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Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, June 15-19, 2022.
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(CLICK TO READ) Kolaj Fest will return to New Orleans on June 15-19, 2022 for a coming together of collage artists and art professionals; a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society; where the focus is how we celebrate and elevate the status of collage. Presenters will lead panel discussions and explore key curatorial issues. Artists will exhibit artwork, and create special activities and demonstrations. We will meet, network, share community, camaraderie, and fellowship. We will leave armed with new ideas for our artmaking, writing, and curatorial projects, but more importantly, we will leave Kolaj Fest New Orleans prepared to champion this artform in the year to come.
REGISTER FOR KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
What is 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. Our mission is to create a platform that allows us to explore critical issues around collage (how it is curated and presented, its role in contemporary art, and the tensions between collage as a medium, a genre, and a phenomenon). Our goal is to create an event that attracts a variety of people working in various capacities, such as art professionals at museums, galleries, and centers as well as academics, writers, and artists. The general public will be welcome to join us for gallery visits, evening presentations, and collage making.
Why Kolaj Fest?
For over 100 years, we have been advancing, exploring, and disrupting visual art through collage. It is about time to give the medium its due. It's time to come together as a community.
Kolaj Fest is a
decentralized event happening all over
New Orleans,
June 15-19, 2022.
SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING
Kolaj Fest is a
decentralized event happening all over
New Orleans,
June 15-19, 2022.
SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING
NEWS ABOUT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
Click the cover image to download a PDF version of the Program.
Full Program Announced for Kolaj Fest New Orleans!
This Kolaj Fest New Orleans Program Book is a document of all things related to Kolaj Fest. In these pages, you will find a schedule and descriptions of sessions, bios and website information for artists and presenters, descriptions of evening events and special workshops and some helpful information about getting around and being in New Orleans. A printed version is included in one's Welcome Packet.
KOLAJ FEST HOTEL
International House Hotel
The International House Hotel is a forward-looking and joyful tribute to New Orleans today. The hotel is just two blocks from the French Quarter and features work by Banksy, as well as a suite of collage portraits by Byron Buchanan, commissioned by the hotel. A limited block of rooms is set aside for Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2022 attendees at the special rate of $149-189 per night (plus state and city taxes). Rooms at this rate are available starting the night of Wednesday, June 15th through checkout on Sunday, June 19th.
Use the link below to reserve rooms during the block. If you have special requests (a different type of room, a check in or check out before or after the dates of Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2022), please call (504) 200-6503.
International House Hotel
221 Camp Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 553-9550 | HOTEL MAIN WEBSITE
To book a room, call 504-200-6503 and mention Kolaj Fest New Orleans or click here to RESERVE A ROOM.
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Organizers are working to produce a program of panels, workshops, exhibitions, and activities. What follows is an overview of activities. SEE PROGRAMS HERE. More to come!
WEDNESDAY EVENING
Welcome Reception
International House explains the idea behind its beautiful lobby bar. "Loa are divine spirits in the Vodou faith tradition, but it is spirit of space and spirits in the glass that make loa the destination watering hole for New Orleans’ more creative artists, entrepreneurs and hotel guests alike." Kolaj Fest New Orleans will host a reception on Wednesday, June 15th, 5-7PM. Attendees will be able to check into Kolaj Fest and meet the organizers and other folks attending Kolaj Fest.
WEDNESDAY EVENING
The Mystic Krewe of Scissors & Glue Collage Night
Wednesday, June 15, 2022, 7PM-9PM. The Domino. The Mystic Krewe of Scissors & Glue provides a community for collage artists in New Orleans to connect with each other, from people who have never collaged in their life until they attend a monthly meet-up to artists who have been working with collage for years, to activate spaces around the city with collage, to collaborate on projects, and to give back to the city of New Orleans. The Krewe was founded in July 2018 when Christopher Kurts and Hope Amico met at Kolaj Fest New Orleans. REGISTER
THURSDAY
FILM SCREENING
Collage in Motion
June 16th, 2022, 7PM
at The Broad Theater, 636 North Broad Street
As part of Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Laurie O'Brien will debut the "Collage In Motion Film Screening", a 90-minute program that introduces the world of contemporary collage in motion. The program celebrates a range of moving image collage approaches from the pioneers of experimental collage films to extremely short motion work of just a few seconds viewed as looped GIFs.
The screening will highlight artists who have been making collage films for decades, such as Lewis Klahr, who uses comic books as material, and Janie Geiser’s films, with her mysterious narratives and beautiful textures. Many other magnificent experimental collage film pioneers will be screened whose work ranges from abstract to narrative, music videos and conceptual work. Collage motion GIFs that have blossomed in the age of social media are also featured with the delightful and extremely short work of New Orleans-based Erik Winkowski and Italian Giuseppe Ragazzini. The evolution of collage motion work that is faster and shorter is commentary on our shrinking attention spans. The program includes hand-made collage techniques as well as digital collage films.
