locative collage. Courtesy of the artist.
PROJECT AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2025
Special Agent Collage Collective’s Mission 27: Locative Kolaj
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Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 25-29 June 2025. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.
Special Agent Collage Collective is issuing a mission during Kolaj Fest New Orleans: Locative Collage. “The goal is for participants to create a collage that is temporarily placed into the Kolaj Fest environment in some way, whether that’s on the street, at a venue, or other place where someone may encounter it.”
“Locative collage requires three things: a collage fragment (or collection of fragments), a physical environment to create or suggest context, and a way to capture the temporary arrangement. It is not simply taking a photo of any collage,” wrote Special Agent Collage Collective. “What gives locative collage its storytelling power is the interaction between the collaged elements and thoughtful, intentional placement.”
To complete the challenge, upload a photo to Special Agent Collage Collective’s mission upload portal. If it is your first completed challenge, you will receive membership and your own Special Agent number.” Entries are accepted through the Mission Upload Portal. Submissions close at midnight (US PDT) on Monday, 30 June 2025.
Visit https://www.specialagentcollagecollective.com/missions/27-locative-collage for complete instructions.
Kolaj Institute will consider submissions for exhibition during a December 2025 exhibition of Photography & Collage at the gallery in New Orleans and they will work with the Special Agent Collage Collective to make a zine featuring a selection of the works.
locative collage. Courtesy of the artist.
ABOUT LOCATIVE COLLAGE
A locative collage is what is made when an artist photographs a fragment or a collection of fragments out in the world. The fragments may be left behind for others to find, at which point it becomes a kind of street art, or the artist may reuse the fragments in other works as part of a series. The resulting artwork exists as a photographic document of a moment, a collage between the paper world and the natural world. A well-known example of locative collage is French street artist JR’s 2017 “Migrants, Picnic Across the Border” project that included a giant baby peeking over a border wall into the United States from Tecate, Mexico. In Kolaj 30, we profiled Norwegian artist miss.printed, who has been making locative collage around Europe since 2014. Locative collage makes an appearance in Kolaj Institute’s Photography & Collage Project which included Jan Kather’s “Reframing the Lackawanna Trail” locative collage series.
ABOUT SPECIAL AGENT COLLAGE COLLECTIVE
Since 2021, Andrea Lewicki has operated the Special Agent Collage Collective, an international collection of collage artists who complete special missions and share them on social media. “SACC was created to interact with other collage artists and enjoy the magic that can unfold from a few scraps of paper, a sharp blade, and a fresh glue stick. We participate in theme-based collage challenges, public art drops, and other interactive activities.” wrote Lewicki. “A membership card and Special Agent number are earned by completing a mission. The collective enthusiastically welcomes new members.” Special Agents are longtime hobbyists, college students, authors, filmmakers, scientists, accomplished professional artists, and collage newcomers. “The compulsion to cut and paste is strong with us.”
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 25-29 June 2025. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.