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Programs & Activities

Kolaj Institute operates a number of initiatives through which we support artists, curators, and writers who seek to study, document, and disseminate ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement.

COLLAGE ARCHIVE | DIRECTORIES | PUBLISHING | EVENTS |
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT | EXHIBITIONS | FELLOWSHIPS

Collage Archive

The Kolaj Institute maintains an archive on collage artists and receives materials such as exhibition announcements, catalogs, and other material generated by the artist's practice and makes these materials available to researchers, writers, and curators. The Archive will manifest in a number of ways as a physical and digital archive. Artists may deposit physical and digital documents into the archive by opening a file with the Institute. Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory will become the primary online gateway of the Artist Archive.

The Archive includes a number of physical and digital collections:

Schwitters' Army at MERZ Gallery, Scotland more
Collage Castell more
International Mail Art Collection at Rokeby Museum, Vermont, USA more

Directories

The institute operates directories that gather information about collage artists, projects, and communities:

Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory

The Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory is a tool for organizing and cataloguing artists who work in the medium of collage. Its audience includes the general public, as well as independent curators, art venues, and writers. The editorial staff uses the Artist Directory to select artists to feature in the publication and to select artists for various curatorial projects.

Collage Books

Collage Books takes an inclusive approach to documenting collage-related publishing efforts and is open to trade editions, ‘zines, artist books, catalogues, and literary endeavours. The online site, Collage Books, contains listings for all collage-related titles and, like the magazine, the site takes a broad view. Collage Books resulted in the October 2019 symposium on The Book as a Place of Collage at Volume 2 MTL and a publication.

Collage Communities

Collage communities are collectives, meet-ups, ongoing collaborative projects, and groups whose focus and mission involves collage as a medium or genre in some way. The International Directory of Collage Communities is a survey of artist groups who come together around collage. The directory exists online as a searchable website. Kolaj Institute publishes a printed directory that features and highlights communities every two years. By documenting and mapping these communities, Kolaj Institute works to develop a picture of the collage movement: how collage artists are working together, how they are diffusing collage, and what challenges they face mobilizing an art community.

Publications

Kolaj Institute works with Kasini House to publish books that document and diffuse ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. Books are often outcomes of residencies, fellowships, and other projects. MORE

Recent Publications

Oh, Money! Money! by Eleanor H. Porter more
The Money $how: Cash, Labor, Capitalism, & Collage more
Unfamiliar Vegetables: Variations in Collage more
Kolaj Live Online Program Bookmore
Radical Reimaginings more
International Directory of Collage Communities more
Revolutionary Paths more
Cultural Deconstructions more
The Book as a Place of Collage more
Where the Sun Casts No Shadow more

Artist Development

Kolaj Institute runs a number of initatives designed to support the growth and development of artists

Residencies

Residencies are focused on artmaking, are project-driven, and provide an artist or writer dedicated time to complete bodies of work for exhibition or publications that are then supported by Kolaj Institute.

Upcoming Residencies

Politics In Collage Residency, October 2021
Collage & Poetry, 2022

Recent Residencies

Collage as Street Art Residency
Money Money Collage Residency

Workshops

Workshops are focused on research and the development of critical ideas and skills. Often the participants create texts which are disseminated through Kolaj Magazine and Kolaj Institute's publications.

Upcoming Workshops

Collage Taxonomy, 2022
Documenting Collage Communities, 2022

Recent Workshops

Curating Collage Workshop more
with the University of Vermont Fleming Museum of Art

Artist Labs

Artist Labs are an intensive series of workshops and discussions designed to foster the integration of history and contemporary art into an artist’s practice. Produced in concert with Art Meets History, Labs include specific discussions about the medium of collage including the challenge of creating large work and issues of appropriation, copyright, and fair use and explore how the artist’s choice and understanding of material shapes the narrative of the artwork. After the Lab, artists will leave with a network of peer support; an idea for a project; and the task of turning that idea into a project proposal and a sample work. Proposals are sent to partnering organizations for review and potential implementation. 

Upcoming Artist Labs

Historical Societies Artist Lab, October 2021
with the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Russell Vermontiana Collection, Manchester Historical Society, Pawlet Historical Society, & Dorset Historical Society

Collage Artist Lab, 2022
at Tulane University Special Collections in New Orleans, Louisiana

Sanquhar Artist Lab, 2022
at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland

Recent Artist Labs

Artist Lab: Art Meets History in New Mexico, May 2021
with 516 ARTS and Albuquerque Museum of Art Photography Archives

August Artist Lab, August 2020
with Tulane University Special Collections

Pandemic Artist Lab, June 2020
with Tulane University Special Collections

Events

Kolaj produces online forums and multi-day events that bring the community together, celebrate collage, and investigate contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society through artist talks, workshops, discussions, demonstrations, and presentation of academic research.