Among the short films and excerpts being shown are works by Janie Geiser, Lewis Klahr, Erik Winkowski, Giuseppe Ragazzini, Jodie Mack, Lisa Barcy, Miwa Matreyek, Laurie O’Brien, Osbert Parker, Rob Carter, Winston Hacking, Jeremy Rourke, Lauren Flinner, Lei Lei, and more!
Tickets are $10
(free for Kolaj Fest New Orleans registrants)
FRIDAY
Politics In Collage Opening Reception
7PM to 9PM at The Domino. This event will be an opening reception and book launch for the exhibition, Politics In Collage. Although the main thread running through this exhibition is “political” in its broadest definition, the artists each chose specific issues to explore through the medium of collage. There are examinations of various forms of racism, ableism, sexism, and xenophobia; the consequences of colonization and capitalism; the effects of contemporary media; and the eco-grief or anxiety associated with climate change. By using collage, a form composed of juxtaposing a variety of disparate elements together, the artists are able to tell nuanced stories about their highly complex topics, inviting the viewers to regard a potentially overwrought issue from a fresh angle. MORE
SATURDAY
Show & Tell
Got a story to tell or a collage poem to read or show? This event is for you. Christopher Kurts will share Collage Poetry from the recent Kolaj Institute residency (and forthcoming journal). Nancy Bernardo will read from The Awakening, an 1899 novel by Kate Chopin that will be the subject of an upcoming Collage as Illustration Residency. Kevin Sampsell will read from his forthcoming book, I Made an Accident. Caleb Hammond will share his collage sound project "Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One." Derek Owens & Caroline Golden will share a story from their book, The Villagers. And we will open the mic to Kolaj Fest New Orleans attendees who have a story to share or collage to show. REGISTER
AT KOLAJ FEST
Daily Collage Congress
At each Daily Collage Congress, we will review the day’s agenda. Speakers will share ideas about the state of collage. And we will hear updates about special projects taking place during the festival. MORE
AT KOLAJ FEST
Symposium
The program at Kolaj Fest will be a unique experience. We have multiple goals and are serving multiple audiences: We aim to breakdown hierarchy and foster dialogue among art professionals working in a variety of capacities. We aim to build bridges between the collage community and the larger art world; between the art world and the general public. Our hope is that participants will have fun, network, play, and socialize while engaging in deep, real talk about issues that are important to them. We aim that people will leave Kolaj Fest New Orleans connected to a community, armed with ideas for their art, the presentation of collage, their writing and curatorial work, or simply a deeper appreciation and understanding of collage and the people who make it. MORE
AT KOLAJ FEST
Collage Making Space
Collage making will take place 10AM to 5PM on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Kolaj Fest New Orleans. In addition to free time to make collage, the space will host artists leading demonstrations and workshops. The space has scissors, X-acto knives, glue, and a collection of papers and materials. MORE
ONGOING AT KOLAJ FEST
Special Activities
& Projects
In addition to a robust program of presentations, a number of special activities will take place at Kolaj Fest New Orleans. Projects include a collaborative zine, a collage sound project, and workshops about collage in motion and encaustic collage. MORE
Collage by Kevin Comarda
AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
Collage Art & Book Market
Saturday, June 18, 2022, 1 to 5PM
Cafe Istanbul in the New Orleans Healing Center
2372 St. Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA 70117 [map]
Part of Kolaj Fest New Orleans, the Collage Art & Book Market is an opportunity for the general public to meet artists and publishers and to take in the rich and diverse cultural production of the international collage community. The public will be invited to peruse vendor displays or attend a talk or demonstration. The event is free and open to the public. MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Collage in
The Crescent City
Like any vibrant, contemporary art scene, New Orleans is full of remarkable galleries showing collage. For 2022, we are planning dynamic exhibitions and gallery tours. MORE
REGISTER FOR KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2022 possible through
the generous support of Kolaj Institute's
Silver Scissors & Golden Glue Societies
Follow for Updates
Reviews of Kolaj Fest New Orleans
Eye Magazine
Collage Champions by Steven McCarthy
READ THE ARTICLE
The Gambit
Review: 'Revolutionary Paths' collage expo at Antenna is pure poetry by D. Eric Bookhardt
READ THE REVIEW
Jon Foster, Mail Art
Kolaj Fest New Orleans
READ IT HERE
Kevin Sampsell
Kolaj Fest Was Hot!
READ IT HERE
One Word Long
Kolaj Fest 2018: Curatorial Issues in Collage
READ IT HERE
The Seaside Fleet (New Orleans)
READ THE POST
“a mental list of dangerous things”
The Jealous Curator, Danielle Krysa & Charles Wilkin on the podcast: Art in Your Ears No. 144
LISTEN
