Seminal artist group Colab (short for Collaborative Project) is getting an abbreviated 30-year anniversary look at Brooke Alexander Editions. Formed in 1978 and active for about 10 years, Colab was distinguished for its democratically run, open membership that included, among others, Jenny Holzer (Season 4), G. H. Hovagimyan, Joseph Nechvatal, Tom Otterness, Judy Rifka, and Robin Winters. Its artists-run, workshop-oriented administration encouraged experimentation while meeting the “needs of the community-at-large.” Colab has continued to inspire numerous incarnations of organized artists communities, including ABC No Rio.
Aesthetically, Colab focused on new media instead of traditional art objects, emphasizing TV production, video editing, film, and performance. Colab’s landmark Times Square exhibition in 1980 was a “groundswell of popularly accessible socially themed artworks held in an empty building that has housed an erotic massage parlor. Critics called it ‘punk art’—‘three cord art anyone can play.’”
Colab Redux goes through the summer at Brooke Alexander Editions. For more information, please contact the gallery.