Kolaj Fest New Orleans

Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society that brings together art professionals at museums, galleries, and centers as well as academics, writers, and artists to explore critical issues around collage. On hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will return June 15-19, 2022. Past Events: 2018 | 2019

World Collage Day

In 2018, Kolaj Magazine initiated World Collage Day, an international celebration of collage on the Second Saturday of May. We invited artists and art venues to hold events on that day to celebrate collage. We saw fifty events in twenty-five countries and thousands of posts on social media using the hashtag, #worldcollageday. For this annual event, Kolaj Magazine publishes a special edition, works with an artist to make an "Official Poster", and publishes a website of events and projects. The next World Collage Day is May 14, 2022. Past Events: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021

Kolaj LIVE

Kolaj LIVE events are weekend-long, real time manifestations of Kolaj Magazine and Kolaj Institute in cities around the world.

Upcoming Events

Kolaj LIVE Knoxville more
November 5th to 7th, 2021 at the Knoxville Museum of Art

Past Events

Kolaj LIVE Milwaukee more
July 30th to August 1st, 2021 at Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel

Kolaj LIVE Online

In response to COVID-19 and the postponement of the 2020 edition of Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we created Kolaj LIVE Online, a series of virtual programs in the form of forums, panels, workshops, artist talks, studio visits, and other activities that allowed people to come together, learn and talk about collage, and connect in real time to the collage community. Kolaj LIVE Online saw over 500 unique participants attend a dozen virtual events that took place between July and September 2020. Average event attendance was 75 people. We continue to host virtual forums on a monthly basis. NEXT EVENT | PAST EVENTS

OTHER EVENTS

The Sanquhar Meeting at MERZ Gallery in Scotland, January 25, 2020 more
COLLAGE::BOOKS Symposium, at Volume 2 MTL in Montreal, October 2019 more

Exhibitions

Kolaj Institute uses its network of artists, writers, and curators to create exhibitions that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. A publication accompanies the exhibitions.

Upcoming Exhibitions

"Many Worlds"
at 516 ARTS in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February to May 2022

"Many Americas"
at the Wilson Museum at the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, August to November 2022

Past Exhibitions

"Revolutionary Paths" more
at Antenna Gallery, New Orleans, July 11-August 5, 2018

"Cultural Deconstructions" more
at LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, July 10-27, 2019

"Where the Sun Casts No Shadow" more
at the Wilson Museum at the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, November 1-30, 2019

"Schwitters' Army" more
at MERZ Gallery, Sanquhar, Scotland, January 8-February 20, 2020

"Radical Reimaginings" more
at 516 ARTS, Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 22-December 31, 2020

"The Money $how" more
at Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 10-September 12, 2021

"Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream" more
at Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland, August 13-20, 2021

Exhibitions in Print

The Child in Collage more
The Face in Collage more
Broken Bodies more
The Fundraising Exhibition 2020 more

Plane by Enrique "Kike" Congrains

Tadpoles Are Special by Laurie O'Brien

Fellowships

Fellowships are half year-to-year-long projects where curators, writers, or academics take on multifaceted projects that produce exhibitions, programming, or publications.

Latin American Collage: Enrique "Kike" Congrains, Current

During the fellowship, Lima, Peru-based Enrique “Kike” Congrains will report on collage in Latin America. Taking a country to country view of the region, Congrains will investigate the history of collage, profile contemporary artists, and report on collectives, events, and galleries. Kolaj Institute will work with Congrains to publish a book of his Canson City collages and stories.

Collage in Animation: Laurie O'Brien

During her fellowship, Brooklyn and Rochester, New York-based Laurie O'Brien will report on collage in animation and assist Kolaj Institute in the development of an online directory of collage films. O'Brien will curate a program of films that will be available for screening.

About Kolaj Institute

The mission of Kolaj Institute is to support artists, curators, and writers who seek to study, document, & disseminate ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. We operate a number of initiatives meant to bring together community, investigate critical issues, and raise collage’s standing in the art world.

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KOLAJ MAGAZINE | ARTIST DIRECTORY | SHOP

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