30PM
In The Arc Theatre, while the Collage Making Marathon is taking place, artists, curators, and other folks will make presentations about their projects and practices. Presenters will raise pertinent issues about 21st century collage. Artists will share their practices, speak about projects they are working on, discuss how they use vintage materials or use collage to explore queer ecology. Presenters will speak about decolonization in the African diaspora; interpret ideas of The Situationist International for today's art world; and consider "Collage as Bridge Between Psyche and Cosmos." And we will examine the analog, digital divide with a panel of artists forging a third way. Bring your questions, an open mind, and conversation!
AT KOLAJ LIVE MILWAUKEE
Collage Making Marathon
Saturday, July 31, 2021 | 9AM to 10PM
Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee will host a thirteen-hour collage making marathon in The Arc Theatre. Attendees are invited to drop-in or step-out throughout the day. Because The Arc Theatre is also the site of the Symposium, artists are welcome to continue their collage making as presentations are made.
The collage making space is hosted by Ben DiNino. Collage making will take place on Saturday of Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee in the Arc Theatre. The space will have scissors, X-acto knives, glue, and a collection of papers and materials. Collagists are invited to bring their own supplies or use the supplies available.
Collage Making Space Host Ben DiNino lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended Tyler School of Art graduating with a BFA in Sculpture and a minor in Art History (and a jaded disposition of the art world). DiNino's collage appears on the cover of The International Directory of Collage Communities.
CHECK OUT COLLAGE PROJECTS HAPPENING AT KOLAJ LIVE MILWAUKEE
Featured Artists
Gavin Benjamin (Pittsburgh, PA)
Mark Wagner (Lancaster, PA)
Patricia Leeds (San Rafael, CA)
Carey Watters (Milwaukee, WI)
Paola De la Calle (San Francisco, CA)
Terie Leicht (Fredonia, WI)
Max-o-matic (Barcelona, Spain)
Michael Koppa (Viroqua, WI)
Companion Book is available at the Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee Info Table and online at ARTSHOP.
EXHIBITION
THE MONEY $HOW
Cash, Labor, Capitalism & Collage
“The Money Show” in the AIR Space of Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel takes guests on a tour of late-stage capitalism. Each artist in the exhibition uses collage to unpack ideas about money and its influence on our culture. Artworks speak about Black wealth, immigrant remittances, and how mid-20th century advertising informs present-day attitudes. Artists collage dollar bills into flowers and mine material remnants to tell stories about home economics. The exhibition is co-curated by Frank Juarez, the publisher of Artdose Magazine, and Ric Kasini Kadour, the editor of Kolaj Magazine.
The curators start from the premise that money is an idea that shapes contemporary life and present works that invite viewers to consider cash, labor, and capital. “To speak about money without using cliches is nearly impossible. It makes the world go round. Another day, another dollar. Worth its weight in gold. And so on. Money is ultimately an idea. A symbol of value we can use to exchange goods and services. Money is capital and debt, something to save and something to spend. In this sense, it is a fundamental part of humanity. At its best, a crisp ten dollar bill inside a birthday card from one’s grandmother, it is delightful. At its worst, it is an excuse for deep cruelty, a permission to allow suffering to go unaddressed. At the beginning of the 21st century, late-stage capitalism has allowed money to become a powerful social force that influences nearly every aspect of our lives,” said Kadour. MORE
EVENING EVENT
Cut It Up Salon
Saturday, July 31, 2021 | 7:30 to 10PM
After dinner, we will meet back in The Arc Theatre for an evening of collage stories, show-and-tell, and animations. Daniel Lynds will serve as Grand Impresario for the evening and show his super cut videos. Renée Reizman will perform a reading of the Found Poetry made during the event. Clive Knights will read a short story about the deep human yearning to embrace horizons. We will present the large, collaborative collage, I Was Here Until I Wasn’t. slimebubble relies on a synesthetic sense in order to match live visuals to how they perceive the sound at an event “feels” and/or “looks”. The video-jockey will share remixed video works “heavily informed by the layering of imagery from an eidetic memory into a sequence oozing with a signature flair that contrasts bubblegum palettes with beautiful, yet wicked, images.” One lucky recipient will be awarded the chance to crush the Golden Egg. Maybe a Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee attendee will want to read a poem or tell a story or perform an interpretive dance tentatively titled, Dali’s Cheesehead in Paris. (Sign-up sheet at Info Table if interested.) Or, we can watch a documentary about the Situationist International, or not, we’ll see how it goes. The doors open at 7:30. The fun starts at 7:37. Wear a hat or something. Dramatic clothing encouraged.
AT KOLAJ LIVE MILWAUKEE
The Great Collage Swap
Sunday, August 1st, 2021 | 9AM to 10:30AM
The Great Collage Swap is a way to get to know other collagists and their work and be able to take some of their artwork home with you. The Swap happens Sunday morning at The Arc Theatre at Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel. To participate, bring a collage to exchange to the Info Table before 9AM Sunday. In return, you will be given a number. All of the collages will be displayed in The Arc Theatre. During the program, a collage will be selected and matched with a number and the holder of that number will receive the collage.
SEE THE FULL PROGRAM | REGISTER
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Covid-19 Pandemic
Kolaj Institute and Kolaj Magazine want to ensure that Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee is a safe and enjoyable experience for all attendees. The situation with COVID-19 is constantly changing. We are committed to following the safety procedures and guidelines set out by the City of Milwaukee and Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel.
The success of the event depends on all of us caring about each other's health and wellbeing. One way to care about others is to get vaccinated. Another way to care is to not attend if you feel ill. We will follow masking guidelines as directed by the Centers for Disease Control and the City of Milwaukee at the time of the event. We will care for one another's well-being.
For information about the steps Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel is taking, visit their COVID-19 Update HERE. To keep up-to-date on what is happening in Milwaukee, visit the city's Coronavirus site HERE.
When we all do our part, we got this!
Supporters
Kolaj LIVE Online is possible through the support of members of the Silver Scissors & Golden Glue Societies whose monthly pledge sustains the organization. JOIN TODAY!
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