Building a Historical Record

KOLAJ INSTITUTE SOCIETY MEMBER NEWS

Kolaj LIVE Online Program Book

In June, Kolaj Institute announced the creation of a membership and subscription program for those who wish to support the work of the institute and while receiving a piece of the collage community to their mailbox each month. Members of the Silver Scissors Society and the Golden Glue Society receive a subscription to Kolaj Magazine plus two additional items each quarter. The July item is the Kolaj LIVE Online Program Book. The book is sent automatically to members of the Silver Scissors & Golden Glue Societies and those who join before August 15th, 2020. 

Kolaj LIVE Online is a series of virtual programs in the form of forums, panels, workshops, artist talks, studio visits, and other activities that allow people to come together, learn and talk about collage, and connect in real time to the collage community. You can learn more about the series on the event’s website. The Kolaj LIVE Online Program Book serves as a guide to the event. The 62-page book includes in-depth descriptions of the fourteen Kolaj LIVE Online events along with biographies of the presenters and institutional partners. The book also serves as the catalog for the Kolaj Institute Fundraising Exhibition. In addition, it comes with four starter collages to participate in the Collage Castell activity, a cat-themed Cut Out Page for the Cat & Paste Workshop, and a commentary about the creation of the event.

Why a printed book about a virtual series?

In his commentary about Kolaj LIVE Online in the book, Ric Kasini Kadour considers the shift to virtual programming in light of the history of the automobile. “Like the automobile, the internet has liberated humanity,” he writes. “But like the automobile, it is not without its drawbacks.” As he explores the benefits and drawbacks of virtual life, he ends considering the importance of experiencing art in real time. “We are humans in bodies in space and time, simultaneously perfect and flawed, simple and complicated, relatable yet incomprehensible. To see that is to marvel and love humanity. Good art helps us see that.”

This thinking informed the planning of Kolaj LIVE Online. The series is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has prevented us from congregating in person. Kadour writes, “Over the next three months, we will visit a hayfield in Vermont that was turned into an art gallery. We will watch a giant collage collaboration being made in a museum atrium. We will meet a gallerist and a curator and walk around their galleries and talk about the art. We will hear about printmaking, collage in Latin America, and how collage is educational and therapeutic settings as diverse as hospices and refugee camps. We will consider the role of cats in collage and more seriously, we will hear from women who make collage and talk about how they are portrayed in the medium. Street artists will challenge us to put on in our own communities and we will invite artists to collaborate with one another. Our goal is to make the most out of the virtual time we spend together until that time comes when we can meet again.” 

The Kolaj LIVE Online Program Book is an extension of this thinking. It is something we can hold in our hands. It is real and physical. It is also a document. Years from now, when social media platforms have come and gone, when websites have been taken down and replaced, the Kolaj LIVE Online Program Book on the shelf of a library or in a box in your garage will tell the story of what happened: That in the face of a global pandemic, as we all stayed home, we did so together. That art didn’t stop. The Kolaj LIVE Online Program Book will tell the stories of who those artists were and what they were thinking about. 

That idea is not only true for the Kolaj LIVE Online Program Book, it is true for every issue of the magazine and every book Kolaj Institute publishes. We are building a historical record. By becoming a member of the Kolaj Institute’s Silver Scissors or Golden Glue Societies, you are helping. And for that, we thank you. 

ABOUT SILVER SCISSORS & GOLDEN GLUE SOCIETIES

Members of the Silver Scissors & Golden Glue Societies are special subscribers who support the work of Kolaj Institute, while receiving an item from Kolaj each month. Kolaj Institute supports 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. LEARN MORE.

ABOUT KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE

Kolaj LIVE Online is a series of virtual programs in the form of forums, panels, workshops, artist talks, studio visits, and other activities that allow people to come together, learn and talk about collage, and connect in real time to the collage community. VISIT THE SERIES WEBSITE.